Bishops and Presbyters in Italy shall give an account for souls in England and as much against reason to say or think that souls in England shall not give an account for their disobedience And as this Position concerning the Authority of our own particular Church is reasonable so is it also religious For this is Saint Pauls own argument to the Corinthians Though you have ten thousand instructers in Christ yet have ye not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me 1 Cor. 4. 15 16. Whence we cannot but collect this dogmatical conclusion That this Church which hath begotten us in Christ claimeth our obedience in Christ and to renounce that obedience is in effect to renounce our being made Christians And as no other Church can truly say to us I have begotten you through the Gospel so no other Church can justly say unto us Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me To sum up all in one word This Doctrine concerning the acknowledging and obeying the authority of mine own Church being both rational and religious I dare not wilfully oppose it for fear of sinning against the God within me that is to say mine own conscience which will certainly by a most terrible and just remorse vindicate the violated dictates of Reason And much more for fear of sinning against the God without me Father Son and Holy Ghost which will certainly by a more terrible and just vengeance at the last day vindicate the violated dictates of Religion CAP. II. That the Church of England hath most carefully discharged her Trust concerning Religion as a most Christian or most Catholick Church SECT I. Gods intent in trusting his Church with Religion was her honour and happiness which should cause our thankfulness to God and our reverend esteem of his Church IT is a great honour to be trusted and as great a happiness to discharge a Trust Accordingly God entrusting his Church with Religion did intend her both honour and happiness Honour with men happiness with himself Honour in earth and happiness in heaven wherein we cannot but admire the goodness and Justice and liberality and mercy of God His Goodness in that he communicateth to his Church his own most excellent property even a will and desire that all men should be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth 1. Tim. 2. 4. His Justice in that he giveth abilities proportionable to that desire enabling his Church to promote the salvation of men and to bring them unto that heavenly knowledge his Liberality in that he giveth this desire and those abilities meerly of his free grace to enrich our souls not himself And lastly his Mercy in that by giving this desire these abilities and these riches he expelleth our natural defects arising from errour and ignorance whereby we do walk in the false and cannot find out the true way and prepareth us for that bliss and glory which is above nature who can think of this goodness of this Justice of this liberality of this mercy and not say with the Psalmist Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is withâ—n me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities which saveth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness Psalm 103. 1 2 3 4. For it is his goodness that he forgiveth sin and healeth infirmities his Justice that he forgiveth only the penitent sinners and healeth only those who are broken in heart His mercy that he saveth our life from destruction and his liberality that he crowneth us with mercy and loving-kindness Accordingly he hath commanded his Church to teach especially the Doctrine of Faith to set forth his goodness by which he is reconciled The Doctrine of Repentance to set forth his Justice which hath been satisfied The Doctrine of Free Grace to set forth his mercy in saving us from destruction The Doctrine of eternal glory to set forth his liberality in crowning us with loving kindness O my soul consider the immortal comfort of these heavenly Truths and look upon thy Church which teacheth them as the daughter of immortality as the mother of comfort and as the Bride of the King of Heaven Then wilt thou no more be contentedly without thy Church then thou canst be comfortably without these Doctrines Then wilt thou say with the Psalmist I am fearfully and wonderfully made but with thy self I am more fearfully and wonderfully saved Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Psalm 139. 13. I am much amazed at thy great care and providence over my body but much more at thy great care and providence over my soul Thou madest use of my carnal Parents to make me communicating to them as far as they were capable the honour of my Creation Thou makest use of my spiritual Parents to save me communicating to them as far as they are capable the honour of my salvation should I be a monster of nature if I dishonoured the one and shall I not be a monster of grace if I dishonour the other Didst thou confer on them the Dignity of Causality by thy goodness that I should cast upon them the indignity of contumacy by my undutifulness Can I indeed truly honour thee the Principal and dishonour thy Church the instrumental cause of my salvation Thou laid'st thine hand upon me to make me but thou laid'st thine heart upon me to save me O make me wholly to fix my heart upon thee my Saviour and upon thy salvation Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book were all my members written wstilst thou madest my Body But thine eyes would not see my sinfulness nor my imperfections and thou didst blot all my transgressions out of thy Book that thou mightst save my soul Therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels unto me O God Psalm 139. 17. Dear are thy counsels about my Creation much dearer are thy counsels about my Redemption Counsels they were till thou wert pleased to reveal them by thy Church Since therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels I beseech thee suffer me not to say How cheap is thy Counsellor SECT II. The Churches Trust concerning Religion is to see there be right Preaching Praying and Administring the holy Sacraments That preaching belongs rather to the knowledge then to the worship of God and ought not to thrust out Praying which is the chiefest act of Gods worship and most regarded by him especially when many pray in one communion CHristian Religion teacheth us to know and worship God as is agreeable to his Glory and profitable for our salvation So that the Churches trust concerning the Christian Religion is reducible to these two heads the knowledge and the worship of God And because the Church is trusted with the
