was so far from being terrified either by his bonds or death it self that were it not for their sakes to whom his life might be more useful he should rather desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He further acquaints them with his design to visit them again in order to their support and settlement if God should rescue him from his bonds In the mean time gives this admonition Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing thing terrified by your adversaries That ye stand fact c. In which words you have an account what are the most effectual means for any Church which God hath blessed with the true Faith of Christianity still to abide and continue in it Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it close union amongst themselves zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation and courage against such oppositions as others may possibly make against it 1. Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it which is suggested in these words Stand fast that is to say as it there follows in the faith of the Gospel 2. Union amongst themselves Stand fast in one spirit with one mind 3. Zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. Courage against such oppositions as other persons make against it And in nothing terrified by your adversaries These are the methods which our Apostle here propounds for a Church to retain the true Faith that is to continue a true Church 1. The first of which is firmness of mind in every mans private belief of truth For feeing that every particular Church is made up of particular persons so far as particular Members fail in the true Faith so far is that Church they are Members of maimed and mutilated in its parts and the whole in tendency to dissolution Now seeing the firmness of belief depends upon clear and evident proof I might here offer a demonstration of the truth and excellency of Christianity But being this is neither so needful nor yet so seasonable to the occasion of our meeting I shall rather chuse to address my self to what the occasion now requires which is to shew the truth and excellence of Christianity as it is professed in our own Church in opposition to that of Rome which I shall do by comparing theirs and ours together in point of Faith and Worship and Manners 1. And first of all for matter of Faith we firmly believe the holy Scriptures and every thing therein contained to be the infallible Word of God We believe the Scriptures do contain all things necessary to Salvation according as St. John assures us Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Which we could not have if every thing necessary to Salvation was not written was not contained in this very Gospel of St. John Nay further yet we believe and receive all Creeds that were ever received in the Catholick Church These Creeds are taken into our Liturgy they are repeated in our Churches we signifie our assent to them by standing up when they are repeated and are we still to be judged Hereticks and deficient in the Catholick Faith On the other hand the Roman Church deny the Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith they build their faith upon Tradition a thing uncertain They rely upon Councils which may erre nay upon such as have grosly erred They vary as well from the Primitive Church in many cases as from the holy Scripture it self And last of all they pretend a power of making new Articles of Faith that is such as were not made by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles which being so let reason judge whether they or we be likeliest to erre in point of Faith 2. For matter of Worship in the second place their publick Prayers are made and used in a tongue unknown unto the people ours in a tongue which we all understand And here let St. Paul decide the controversie that is between us I Cor. 14 15 16 c. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From whence it appears what edification may be expected from their prayers that is to say none at all And therefore the Apostle further adds I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue But to proceed as we make our prayers in a known tongue so in them we invoke the true God and him only We use no other Mediator no other Patron but only Christ whom God hath appointed so to be For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 But they that are of the Church of Rome make their addresses to Saints and Angels as well for patronage and protection as for their prayers to God for them and some of those the Virgin Mary do they invoke in as magnificent and high a stile as they invoke God himself We pay no worship to any Images seeing that God hath expresly said Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But they bow down and prostrate themselves before the Images of Christ and others And though they affirm that the honour they give unto the Image passes through it to the person whom it represents yet still they acknowledge they worship the Image that this at least is a transient object of their Worship And then again we give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto the people as well as the Priests in both kinds So it was instituted by Christ himself so it was given all along for many Ages but others in perfect contradiction to the Institution of our Lord deny the Cup unto the Laity We believe that after Consecration the Bread and Wine set apart and consecrated for the Sacrament do still retain the natural substance of bread and wine And so the Apostle himself believed when he stiled that bread of
and manners then was our Church depraved and corrupted as theirs now is but now is our Church by Gods grace reformed and restored to primitive purity which theirs is not Whether theirs or ours be the better Church in point of faith may be easily known by this instance we make the Scripture the rule of faith and this is a most unerring rule they add tradition unto Scripture and this is greatly exposed to errour we have added nothing as absolutely necessary to salvation to the faith contained in the antient Creeds of the Catholick Church they have added much to those Creeds they have added some such things to them as do by consequence overthrow some parts of the very Creeds themselves Whether theirs or ours be the safer Church for a man to hope for Salvation in may easily appear from these particulars We teach such worship such practice as are most clearly and fully lawful lawful beyond all peradventure for sure it is undoubtedly Jawful for a man to worship the true God to use no Image in his worship to use him as Mediator whom he hath appointed so to be It is lawful beyond all peradventure to have our prayers in a known tongue to give the communion unto the Laity in both kinds to reform as well as confess our sins to use no art or commutations for the expiation of our sins but to forsake the sins themselves These things are lawful without all doubt but that the contrary to these are lawful is the doubtfulest thing in all the world or rather to speak more properly it is most certain they are not lawful And therefore I leave it to you to judge whether communion with our Church or the Church of Rome be the safer way unto salvation and if you judge as I know you must stand fast in the faith you have received and the Church wherein you were baptized And so much may serve for the first method for a true Church to preserve it self in the true faith firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it 2. Proceed we now unto the second and that is Union amongst themselves as it is suggested in these words stand fast in one spirit with one mind If a kingdom be divided against it self that kingdom cannot stand If a house be divided against it self that house cannot stand Mark 3.23 24. Neither can a Church which is so divided If the members of the natural body be rent and torn each from other this is the destruction of