ordained is the Remembrance of God And consequently they best keep the Sabbath who best remember God and without doubt they remember him best who serve him best who have an established publick worship most befitting his glorious Majesty Others though they make never so much noise of God yet if they remember his name they forget his nature The Seraphims durst not do so when they came to praise him They agreed before hand what should be the set form of their Praise for one cryed unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Isaiah 6. 3. They cryed one unto another to shew they all were agreed upon the same anthymn that they had prepared their song of praise before they came to sing it And Saint Ambrose tells us they still continue the same song To thee Cherubims and Seraphims continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath There is no true singing Holy Holy Holy unto God without preparing the song before hand and a song that is well prepared is as well continued Let us imitate the Seraphims in our care of preparation that we may imitate them in our ardency of affection for we shall little less then lye to God if we say The whole earth is full of his glory whiles our own hearts are empty SECT X. Certainty is more to be regarded in the publick exercise of Religion then Variety Hence the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Decalogue righteously taken into our Liturgie but unrighteously omitted by Innovators who vainly obtrude Variety to mens consciences instead of Certainty THE ready way to make men irreligious is to bring them to an uncertainty in Religion For Constancy is founded upon Certainty and therefore those men who are most uncertain what to do must needs be most unconstant in their doings For this cause the Church which is Gods Trustee for Religion thinks it a great part of her trust to deal therein altogether upon Certainties not upon Varieties and to have such a publick worship of God as should first make the people certain of their Religion then zealous and constant in it Hence was the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments taken in as parts of our Liturgie because they are not only the compleat summes but also the certain rules of all those duties of Faith Hope and Charity in which consists the very body and substance of Religion For as they are the compleat summes of those Religious duties so they must fully declare the glory of God These short abridgements of Gods own making shewing more of the Truth then all the copious enlargements which we can make And as they are the certain rules of those duties so they most readily advance the edification of men whose souls are more truly edified by adhering to these fundamental certainties then by cleaving to all our additional varieties which are but additions of hay and â—tubble unless they be grounded upon these Wherefore those men who are so furiously bent against the publick use of these in our Liturgies were best seriously to consider whether or no they do not grosly oppose the glory of God in rejecting such unparalleld summes of Piety but surely they do grievously oppose the edification of men in rejecting such undoubted rules of certainty For their work is though I hope their aim be not to bring all the world to an uncertainty in Religion To an uncertainty in Believing for all Doctrine to novelty to an uncertainty in Praying for all Devotion to Phancie to an uncertainty in Doing for all practice to Inconstancy Hence that heavenly Creed which was the Rule of the Apostles Preaching is willingly if not purposely omitted in their Assemblies lest it should discover the nakedness and novelty of their Doctrine Hence the Lords most holy Prayer which was not only the Rule but also the chiefest part of antient Liturgies as willingly omitted by them lest it should discover the emptiness the levity the uncharitableness the irregularity and in one word the phantasticalness of their Prayers Lastly Hence the Decalogue which is the short rule of life and morality as willingly omitted as the rest lest it should discover the impiety and check the inconstancy of their doings for this is the readiest if not the best reason we can give why they should quarrel with Gods own hand-writing in our Liturgy denying us to repeat each Commandment with a solemn invocation for mercy testifying our repentance the best part of our innocency and as solemn an invocation for Grace imploring the amendment of our sinful lives the best part of our repentance This is too too palpable That they generally preach such Doctrines vent I cannot say make such prayers and use such practises as are not agreeable with these rules and therefore they may judiciously if not justly be thought to leave out the rules lest they should be checked from their own mouths and thereby awaken the yet sleeping checks of their hearts for such Preachings such Prayings and such Doings And if any of them take this for an uncharitable gloss let him know it is more charitable for us to question their superstructions then for them to condemn our foundations For if one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against God who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. As if the good old Priest had said No man ought to speak the least word for him that sins against God with an high hand and no man can speak too much against him But I hear a great noise of Variety making more then ample amends for that Certainty in the publick exercise of Religion which we think is diminished if not destroyed but they say is only changed and by its change augmented I could easily answer Quid verba audio dum facta videam To what purpose do men offer good words in excuse for bad deeds As if they could prove that others eyes are shut because they say their own are opened Or as if men came to Church rather for curiosity then for conscience rather like Athenians only to hear and to hear some new things to please their curiosities then like Christians to pray for so it was in Christs time Two men went up into the Temple to pray Luke 18. 10. Or if to hear yet not to hear such solid Truths as might nourish their souls and such fundamental Truths as might establish their consciences But because they will needs say with Saul I have performed the commandment of the Lord I have done nothing but according to his Holy Word I will also answer with Samuel What meaneth then this bleating of sheep in mine cars and the lowing of the Oxen which I hear 1 Sam. 15. What meaneth this Bleating and Lowing instead of Praying and Preaching not bleating of sheep and lowing of Oxen for thence might come an acceptable sacrifice at last though nothing but an hideous noise at first but