the whole and death to every single part Disunion doth of its own nature naturally tend to dissolution there needs no Enemy from abroad to destroy and ruine such a Church as is divided against it self the mutual discords that are within the divisions amongst its own members their mutual envyings and animosities that naturally arise out of these divisions effectually tend to separation and separation to dissolution Besides the intestine strifes and divisions which are seen and observed in any Church invite its Enemys to attempt its utter ruine and destruction they open a breach for them to enter they give free and an easie entrance to swarms or seducers to invade it they give a plausible and fair pretence for a very plausible and specious objections you have no union amongst your selves from whence it appears you have not the truth Truth is one and so is the Faith that 's built upon it You are not one amongst your selves and therefore you have not the true faith Now therefore leave and quit that Church which hath no unity in its members and come to that which is united To these assaults and these are dangerous to weaker minds doth every Church expose it self which is not at unity in it self Now therefore let us be most cautious to be at union amongst our selves and in order to so good an end let us take care to make our breaches no wider than indeed they are We do agree exactly agree amongst our selves in point of faith in the belief of all those Doctrines that are absolutely necessary to salvation thus far we agree with the Protestant Churches that are abroad and further yet with the generality of the Diffenters that are at home And as for this Church it self there is as great and greater consent in all the parts and members of it than in the Church of Rome it self They have divisions amongst themselves and greater than any amongst us They charge either other in some points with nothing less than heresie it self We have no such charges amongst us They have their Dominicans and Franciscans they have their Molinists and their Jansenists one Order bandying against another with bitter discords and animosities They are not agreed in the very rule of faith it self some make the Decrees of the Pope only some the Decrees of a General Council others the Decrees of the Pope and Council both together to be the only rule of Faith from whence it most inevitably follows that that must be Faith unto one party which is not so unto another Seeing some things have been decreed by Popes that have not been decreed by Councils some things by Councils and not by Popes From whence it appears that after all the boasts we hear of union in the Church of Rome there is in truth less of union in that Church than in this that we are members of And for the increase and preservation of this so blessed and needful thing let us take care not to advance any private opinions in opposition to publick wisdom Let us not insist upon any Doctrines as absolutely necessary to salvation which the Church hath not proposed as such Let no particular sort of men presume to stile themselves the Church or the only genuine Sons of it in opposition unto others who belive the Doctrines of the Church who have promised due Conformity to it and evidently practise what they promise These in truth are the sure and genuine Sons of the Church who go so far as the Church requires and content themselves to go no further And if any deny them so to be they have private fancys of their own and by obtruding these on others and censuring those that receive them not they weaken the Church disturb its union disquiet its peace and take a course to bring a dangerous Schism into it Now therefore let it be our care to maintain Charity to cherish Peace to study Union amongst our selves And this is the second of these methods which powerfully tend to our preservation and of the Faith which we do profess 3. The third is singular zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation For so the Apostle farther adds Stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel There must be zeal there must be endeavour there must be joynt endeavour used for the promotion of this end 1. Our enemies have a zeal against it and if we our selves have none for it how
which we partake in that Sacrament 1 Con. 10.17 We are all partakers of that one bread and that the Cup of which we drink and thus believing we do not give Divine worship unto the Elements in the Sacrament But they in absolute contradiction both unto Scripture and unto Reason and unto four of their five Senses believe that after Consecration there is no bread but the natural flesh of Christ's body no wine but his very natural blood Upon which account they pay a Divine worship to them worship that which is not God that which is really bread and wine To all these things I might now add the Superstition of their Devotions their Prayers for delivering departed Souls out of that place they call Purgatory a place that is of their own making for gaining Wealth unto their Church Their Pilgrimages to the Tombs of Saints an infinite Mass of Rites and Ceremonies for which things they have no precept in the Scripture no example either there or in the primitive Ages of Christianity Rites which obscure and burden Religion with a numberless heap of Superstitions contrary to the very nature to the simplicity of Christianity From matter of Worship pass we on to matter of common life and action 1. As it relates to moral Duty 2. And also unto Civil Society 1. And for the former our Church declares that true repentance is absolutely necessary to gain the remission and pardon of sin We also affirm that reformation is the best and most essential part of true repentance We do not pretend to any power to give Absolution to any person who doth not practise such repentance that is to say who doth not truly reform himself in life and action in case life be continued to him or in real purpose and resolution in an effectual change of heart We make no pretence to an Authority of giving Indulgences and Remissions or of admitting any Penances and Commutations for the Expiation of the sin where the sin is still continued in Whereas they of the Church of Rome give Absolution to Attrition that is to the meer fear of Hell and these two things namely Attrition and Absolution they judge sufficient to Salvation They admit of Penances and Commutations for the Expiation of mens sins and by these means teach their Followers to hope for remission of the punishment although they retain the sin it self And lest the Penance should seem burthensom and too severe they can give Indulgence for that too to them that will be at the cost to buy it By all which means they make the Precepts of the Gospel the Laws of Christ of no effect make it needless to obey them unless a man have a mind unto it and to do more than what is needful 2. For Civil Society 't is well known how many there are in the Church of Rome who do affirm that it is not needful to discharge a promise to a Heretick and all are Hereticks in their account who make profession of Christianity and do not communicate with their Church We know there was safe conduct promised to John Hus and Jerom of Prague to the Council of Conslance and how that promise was performed The promise was broken and the men burnt and so indeed they justified their Doctrine by their practice They exempt the Clergy from the Authority of secular Power till they be surrendred thereunto by their Superiors in the Church and they surrender them when they please and when they please they do not Upon which account many Villanies many Murders have been committed in the State to the infinite scandal of Religion It was complained in the sixth year of King Henry the Second that there have been above an hundred man slaughters committed by the then Clergy since the beginning of his Reign But that which is of the vilest consequence in this point is that they affirm that the Popes of Rome have power to depose Kings and Princes and that pursuant to this Doctrine they have excommunicated and deposed lawful Princes in several places and given their Kingdoms and Dominions to other persons that there are infinite numbers of Authors who defend and justifie this Doctrine that these are countenanced by a Council that is to say the fourth Lateran which they themselves call a General Council For it is there expresly said that in case a Prince does not purge his Country from heretical pravity in the space of a year after admonition so to do by the Metropolitan and his Comprovincials then this be signified to the Pope that he may deprive him of all Authority terram ejus exponat Catholicis occupandam expose his Country to be possessed and seized by Catholicks In direct pursuance of which Doctrine private persons have stab'd Princes and have been commended and applauded by the Pope himself for so doing For so it was in the case of Henry the Third of France These are the Doctrines of the Church of Rome relating unto Civil Society what ours are I need not say We owne our selves obliged to do good to all men and that although we have not obliged our selves thereto by any particular promise to them much more discharg'd our faith to all We owne the King to be supreme in his own dominions and that there is no power in any to depose him And to conclude we owne the truth of S. Peter's words and that in the very fullest sense Honour or as the margent reads it esteem all men love the Brotherhood fear God honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 We owne all to be oblig'd to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or to Governours as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers I have here given you an account of some of the most material differences between us and the Church of Rome in point of faith and worship and manners and should now perswade you to stand fast in all these things as they are taught in this Church not suffering your selves to be abased by vain Sophistry of deceivers If they ask you where our Church was before Luther ask you again where theirs was before the fourth Laterane Council nay before that of Trent it self For sure it is there was never any Church before those Councils that did in all things teach and practise as the Church of Rome at this present time Tell them our Church that is a Church wherein the same faith and worship the same obedience to Gods commands were taught and required which are now taught and required in ours were many ages before theirs Such a Church there was assoon as there was a Christian Church such a Church planted by Christ himself such a Church propagated by his Apostles such a Church for several hundred years for several ages after that Afterwards there arose a time of darkness upon the face of the Christian world in that darkness many errours crept into the Church many corruptions in worship
have nothing but good Principles to prevent and hinder such complyance From whence it most inevitably follows that where such principles are not found where men are under the power and guidance of evil Principles they are most dangerously exposed to evil This is the least of the ill effects that we can possibly expect from them 2. But then secondly we must consider That as all ill principles in Religion leave us at least exposed to evil so are there many do very highly encourage to it There are such principles to be found as turn the greatest crimes to merit and make men hope for a reward hope to gain eternal glory by the foulest practices in the world by those that tend to eternal misery Our blessed Lord foretold his followers that the time would come wherein they would put them out of the Synagogues and not so only but also that whosoever killed them should think he did God service by it John 16.2 So did the Jews use his Disciples They first accused them of Schism and Heresie and then persecuted them unto death And just so doth the Roman Church to all Christians dissenting from them They pronounce them guilty of Schism and Heresie they excommunicate them out of the Church they flatly deny that they can be saved they doom them all unto damnation they pronounce it lawful to destroy them to destroy the very greatest Princes when they have once judged them Hereticks They make it a meritorious act in those that adventure so to do and lest men should not venture upon it some of them teach that they are obliged and bound to do it extremo animarum suarum perieule si vires habeant ad hoc idoneas Philopator under the pain of the loss of their Souls if they have sufficient strength to do it Could a man have thought that such practices as these are should ever have been undertaking by any making profession of Christianity could he have thought that although these should be undertaken they should be justified and defended nay urged and pressed with great severity under no less a tie and penalty than that of the loss of a mans Soul But this it is to have the mind and conscience defiled as the Apostle himself expresses it Tit. 1.15 This it is as he speaks elswhere 1. Tim. 4.2 to have the Conscience seared with a hot iron If a mans Principles be corrupt his conscience perverted and depraved what will not such a conscience admit and such Principles urge upon him If the very light that is in him be darkness how great then is that darkness And now to apply what I have said upon this point 1. Seeing the danger of false Principles in Religion is so prodigiously and strangely great let this be a mighty caution to us to avoid communion with such persons as govern themselves by such Principles and more especially the Church of Rome It is not imaginable how this Church hath perverted the Doctrine of Christianity and quite overthrown the practice of it in many considerable parts of it There is scarce any one command of God which they have not clouded and perverted by some perverse interpretations And besides all this they have formed and stated general Principles which effectually lead to the overthrowing of all the precepts of Christianity And some of these I shall instance in 1. The first of these is the Doctrine received in the Roman Church of acting according to probable opinions received not only among the Jesuits but by many others as well as them 1. They teach that although an opinion seems to be false to any man considering the reasons that make against it yet that it is a probable opinion if it be maintained by two or three nay by one Doctor of note amongst them 2. And then secondly that any person may lawfully act and govern himself by such an opinion in point of practice by an opinion maintained by others although it seem to be false to himself just contrary to the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 14.23 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin The very words they use are these Ex anthoritate unius tantùm posse quem illam in praxi amplecti licèt à principiis intrinsecis falsam improbahilem existimet that is That a man may lawfully follow an opinion in practice upon the authority of one Doctor though he himself considering the reasons of that opinion judge it to be false and improbable Guimen pag. 55 My Author adds an example to this and that is although a Confessor shall himself believe it to be unlawful to absolve a man in a certain case yet that notwithstanding he may absolve him if others judge it to be lawful Now here I observe in the first place that this is directly against the Scripture which pronounces that to be unlawful which a man acts against his own mind and conscience although agreeably to other mens And then secondly that this opinion gives all men liberty to do whatsoever a few Doctors nay any one of the Roman Church have judged lawful And what is it that some of them have not judged lawful especially