knowledge of God she is trusted with preaching which teacheth that knowledge And because she is trusted with the worship of God she is trusted with praying and with administring the holy Sacraments which constitute that worship So that we may see how incongruously some men do seek to turn all the worship of God into preaching when as in truth that more properly belongs to the knowledge then to the worship of God and though knowledge may direct our worship yet it cannot constitute it Wherefore God himself speaking of his publick worship as it was exercised among the Jews on their Sabbath calleth the Temple wherein it was exercised the house of Prayer I will make them joyful in my house of Prayer Isa 56. 7. And our blessed Saviour speaking of the same worship as it should be exercised among Christians calleth the place of its exercise the House of prayer My house shall be called of all Nations the house of prayer Mark 11. 17. In that he saith of all Nations he includeth the Christians who were so to be whereas the Jewish worshippers were but only of one Nation and in that he alloweth the Christians to have amongst them Gods house as well as the Jews t is evident he calleth not only the Temple at Hierusalem Gods house but also all other Temples or Churches which should ever after be set apart for Gods worship plainly sheweth that his zeal was not so much for that house whereof in few years after not one stone was to be left upon another as for those houses which were to continue to the worlds end And lastly in that he calleth the Temple though set apart for all the acts of Gods worship The house of prayer that whilst sacrifices were not yet abolished t is evident he would have prayer looked upon as the chiefest act of Gods worship as chiefly belonging to Gods house and that therefore no act of Religion should cast prayer out of Gods house which is the house of prayer as no act of irreligion should cast Gods house out of any Nation which is the house of prayer for All Nations Preaching was ordained for Praying not against it to teach us how to make our supplications to God not to exclude our making them Which truth is either so palpable as to obtain all mens consent or so powerful as to extort it for even they who are most zealous for preaching do not think fit to preach without praying nay they commonly turn their Sermons into prayers as if the one without the other were either an ineffectual or an incompleat act of Religion whereas prayer alone is neither thought ineffectual nor incompleat thereby giving that pre-eminence to prayer in the truth of their Judgements which they arrogate to preaching in the perversness of their practice that is To be the chiefest act of Religious worship No Christian Divine ought so to betray his own Vocation much less his Religion as to undervalue preaching nor yet so to betray his Trust as to overvalue it above Prayer either of them is the publick manifestation of Gods excellency which to do according to Gods command is both the greatest duty of a Christian and the greatest glory of Christianity But whereas Gods excellency may be manifested three wayes First by way of Enuntiation as in that of the Psalmist Great is the Lord and marvellous worthy to be praised Psal 145. 3. Secondly by way of admiration as O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world or What is man that thou art mindful of him Psalm 8. 1 4. Thirdly by way of invocation as In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion Psalm 71. 1. T is evident that preaching can magnifie God only by way of enuntiation declaring his greatness and goodness or by way of admiration extolling it and I wish from my heart that our preaching did truly hit either of these marks which ought to aim at both But t is only praying which can magnifie him by way of invocation not only declaring and admiring his greatness and goodness but also Trusting it Therefore is this the highest degree of glory which man can give to God and t is as great a shame to give it to any else as not to give it him because this comprizeth as well as the other the act of enuntiation which is the work of the tongue and the act of admiration which is the work of the head but moreover addeth a most holy Affection which is the work of the heart and then is God most truly glorified as to the manifestation of his excellency when he is glorified both with tongue and head and heart How much more when all these meet together not only in one man but also in many millions which joyn together in one heavenly form of prayer whom though their number may make many Congregations yet their uniformity in prayer will not let make any more then one Communion These Congregations as they give most glory to God so they have most power with him and most blessings from him amongst the rest the blessings of Charity and concord which others who more delight in variety of Prayers as they do not so truly desire so they cannot so firmly enjoy according to the excellent gloss upon Rom. 15. Benè rogat Apostolus minores pro se orar◠multi enim minimi dum congregantur unanimes fiunt magni multorum preces impossibile est non impetrare illud quod est impetrabile If the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man availeth much then of many righteous men much more especially when they all pray as one man with one heart and with one mouth and though many in speaking yet but one in Praying though many as men yet but one as Christians unanimously beseeching for the Grace and mercy of Christ who having joined two natures in one person loves to see us joyn many persons in one communion SECT III. Preaching