against all those persons upon whom they fix the name of Hereticks And if you inquire what is the design of those persons that do maintain this opinion it is most evident that it is this That the spiritual Guides of the Roman Church may have a pretence to lead the people boldly to act what they require although against the minds and judgments of them they lead That is in case a private person judge it unlawful to break his faith to falsifie promise to a Heretick or to deprive him of life or fortunes or reputation yet that he may still lawfully do it if two or three of their Guides and Teachers nay if any one of them judge it lawful 3. But then thirdly they further teach That where there are any two opinions one less probable than another that a man may lawfully guide his practice by that which appears to be less probable So Martial de Prado concludes and abundance of others as well as he as Guimen p. 64. Saepe in praxi licitum est sequi opinionem minùs probabilem relictâ probabiliori It is often lawful in matter of practice to follow a less probable opinion forsaking that which is more probable Which is as much as if they said that a man is not bound to govern his life according to the best of his judgment but may very lawfully do what is worse where he knows and believes he might do better And is this for a man to guide his life according to the rules of Charity or that integrity that sincerity which true Christianity requires from us 4. And yet I must add what is still worse for it is added upon this point in the Church of Rome That it is lawful for any person to follow a less probable opinion rather than one that is more probable and that although the more probable
be also safer than the other And for this an Author of that Church cites the Testimonies of above forty of their Doctors Guimen p. 62 64. And is this to teach like true and faithful Guides of Souls Is this for men to behave themselves like faithful Pastors and careful of the Salvation of men to give them licence to guide their lives by such opinions as are not only less probable but less safe than the direct contrary are But these are the Methods these are the Arts of the Roman Church to draw men in unto their Church to allow them liberty to please themselves to do the things that are most pleasing though least safe to gratifie sinful inclinations though to the prejudice of their Souls By these liberties they fill their Church with numerous Proselytes and Disciples and gain Authority to themselves to put them upon the foulest actions by teaching them that it is lawful for them to follow the Judgment of their Teachers though it seems false unto themselves which is to rob every private person of his Conscience Reason and Understanding and to oblige them to follow others who as appears from these particulars have nothing at all of conscience in them 2. Add hereunto another Principle taught and maintained in the Roman Church concerning the rectifying of the intention which is that a man may lawfully do such things as are materially evil provided always that he direct the inward intention of his mind unto a good and an honest end As for example that a man may lawfully smite with a sword where he hath received a blow with the hand and is secure from further prejudice provided he do it non ad sumendam vindictam sed ad vitandam infamiam Guimen pag. 199 200. that is to say not for revenge but to repair his reputation Or as Father Escobar hath expressed it Letters Provincial p. 143. One may lawfully kill another who hath given him a box on the ear though he run away for it provided he do it not out of hatred or revenge In short that a man may do any evil to him that hath offered him an affront in case he do it not out of malice or to revenge himself upon him but only to repair his credit and defend his honour and reputation But if this be true and Christian Doctrine what shall we say to the Precept of Christ Mat. 5.39 I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also That is to say if any injury passed upon thee leave thee secure of life and limbs if it only touch thy reputation as this is measured amongst men by vulgar judgments and opinions do thou patiently bear the injury and be content to expect a reward hereafter for it whatsoever becomes of thy reputation In the mean time let it be observed how the Teachers in the Church of Rome loosen the reins to the lusts of men indulge their vain unchristian humors while they teach them to value their reputation and that in the eyes of vulgar Judges more than the very lives of men While they allow them to preserve the esteem of vain men by the spilling of their neighbours blood as though his life were of less value than the opinion of such persons Two things further I shall observe First That this Doctrine of good intention justifying actions of this kind is in effect no other than that of doing of evil that good may come or of the using of evil means for the attaining a good end A Doctrine most severely censured Rom. 3.8 And then further that a good intention justifies an indifferent action a thing that is lawful in it self but never justifies things unlawful In these things it hath no place but in indifferent things it hath Now then to conclude what I have to say seeing evil Principles do not only leave us exposed to sin but also encourage us thereunto seeing they expose us to death eternal by so doing let us have a care of such persons and such a Church as teach and promote such Principles Let us be stedfast in that Church where the saving Doctrine of Christianity is faithfully taught and offered to us We have no other certain helps against the most pernicious evils to secure us from the foulest sins but firm Principles Faith and Holiness assisted by the Grace of God These are the things that must preserve us against our natural inclinations against our depraved and corrupt affections these are the things that must secure us against the temptations of the world and recover us if we chance to fall through humane frailty and infirmity He that commits a sin by Principles hath nothing to retrive him from it and to recover him from his fall while such a Principle remains in him But he that falls through inadvertency may be soon recovered by good Principles He will remember he hath done amiss his conscience will check and smite him for it these checks will send him to his prayers to beg the pardon of what is past and a greater vigilance a greater assistance of Gods Grace for time to come and so recover him from his fall and restore him to his former station And therefore let it be our care to govern our lives by stable principles of integrity In doubtful cases let us always follow the safer part and not do as they of the Church of Rome forsake a safer to follow a more unsafe opinion And where the case is plain and obvious that it is unlawful to do a thing let us not cheat our own reason with any deceitful arts and reasonings to make it seem to be lawful for us If we do this we expose our selves to the guile and Sophistry of our lusts and may make the plainest things obscure But if we heartily love the truth and use no means to contradict it it will be a faithful guide unto us in this life and so conduct us to life eternal How many are there that are so far from believing Schism to be a sin that they value themselves upon this account and believe themselves the only Saints because they separate from the Church make that a Character of Religion which tends to its ruine and destruction The Fifth Sermon Matth. 16.18 And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it The whole verse is thus And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it ST Peter having in the 16 verse of this Chapter made this confession of our Lord That he was Christ the Son of the living God is in return for this confession first pronounced a blessed person and then adorned with an excellent Character by our Saviour He is pronounced a blessed person at the 17 verse Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which
is in Heaven He is adorned with an excellent Character in the words immediately following those And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church which priviledge although it was not peculiar unto S. Peter but common to the other Apostles with him yet being first declared of him adds to the Dignity of his Character and yet detracts nothing at all from the power of the rest of Christs Apostles upon whom as upon a sure foundation S. Paul assures us the Church was built Ephe. 2.20 It was built on them together with him whom our Saviour mentions in this place it was most firmly built upon them for so it appears from these words and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it For the better understanding of which words we must 1 consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Hell is frequently used in the holy Scriptures as well as prophane Authors to signifie the grave to denote the place and state of the dead so it is used in these words Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption And then further 2 We must consider that the grave or place and State of the dead is sometimes compared unto a house If I wait the grave is mine house Job 17.13 and to a house with gates or dores shut up and locked with bars and locks and hence that saying of Hezekiah Isa 38.10 I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave Hence mention is made of the bars of the pit Job 17.16 and of the keys of hell and death Revel 1.18 and of the keys of the bottomless pit Revel 9.1 3 Being then that the grave being that the place and state of the dead is compared to a house with gates and doors shut up and fastned with bars and locks from hence likewise it comes to pass that Death or Destruction is described by entering into the gates of the grave for so you find in the words which I have already cited Isaiah 38.10.11 I said in the cutting off of my days when God told me that I should dye I shall go to the gates of the grave am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world where entering into the gates of the grave plainly signifies death it self or entring into the place of the dead as all the other expressions shew 4. This being so if the Church be taken for Gods people not considered as a Society being together in Communion but as single Members of Christs Body then these words that are before us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church imply no more than that the Members of Christs body shall overcome death and the grave by a Resurrection to Immortality But then if the Church in this place be taken as it usually is and as I judge it ought to be for the general Society of Believers considered as they are a Church living together in Communion in the use of all Christ's Institutions then are the words we have in hand which tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church a promise that there shall be a Church professing the true Faith of the Gospel and living in the use of its Institutions in visible Fellowship and Communion till the second Coming of our Lord. Then when it is said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the meaning will be that the Church shall never enter into those gates which is as much as if it were said that it should never be destroyed Having thus interpreted the words before us I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Church this is which is designed in these words 2. And then secondly how far this promise of our Lord made to that Church in these words secures it from errour and defection 1. It is needful to understand what the Church is which is designed in these words where it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And the reason is because the Patrons of the Roman Church have assumed this promise unto themselves with as much confidence and presumption as if it had been expresly said That the Church of Rome should never fail but always continue firm and stable nay absolutely infallible in the Faith in the true Doctrine of Christianity whereas in truth this is as well a great arrogance as a most wide and foul mistake For certain it is that our Saviour here speaks not of any particular Church planted in this or the other place but only of the Universal Church the whole Society of those persons who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel He speaks indefinitely of his Church Vpon the rock will I build my Church and speaking indefinitely of his Church cannot possibly understand any particular part of it the Church of any particular place but the Catholick Universal Church The truth is the Church of any particular place seated in any particular Country may utterly fail and be extinguished How many great and excellent Churches have failed and perished long ago How many others have so decayed that they seem near unto destruction Where are those many famous Churches which once flourished in the Coast of Africks Where are those seven Churches of Asia largely mentioned by St. John in the three first Chapters of the Revelations Where are those many other Churches which formerly flourished in the East How many of them are extinguished utterly ruined and destroyed with the very Cities where they were planted How many others are decayed almost to a total dissolution Be it then concluded that this promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any Society of Christians seated in any particular place not unto any particular Church Which being so I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference and a Caution 1. The Inference is That seeing this promise of our Lord that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church belongs to the Church Universal and not to any particular Church The consequence which the Romanists draw from these words namely that the Church of Rome is indefectible and infallible is most inconsequent and unreasonable This promise belongs to the whole Church of which the present Church of Rome is but a part and a part infected with strange corruptions This promise belongs to the Universal Church of Christ the Church of Rome was never more than only a particular Church that is a member of the universal and is now what it hath long been a most corrupt and unsound member And as that Church hath strangely sunk into heathenish and barbarous Superstitions so may it utterly fail and vanish and disclaim the
very name of Christ and yet this promise of our Lord remain a firm and stable truth That the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that this promise belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any particular Church this may suggest a severe Caution to all particular Churches in the World wheresoever they are fixed and planted carefully to study their preservation and duly to mind and use the means that may be effectual to that purpose The promise of God doth not fail in the failing of any particular Church seeing that no particular Church hath the warranty of any promise from him that it shall not cease to be a Church and lose the profession of Christianity If the Professors of Christianity in any particular place or Nation shall become vain in their imaginations exchanging plain and wholesom Truths for fond Speculations and Opinions if they shall turn factious and schismatical neglecting their spiritual Guides and Pastors if they be dissolute in their manners and confute their profession in their lives they do in effect dissolve themselves and break the bonds of their own communion and what is more provoke God to bring confusion and ruine upon them They were these miscarriages that opened the way to the Turks and Saracens to overflow the Eastern Churches and let Mahometism into the World They were the same that brought that deluge of Goths and