is twofold either by Translating and Reading or by Expounding the Holy Scriptures The great excellency and necessity of both and that our Church is entrusted with both and cannot justly be charged as defective in either GOD first instructed men in his own person till their wickedness made them unworthy of so good company then withdrawing himself to heaven he instructed them by his Prophets because though their sin had made them destitute of his good company yet his mercy would no let them be destitute of his good instruction Thus was God pleased to preach unto those under the Law by himself and by his Prophets And after the same manner was he also pleased to preach to us under the Gospel by his Son and by his Apostles So that all Preaching hath in Truth its beginning from God should have its continuance with him its end in him For those Doctrines which are now Preached by his ordinary Ministers may not differ the least tittle from those
behold him as my Judge For if I be ashamed of him in his infirmity how shall he not be ashamed of me in his glory Therefore I dare not be ashamed of this day least I should seem to be ashamed of him also no nor of his prayer least I should seem to be ashamed of his words since himself hath said Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son ef man be ashamed when â—e cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angel Mar. 8. 38. SECT XI The first Christmas-day was kept by the Holy Angels therefore no will-worship in keeping Christmas but rather a necessity to keep it from Heb. 1. 6. The Kingdom of Christ as Creator and as Redeemer IN keeping of Christmas the Church militant follows the example of the Church Triumphant for the First Christmas-Day that was ever kept on Earth was kept by the Holy Angels that came of purpose from Heaven to keep it Luk. 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel A multitude of the Heavenly Host Praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace good will towards men Shall that be accounted Superstition in men which was undoubted Religion in the Angels or can we be called will-worshippers for doing no more then they did unless you will first call them so Let will-worship go in Epiphanius his language for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for wilful and for superfluous worship for what it hath of mans will or wilfulness it cannot but have of superfluity But let us take heed of calling that will-worship for which there is a Precedent in the Text and so great a reason for that Precedent for it is most certain that the blessed Angels in Heaven had great reason to joy for the incarnation of Christ since he was the Repairer of their ruine in their fellows and the confirmer of their â—â—ay or standing in themselves whence Alensis tels us plainly that the Angels joy and bliss was greater after the incarnation of Christ then it had been before For though the substantial Joy of the Angels consist in the contemplation of the Divinity yet their accidental joy consists in the contemplation of the Humanity of our blessed Saviour as it is united to his Divinity Accrevit igitur gaudium Angelorum licet non quod substantiam tamen quantum ad multitudinem quia pluribus modis habent modò gaudium in beatitudine quà m ante Incarnationem Par. 3. q. 12. Therefore the Joy of the Angels is increased by the Nativity of Christ though not in its substance yet in its Variety for that now they rejoyce more several wayes then before for whereas before the Incarnation they rejoyced to see God in God now since it They rejoyce to see God in man And we find that they did sing and triumph that they might express their joy surely not to teach us Christians who in that we are men have much greater cause of joy from thence then the Angels could have I say surely not to teach us men a lesson of silence and of fullenss But if we will not regard Precedent yet we must regard Precept And the Angels seem to have a Precept to worship our Saviour Christ at his Nativity For the Apostles words seem to look towards a Precept Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world He saith And let all the Angels of God worship him I know this Text chiefly aims at the Proof of Christs Divinity but if the Holy Spirit thought he had sufficiently proved the first-begotten of the Father though brought into the world in the form of a servant to be no less then God when he had said And let all the Angels of God worship him It is evident they do what is in them to invalidate this Proof who at the very time that he was thus brought into the world do cry out as loud as they can let not the the sons of men worship him But where doth the Holy Ghost say this Epiphanius in his Ancorate plainly cites Moses's song for this Text which is in Deut. 32. where v. 42. The Greek interpretation hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all the Angels of God worship him but with some various lections to make the Interpretation disputable at least if not questionable However since no such thing is to be found in the Hebrew and we are not assured that the Holy Ghost spake in Greek by the Septuagint supposing their Translation hath been preserved incorruptible we may not ascribe this Greek Translation to the saying of the Holy Ghost we must therefore appeal to the Hebrew Original which we are sure came immediately from Gods holy Spirit and then we shall find this Injunction Worship him all ye Angels of God in Psal 97. 