Vandals and barbarous Nations upon the West and what may happen upon our selves for the same miscarriages that are amongst us the wisest man amongst us cannot tell unless those evils be reformed which plainly threaten destruction to us Sure I am that Christ's Admonition to the Church of Ephesus may duly he applied to us Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent Rev. 2.5 Christ is so far from promising safety and protection to any particular Church and People where they neglect their own safety where they wilfully violate his Laws that he threatens destruction and ruine to them and therefore it is no particular Church but the Catholick or Universal Church to which our Lord makes this promise that the gates of hell full not prevail against it This being cleared 2. Let us now proceed to the second point which is to consider how far this promise of our Lord made to the universal Church secures it from errour and defection 1. And first of all there is no doubt but that it secures it from such errours as destroy the foundation of Christianity for wheresoever these prevail the gates of Hell prevail in them which is a contradiction to Christs promises made to his Church in this place Errour in matters fundamental destroys the being of a Church and therefore the promise which assures us that there shall always be a Church assures us there shall always be a society of Christians which shall not err in fundamentals that is to say which shall profess all Christian Doctrine absolutely necessary to salvation 2. But then secondly although this promise of our Lord secure the universal Church from errour in fundamental points yet I conceive it doth not secure it from errour in things not fundamental I do not say that the whole Church the Church universal of any age even since the Decease of Christs Apostles hath actually erred even in things of less concernment But this I say that this promise doth not secure it from such errour The reason is because the Church may err in matters that are not fundamâ—ntal and yet continue a true Church for as a particular or single person may be a true and real Christian although he mistake in lesser matters in such as do not appertain to the foundation of Christianity so also may a Society of men be a true Church although they err in the like matters Errour in matters of less concernment doth no more destroy the being of a Church than lesser irregularities in practice and certainly such irregularities do not destroy the being of it There was something of faction and something of prophaneness also in the Church of Corinth one was of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas 1 Cor. 3.3 4. And when they came to the Lords Supper one was hungry and another was drunk and the rich despised and contemned the poor 1 Cor. 11.21 which certainly were no small miscarriages and yet S. Paul doth still acknowledge that they were a true and real Church And so he stiles them 1 Cor. 1.2 There were not many of the seven Churches whereunto S. John writes by the spirit and in the name of Christ himself as unto true Christian Churches but had some considerable faults in them For thus is our Lord brought in as speaking to the Church of Ephesus Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent c. Revel 2.5 to the Church of Pergamus I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam Revel 2.14 to the Church of Thyatira I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to seduce my servants c. Revel 2.20 to the Church of Sardis I have not found thy works perfect before God Revel 3.2 to the Church of Laodicea I would thou were cold or hot so then because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth unless thou reform in due time Revel 3.16 18. The summ is this as there may be a true Church where there are defects in point of practice so there may be a true Church also where there are defects in point of truth provided they be not in those truths which are fundamental to Christianity And therefore since this promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail aginst his Church imports no more but that there shall always be a true Church it doth not secure the same Church from errour in matters not fundamental And now to reflect upon this point 1. Hence we learn what it hath been that hath preserved the Church of Christ and the Christian Faith in that Church in all its several dangers and hazards in the several ages of Christianity Namely the faithfulness of our Lord to this his stable and gracious promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church which faithfulness will appear more signal if we shall make a short reflexion upon the several dangers and tryals that have in several and divers ages assaulted the Church and Faith of Christ 1. And first of all when that Church and Faith did first appear they were assaulted by persecution by persecution from Jew and Gentile and that both by the tongue and the sword the Scribes and Pharisees amongst the Jews the Philosophers also amongst the Gentiles bent all their wit to confute the Faith and the
higher powers the Princes and Potentates of the World exercised all external violence to destroy and kill the professors of it No reproaches were thought too foul to blacken no tortures too cruel to destroy the professours of the Gospel of Christ for the three first ages of Christianity insomuch that they had but little time to breathe in the intervals of persecution while they continued under heathen Emperours 2. No sooner did the supreme power owne the profession of Christianity no sooner did peace dawn upon the Church by the favour of Constantine the Great but that the professors of Christianity broke and divided amongst themselves Then was the Church as much troubled by the Errours and Heresies by the Schisms and Factions of them that professed the name of Christ as it had been in former ages by the open violence of persecution 'T is true indeed there had been Errours there had been factions amongst the Christians before that time but now they grew to greater height especially concerning the person of Christ for the repressing of which errours the four first general Councils were called 3. Next after the mutual strifes that arose among the Professors of the Gospel they fell into the sleep of ignorance dark and stupid and profound ignorance which began in the sixth and seventh Ages and continued for divers Ages together And then it was that all the follies and superstitions entred into the Christian Church which are still retained in the Church of Rome Then were Images set up in Churches and great Veneration given to them then came in the Invocation of Saints then the Adoration of Angels also then the opinion of Transubstantiation then infinite forgeries of Epistles forgeries of large and great Volumes fictions of the Lives of Saints fictions of the Miracles done by them to advance the Glory of the Church of Rome which were no sooner disclaimed and baffled by the Reformation that still continues but they of that Chuch presently fell to practise the very same cruelties the same bloody Arts upon the Reformed that the Heathen Emperours had formerly practised upon the whole Church of God Such were the methods that have been used to prevail against the Church of Christ violence from without divisions within the troubles of danger the temptations of ease all the cruelties and arts of Satan to bring confusion and ruine upon it and yet behold it still continues and will continue in the world either in one place or another by virtue of the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that Christ our Lord hath made it the matter of a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that is to say that there shall always be a Society professing the Faith of Christianity and living together in communion in the use of all Christs Institutions this may serve for an admonition to all Christians to study Unity amongst themselves to make no breach in the Church of Christ where it is possible to keep together with piety and good conscience He that promised there should be a Church to the end of the world promised the unity and Christian communion of its members amongst themselves without this there is no Church And he that doth any thing directly tending to break this unity and communion doth what is in him to frustrate the very promise of Christ and to destroy that Church which he hath founded upon a rock In the mean time I must profess that I am much more than well satisfied in our separation from the Church of Rome or rather in their separation from us and from the Catholick Church it self by their infinite variations from it But on the other hand I cannot but tremble to think of the many grievous divisions amongst them that are divided from the Church of Rome These if not timely cured and removed will certainly bring confusion amongst us and then will that old Enemy enter in the smoke and darkness of that confusion I wonder to see how little regard how little value many men have for the preservation of peace amongst us I wonder to see what little exceptions what groundless cavils are made pretences to separate from us Certain it is that these men are infinitely wanting either in knowledge or sincerity If they do not understand that the peace of the Church is a thing of most important value for the preservation of Faith and love and the very essence of Christianity if they do not understand how weak and trifling all their Arguments against us are and that it is next to an impossibility to find a Church against which nothing shall be objected if they do not understand all these things they are guilty of very great ignorance but if they do understand these things and yet persist in separation they are guilty of equal insincerity The duty of every good Christian in these distractions and divisions that so much trouble the Christian World is to put up constant prayers to God and also to use his best endeavours for the peace of the whole Church of Christ They are short sighted in Christianity and very mean and narrow spirited that mind or study peace no further than concerns a particular Congregation nay the Church of any particular Nation Christ hath a care of his whole body and requires an unity and communion not only of the particular Members of any Church but of all particular Churches also These make up the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church is Christs body There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5 6. There is saith he one body one universal Church the unity and the peace whereof he recommends unto our study Now therefore study the peace and unity of this Church as much as possibly lies in you adorn it by your Faith and Piety labour its purity and its peace For to this end did Christ our Lord give himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 14.15 What is it then I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also OUR Blessed Lord having a while before his death promised his Apostles another comforter who should for ever abide with them John 14.16 that is to say the spirit of truth to lead them into all truth renews this promise again unto them a little before his ascension into Heaven Act. 14. and commands not to depart from Jerusalem but there to wait for the promise of the Father And long it was not before this promise was fulfilled
and that in a very signal manner for when they were assembled together on the day of Pentecost suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance Acts 2.2 3 4. which same Spirit also then endued them with all other kinds of gifts and powers requisite for the infallible preaching and sure confirmation of the Gospel And as these miraculous gifts and powers were now bestowed upon the Apostles so afterwards on great numbers of other Christians First on those that were Jews by birth as you may see Act. 4.3 8.17 and afterwards on the Gentiles also as it appears from what we read Act. 10.44 Then came it to pass that all the Churches wherein the Faith of Christ was planted much abounded with such persons as had the miraculous gifts of the Spirit but no where were there more of these than in the famous Church of Corinth which as it was zealous of these gifts 1 Cor. 14.12 so had it a plentiful measure of them as plainly appears from the 13 Chapter of this Epistle Upon this account the Apostle directs them in this Chapter how they should use these spiritual gifts Namely for the edifying of the Church so you read vers 12. for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye way excel to the edifying of the Church and because the Church could not be edified by any thing uttered in an unknown tongue unless interpreted in one that was known he adds as follows vers 13 14. wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret for if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful that is my spiritual gift is exercised but my understanding is not exercised so as to render what I say intelligible and useful to other persons which being so he puts this question what is it then that is to say what is the most desireable thing what should we desire in point of Prayer to which he answers in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also That is the thing to be desired is that when the Spirit suggests and dictates a prayer to any man as he did to many in those ages by an immediate inspiration he my so far use his own understanding when he prays in a publick congregation as to utter the prayer in a known tongue and in easie and intelligible expressions that others may be edified by it Now from these words compared with other places of Scripture I shall take occasion to observe That there were two ways of praying by the Spirit in the first Age of Christianity 1. The first of these was extraordinary as when the Spirit dictated a prayer by an immediate Inspiration 2. The other ordinary as when a man prayed heartily and fervently but not by immediate Inspiration but in the use of Faith and Hope and all such other Christian Graces as are the fruits of the holy Spirit and the causes of holy and good affection 1. The former of these that is the extraordinary gift of prayer seems to have been of two kinds likewise 1. In the former whereof the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been wholly passive so far as not to have employed it self either in the inventing of the conceptions of the prayer or in the uttering those conceptions in a tongue commonly understood Such was the prayer the Apostle mentions verf. 14. of this Chapter If I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth that is the spiritual gift that is in me but my understanding is unfruitful that is to say my understanding doth not imploy and exercise it self to express the conceptions of this prayer in a tongue or manner known to all them that hear me 2. In the latter kind of this extraordinary gift of prayer prayer by immediate Inspiration the understanding of him that prayed seems to have been passive and active likewise passive so far as to have received all the conceptions of the prayer from the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost active so far as to have imployed and exercised it self to express and utter those conceptions in a tongue unknown to them that heard and in a familiar easie manner And such was the prayer the Apostle mentions in these words I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will utter the very same conceptions which the holy Spirit suggests to me but I will use my understanding to utter them in a known tongue and in easie and familiar expressions Concerning both these several ways I have something to observe unto you 1. Concerning the first wherein the understanding was wholly passive wherein a man used both