7. And indeed the whole Argument of that Psalm is nothing else but a Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ and an exhortation both to Angels and men Joyfully to celebrate the magnificence and thankfully to acknowledge the power of his Kingdom For the Kingdom of Christ may be considered either as he is Creator Eternal God with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so the Jews themselves will not deny him to be their King or As Redeemer God and man in one Person and and so the Jews do stiffly deny his Kingdom and we Christians had need beware least we may seem to encourage or at least to confirm and Harden them in that Denial SECT XII We must embrace all opportunities of glorifying Christ that we may not be thought to desert either our Saviour or our selves whiles we are defective in our Devotions either for want of Preparation before which hath hitherto made us so bad Christians in so good a Church or of Affection in them which will keep us from being good Christians or of Thankfulness after them which wil keep us from worthily magnifying the name of Christ THe best course I know to prevent the hardening either of our own or of others Hearts is to take all the opportunities that are offered us of glorifying our blessed Saviour for he that is willing to neglect an opportunity can scarce be zealously inclined to lay hold of another time he that will not Honour Christ on his own Day will scarce pick out another Day to honour him though he may pretend to keep Christmass all the year or if he be indeed zealously inclined to honour Christ yet other Christians cannot be easily inclined to think him so and Jews must necessarily think him not so And though we ought not to judge them also that are without 1 Cor. 5. 12. yet we ought not to offend them and much less them that are within for this is the way to cause God to judge us we will therefore take that for granted which cannot be denied that we have all great need to imploy very much and cannot imploy
us his hands to be stretched out to embrace us and his side to be pierced to send forth water and blood his two blessed Sacraments to cleanse and strengthen us by that same flesh was he made liable to suffering and in that same flesh did he actually suffer all those things which at first bought the purchase and which do still bring to us the joy of our salvation SECT III. True knowledge of and Faith in Christ is not without true knowledge of and Faith in the blessed Trinity That the Protestants Faith The great loveliness of Christ in the flesh as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God and man and the great mysteries of his two natures in one person KNowledge in the natural man exalts him above other men but knowledge in the good Christian who alwaies loves what he knows of Christ exalts him above himself By knowing natural truths I do improve my reason but by knowing supernatural truths I do also improve my Religion The improvement of my reason exalts me above other men but the improvement of my Religion exalts me above my self And what knowledge can improve my Religion but only the knowledge of Christ who is both the Author and the Finisher of my Faith Therefore let me ever say with Saint Paul I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3. 8. for indeed truly to know Christ in his person is truly to know the whole Christian Faith in the ground and substance of it For what is the ground or substance of our Christian Faith but that which Saint Paul hath set down 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them which is in effect a short sum of the Apostles Creed for that treats of nothing but of God and of Christ reconciling us to God and of the benefits of that reconciliation the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Accordingly Aquinas makes it equally necessary to salvation to believe explicitly the mysterie of the blessed Trinity and to believe explicitly the mysterie of the incarnation of Christ 22 ae qu. 2. art 7. 8. There is an absolute necessity saith he of believing the Incarnation of Christ for that is the only way for a man to come to eternal blessedness because it is said Act. 4. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved And there is saith he as absolute a necessity of believing the blessed Trinity for the Incarnation of Christ cannot be explicitly believed without faith in the Trinity for we cannot believe that the Son of God did take our flesh upon him but we must acknowledge God the Father and God the Son and we cannot believe that he took this flesh of a Virgn by the operation of the Holy Spirit but we must acknowledge God the Holy Ghost so that truly to believe and confess the incarnation of Christ is truly to believe and confess God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Wherefore it was not an objection but a calumny in him that said of the Protestants For these good Gospellers have a faith and a justifying faith whereby they apprehend eternal life without Father Son and Holy Ghost without Christ and his Passion or any of those other matters which are rather subtile points of the Papists historical faith then of the lively justifying faith wherewith these Evangelical Brethren in all security are warranted of the certain favour of God in this life and assured glory in the next Reynolds against Whitaker p. 282. for no true Protestant doth believe and indeed no true Christian can believe that to be a true Faith in Christ which believes not the Holy and Undivided Trinity and all other Articles of the Apostles Creed For such a faith cannot justifie it self much less can it justifie the man that hath it wherefore Protestants do not dare not say That justifying Faith doth not believe the Trinity and Judgement to come as well as the Merits of Christ and the forgiveness of sins They only say the former truths are believed with the greater astonishment and admiration the latter truths with the greater affiance or affection but neither with a greater certainty or confidence then the other Fides ex ae quo assentit omnibus articulis fidei quoad certitudinem sed non quoad modum Faith doth equally assent to all the Articles of the Creed as to the certainty of assent though not as to the manner of assenting The sublim truth of the Trinity she believes with admiration the comfortable truths of Christs dying for sinners and the forgiveness of sins she believs with joy and consolation the dreadful truths of hell and judgement to come she believes with sorrow and contristation but all the truths contain'd in the Creed whether sublime or comfortable or dreadful she believeth with one and the same certainty or undoubted confidence And those who teach us that to believe in Jesus Christ our Lord is the proper act of justifying faith for to believe the forgiveness of sins is rather an effect then a cause of justification do not confine our justifying faith meerly to the belief of this one Article but do only profess that though true faith hath as many acts as objects and hath as many objects as supernatural truths revealed from God yet it justifies the sinner only by this one act of believing in Christ and relying wholly upon his merits and mediation Thus do we desire with Saint Paul to be found in Christ not having our own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3. 9. But we dream not of a righteousness either by a vain or by a false faith either by a vain Faith that believes not entirely with affection or by a false faith that believes not truly without mistake or deception Wherefore Antitrinitarian and Antichristian may go for all one in the Protestants as well as in the Papists account for indeed they have alwaies gone for one in the account of the Catholike Church We have heard Aquinas speaking the sense of the Western let us now hear Damascene speaking the sense of the Eastern Churches for so he tels us in his third Book de Orthodox◠fide and fifth chapter That the two cheif heads of the Christian Faith are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity which he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it treats only of God and the Doctrine of the incarnation of Christ which he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it sets forth the wonderful dispensations of God about the salvation of men And these two heads he not only joins but also compares together in one chapter shewing wherein they agree and wherein they
of the sixteenth Psalm for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt suffer thine holy one to see corruption rather then he would allow them their own plain proper sense whereby they did necessarily infer his resurrection from the dead in whose person they were spoken which is the more to be observed for that himself had acknowledged some peculiar eminence of this Psalm from the Title of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he therefore had thus glossed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T is glorious or precious as Gold t is a Golden Psalm and yet he would not see that mysterie in it which alone had given it that glorious title in the judgement of the best Divines even the Mysterie of Christs Resurrection SECT II. The necessity of our Christian Festival called Easter as it is an Anniversary feast to express the Christians joy for the resurrection of Christ that thereby the Christians Jubile or joy in Christ is not confined but enlarged and that by the same reason the Spirit of Prayer is not confined or hindred but rather assisted and helped by a set form of words SInce we cannot deny the Christians unspeakable joy for the Resurrection of Christ why should we go about to diminish it by opposing the grand Christian Festival which hath been instituted to express that joy For excellently Greg. Naz. and most like a true Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 39. the sum or business of a Festival is the remembrance of God and to put the Thesis into an Hypothesis the sum and business of this Festival is to remember Christ in whom alone we Christians must remember God so that to oppose this Festival is in effect to oppose the remembrance of God in Christ and to shake the very foundations of Christianity For we cannot oppose this Anniversary but we must also oppose our weekly Lords day Therefore did that Council judiciously which began its reformation of abuses in the Church with this Canon Custodite diem Dominicam quae nos denuo peperit à peccatis omnibus liberavit estote omnes in hymnis laudibus Dei animo corporeque intenti si aliter fecerit rusticus aut servus gravioribus fustium ictibus verberabitur Concil Matiscon 2. cap. 1. Keep the Lords day which hath begotten us anew and delivered us from all our sins Be all of you intent in body and soul to the praises of God and if any country man or servant do otherwise let him be soundly cudgelled for his pains And Bullinger in his Decades upon the fourth Commandment gives an excellent reason why set times and seasons should be consecrated and set apart for the publike worship and honour of God saying Oportet autem definitum tempus consecratum esse exercitio religionis ut Dominicum idem sentiendum arbitror de pauculis quibusdam Christi Domini festis quibus peragimus memoriam Nativitatis incarnationis circumcisionis resurrectionis ascentionis in coelum missionis Spiritus Sancti in discipulos libertas enim Christiana non est licentia dissolutio Ecclesiasticae piaeque observationis juvantis provehentis gloriam Dei charitatem proximi There must be some set and certain time consecrated to the exercise of Religion by vertue of this fourth Commandment as the Lords day and I think the same of those other Festivals instituted and observed in memory of Christ as his Nativity incarnation circumcision resurrection ascention into heaven and sending down the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples For Christian liberty is not a licentious dissolution of such holy and pious Ecclesiastical observations as tend wholly to the glory of Christ and the edification of our Christian Brethren Yet do we most willingly confess that the Christians feast of Jubile is not to be confined to a day because he that is the cause of it Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. And indeed so doth Saint Chrysostome expound that Text of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 5. 8. Therefore let us keep the feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saith not Let us keep the feast because it was then Easter or Whitsuntide when he writ this Epistle but to shew that a good Christians life is a continual Feast and therefore every day might serve him for a Festival So that in Saint Chrysostomes judgement Saint Pauls Let us keep the Feast is little other then a short extract of the Psalm of Jubile Jubilate Deo omnis terra O keep your Jubile in the Lord all ye lands Psalm 100. 1. Only the reason is much more express in the New then in the Old Testament Be ye sure that the Lord is God saith the Psalmist It is he that hath made us but much more forcible is the Apostles reason It is he that hath redeemed us We are his people and in that regard ought to hold a feast unto him Exod. 5. 