the gift of tongues and received the conceptions of the prayer from an immediate Inspiration I observe the Apostle did not allow the use of this in Christian Assemblies unless that either the person that prayed or else some persons present had the gift of interpreting what was said The ground of which his determination was that nothing was to be spoken in the Church but what might edifie all that were present even the most illiterate persons and that such as these could not be edified by that which was uttered in an unknown tongue though dictated by the holy Spirit unless it was afterwards interpreted I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also i. e. so that others may understand And so should every man pray in the Church else says the Apostle when thou shalt bless with the spirit how should he that occupieth the room of the unlearned how should a vulgar illiterate person say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified ver 16 17. So then the Apostles judgment is this That no office is to be performed in the Church but so that all may be edified by it that no man is edified by that which he doth not understand and therefore that an unknown tongue was not to be used in the offices of the Church unless there were some that could interpret So he suggests at the 18 19 verses I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue So he more expresly concludes vers 27 28. If any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret But if there be no interpreter let him
this he accepts also This is really prayer in Faith in belief of the promises God hath made and certainly God accepts such prayer This is a prayer put up to God with devour and humble and holy affections for so I state the nature of it and such was that the Apostle required Eph. 6.18 and therefore supposed to be grateful to God and so will every one believe who knows that the heart is in such prayer and that it is the heart which God requires And to say no more such prayer as this although it doth not proceed from an immediate Inspiration a present dictate of the holy Spirit yet is it the mediate effect of the Spirit as being the effect of that Faith that Hope that Love and Charity and Humility which is the fruit of the Spirit of God It is the fruit of these Graces and. whatsoever else is of the same nature and these are the fruits of the Spirit of God Gol. 5.22 23. 2. The second thing which I must observe concerning this way of praying by the Spirit is that it is applicable to a form of prayer The words of Scripture are a form of words and will any men say that he cannot read or hear those words read unto him and heartily believe what he hears or reads and be as heartily affected with it If he cannot do this let him confess that he doth not believe the Word of God when he hears it read and that he is nothing affected with is but if he will not confess this let him confess that faith and zeal faith and pious and holy affections may be applied to a form of words and consequently to a form of prayer 2. Most of those persons who disallow a form of Prayer and thanksgiving to God allow and practise a certain form in singing Psalms and what are such Psalms but certain forms of Praying and rendering thanks to God and if men can heartily pray to God in verse or meeter why not in prose as well as in verse 3. All the Protestant Churches of other Nations all the Christians Churches in the World have set forms for their publick Offices and so hath the whole Church had for fourteen hundred Years at least and therefore certainly it was and is the sense of the universal Church not only that it was very lawful but most expedient and useful also that the publick Offices of the Church should be performed in a set form and that men might pray in a set form and pray by the spirit at the same time that is to say in Faith and Hope and with holy and devout affections 4. Add hereunto that there are divers forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture a form of benediction whereby the Priest was to bless the People Numb 6.23 24 25 26. a form for the offering of the First-fruits Deut. 26.5 6. c. That David composed many of the psalms as the titles of them expresly shew to be used as publick forms of Prayer in the solemn worship of God in the Temple That our Saviour himself gave that which is called the Lords Prayer as a form of Prayer to his Disciples according to the custome of the Jewish Doctors and John the Baptist who did the like for their Disciples Now had it not been a possible thing for men to use a form of Prayer with faith and zeal and holy affections as every man always ought to pray we should have had no forms of Prayer expresly prescribed in the holy Scripture 5. And to conclude the present point were not faith and zeal and devout affections applicable to a form of Prayer no man could heartily joyn in a Prayer which he hears uttered by another person for all such prayers whatsoever they be to him that speaks are certain forms to them that hear them to them they as are limited forms when they are spoken as if they had been printed and read for the words are still the very same and all the sense contained in them And so I conclude the second observation that is that a man may pray by the spirit that is in Faith and holy Zeal and pray by a Form at the same time 3 I must further observe unto you that as the way of Praying by the Spirit is applicable to a form of Prayer so that it ought in very truth to be applied to every Prayer we make to God whether it be with or without a form God hears no Prayers accepts no service offered to him where there is no attention of mind no Zeal and Affection in the heart It is a great neglect of God a dangerous irreverence to our Maker not to attend to what we speak or what is spoken in our name when we make our addresses to him by Prayer doth any man speak unto a Prince not minding what he speaks unto him doth any man make an address to a King without giving heed to his own address and if we judge it a great irreverence to speak to a Prince without attending to what we speak what shall we judge of that affront men do to God when they atend not to those Prayers which they themselves offer to God or are offered by others in their names in their presence and behalf And then for Faith and Zeal and Fervour these are the very life of Prayer Prayer is but sound and noise without them Men may pray and pray acceptably where they do not utter express words Rom. 8.26 but the most excellent words in the World are not true and real Prayer where there is nothing of desire nothing of affection added to them Confess your faults one to another faith S. James cap. 5.16 and pray one for another that ye may be healed The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man avai leth much 'T is the fervent Prayer that is effectual the effectual Prayer that is useful to us and who can wonder that God should not hear those Petitions which are void of affection and desire if we our selves neglect our Prayers those very Prayers we seem to make how much more will God neglect them why should he grant what we our selves do not desire especially since it is an affront a mocking of God to ask of him what in truth we do not really desire what we have no mind to receive from him which is indeed the very case when our Prayers have nothing of attention nothing of zeal and affection in them What then shall we say to all that coldness all that remisness which appears in our publick and solemn worship of God By this we lose those spiritual joys those sensible warmths and feeling comforts which always attend fervent Prayer and tend to the strengthning of Faith and Hope and all other Virtues and Christian Graces By this we fail of Gods acceptance and of gaining the things we ask of him By this we give scandal to other persons who take occasion from our remissness and want of zeal in our