1. but much rather because he hath been a sacrifice for us that we might be his people we are the sheep of his pasture and ought to hear his voice much rather because he hath been our Paschal Lamb that we might be his sheep The whole Psalm is nothing else but a song of Jubile in one verse and the reason of it in the next as ver 1. O be joyful in the Lord with gladness and with a song there 's the Jubile but ver 2. The Lord he is God it is he that hath made us there 's the cause of it And again ver 3. O go your way into his Gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise and be thankful unto him there 's the Jubile But ver 4. For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth from generation to generation there 's the reason of it Grace mercy and truth are all met together in the Lord saith the Psalmist a grace without repenting the Lord is gracious that is still continues so notwithstanding our multiplied provocations a mercy with ending His mercy is everlasting and a truth without failing His truth endureth from generation to generation But the Apostle tels us moreover in whom they are met and the ground of their meeting when he saith For Christ our passover is sacrificed for us For the cause of the grace is that this Christ is ours made ours by conjunction The cause of the mercy that he is our sacrifice by propitiation and the cause of the truth which is one and the same from Genesis to the Revelation is this that the same Christ was this sacrifice of the passover according to the prediction so long foreshewed in the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12. and so long foretold in the Prophets particularly Isa 53. 7. He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter so that though a stranger from the Common-wealth of Israel could ask the question Of whom speaketh the Prophet this he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before the
those our gifts and sacrifices Why doth this particle Therefore begin the Prayers at the Mass but only to shew as saith the Ritualist that the Angels and Saints in heaven have begun and that we men on earth do but only continue and as it were conclude this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God And why then should we otherwise continue or conclude then they have begun it Will they join with us in this our new worship or is that not a new worship meerly of our own inventing wherein they cannot will not join with us Since they glorifie God only in Christ how shall we venter to glorifie him in any other unless we will perswade God to accept one manner of glorifying him whiles it is our duty and another manner of glorifying him when it shall be our reward and so make grace not the inchoation but as it were the contradiction of glory or unless we will perswade our selves that it is not best practising such Songs on earth as we know we shall sing in heaven but such as we know we shall not sing there if so be our singing them here do not indeed keep us from coming thither and from singing there nor is this a causeless fear For he that in the case of his worship hath proclaimed himself a jealous God hath in effect told us that in that same case it is the best and surest way for every man to have his fears and jealousies Those holy prayers and praises which are offered up to God through Christ Jesus we are sure do glorifie him and consequently we cannot but fear that those which are offered up unto him through any other Mediator or Intercessor do not cannot tend to his glory Nor is it either just or safe to appeal to the practise of Gods Church at any time much less in the corruptest times against the Precept of Gods Word For we cannot be assured that any Church is his Church but from his word and we are sure that we have indeed the determination of a most infallible Doctor if we can truly say that we have the determination of his spirit in his holy Word For as what prayers go from man to God by our Saviour Christ are undoubtedly true worship so what precepts come from God to man by him are unquestionably true Doctrine Wherefore since See thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren thaet have the testimony of Jesus worship God is one of his precepts and that twice repeated almost in the very same words Rev. 19. 9. 22. 9. How shall we dare to do it and not think to make his Doctrine as well as our own worship both alike questionable Saint Augustine gives us such a definition of a Mediator as will quite exclude all but one and that is our blessed Saviour Qui pro omnibus interpellat pro quo nullus is verus est Mediator ac Intercessor noster lib. 2. contra Parmen cap. 8. He that intercedeth for all and none intercedeth for him is our true Mediator and Intercessor Mark how he makes Mediator and Intercessor both one though some of late would make a great difference betwixt them by that new distinction of Mediator redemptionis intercessionis saying that Christ alone is a Mediator of Redemption but Saints and Angels may also with him be Mediators of Intercession A distinction not known in Aquinas his daies who concludes positively that to be a Mediator betwixt God and man is proper only to Christ and proves his position by Saint Pauls words There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. He did not think of eluding this text by saying Mediator est duplex redemptionis intercessionis A Mediator is twofold of Redemption and of Intercession for that had been to say Vnus est duplex one is two a singular is a plural for there cannot be the ground of a distinction unless there be two and therefore a singular subject cannot be distinguished but by making one two or a singular a plural and the Apostle having said Vnus Mediator declared the subject of his proposition so numerical and singular that it could not be capable of a distinction For it is not possible to make of one subject numerically the same two specifically distinct And it is evident that a Mediator meerly of intercession and not of redemption is not a Mediator in the Apostles account for he proves that Christ only is a Mediator for all because he gave himself a ransom for all ver 6. How then can any be a Mediator to intercede for me who hath not been a Redeemer to ransom me or why should I go to them for Intercession to whom I cannot go for Reconciliation Doth not the blood of Christ speak better things then the blood of Abel to my soul and why should I then not wholly pant and gasp after his blood Is it not folly in me to leave the better and take the worse Nay is it not impiety in me to neglect the Son of God and go a gadding after the sons of men To neglect the Mediator God hath given me and to set up others of my own makeing Can I bestow any of my hope in praying to Saints and Angels and none of my Faith and Charity go along with it or have I too much of these excellent vertues in my soul that I could take or translate some part of them from my God were they indeed to be fixed on any creature Can I devote my self too much to a true Invocation or will not a false Invocation set up a false Religion and a false Religion calumniate the truth and endanger the benefit of my redemption Well then Tutior Sanior pars must needs be my rule in a matter that so nearly concerns my Saviours honour and mine own salvation and I will leave the Saints out of my prayers because it is both safer and sounder so to do For all the world cannot object against me for going to God only by his Son but I must object against my self for going to God by the best of his servants in conjunction with much more in derogation to his Son Wherefore I must resolve to let the Saints stand in my Calander but not let them come into my Liturgie for fear I should either exclude my Saviour out of his own office of Intercession or at least exclude my self and my prayers out of the blessing of his Communion For this I am sure of He will not join with me in my prayers which I make to any but only to his Father and it is dangerous for me to pray without his Intercession if not damnable for me to pray out of his Communion Wherefore though others be careless in this point who pretend to a perfection if not to a supererogation of righteousness yet I have work enough to pray against my sins dare not willingly admit a sin into my
Domino crucifixo mortuo discipulis fugientibus de resurrectione desperantibus in illâ solâ tota fides remansit Because the Disciples being fled and despairing of the Resurrection when they saw their master was dead the whole Christian faith remained in the blessed Virgin alone specially that day wherein Christ himself lay in the grave that was the Sabbath day or Saturday as if he had been captivated under death The foundation is unsound and so is the superstruction But we are sure whatever the Disciples frailty was in our Saviours Passion yet their zeal and constancy were both very eminent after his resurrection For then they attended diligently and constantly upon their master till they saw him taken up from them and they lost nothing by their diligent and their constant attendance For his Valediction was a Benediction as he left them he blessed them A good example for us how we ought to leave this world though never so injurious to us never so oppressive of us for a Benediction is the only true Christian Valediction and there is no ascending into heaven without that They who part and go away hence in discontents and grudgings which are but secret curses of the heart against God or man can scarce go to heaven by Christs assistance because they desire not to go thither after his example But let their names be enrolled in the records of eternity who notwithstanding all the provocations and insolencies of unjust and unrighteous men have died with more patience and contentedness then we dare live Sure even they also did see Christ in his Ascention though so many hundred years after it or they could not so exactly have followed his pattern But whatever we may think or say of them sure we cannot deny but some others did see it full as many hundred years before as Moses Deut. 33. 26. Ascensor coeli auxiliator tuus He that ascendeth the heavens iâ— thy helper for not only Saint Hierom but also Jarchi so expounds those words And David Psal 47. 7. Ascendit Deus in jubilatione God is ascended with a shout Nay many more it seems did see this Ascention together with him upon whom he calls earnestly to glorifie God for it Psalm 68. 4. O sing unto God and sing praises unto his name magnifie him that rideth upon the heavens as it were upon an horse what could the Apostles say more when they saw our Saviour triumphantly sitting upon the cloud and so ascending up Praise him in his name yea and rejoyce before him Concerning which places the Angelical Doctor hath thus determined Quòd autoritates illae propheticè dicuntur de Deo secundum quod erat incarnandus 3. p. qu 57. art 2. ad 1m Those authorities were spoken prophetically of God the Son in respect to his Incarnation And a more truly Angelical Doctor did in effect so determine long before him and that was Saint Paul when he applyed those words of Psalm 68. 18. Thou art gone up on high thou hast led captivity captive c. directly and expresly to the ascension of our Saviour Christ Thus were there many witnesses of our blessed Saviours Ascension long before it come to pass and therefore certainly that truth and consquently the rest tending to it may not want its witnesses to the worlds end This is clearly evidenced from Saint Pauls words who saith that when he ascended he gave gifts unto men that there should be a succession of witnesses to testifie of him till his coming again for this is the effect of those words Eph. 4. 11 12. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ The meaning is that the testimony of his Truth should not expire with the first witnesses of it but should continue by a succession of other witnesses to the worlds end even as long as there should be a Church to be edified or Saints to be perfected or the work of the Ministry to be performed Let these men consider whether they come not near denying Christs Ascension who do in effect deny the Apostles proof it He proves that Christ was ascended because he had established a Ministry they say there is no no need of a Ministry they were as good say That Christ is not ascended Again others there are that will have a Ministry but yet set up new officers in it or with it for the edifying of the body of Christ which Christ himself never instituted at his ascension and reject those which were of his own undoubted institution These men ought not to obtrude upon the Church any office as of Christs erecting that is not comprehended among those in this Text since they cannot shew us another Ascension much less ought they to disturb some of those which Christ himself then erected and his Church hath ever since acknowledged and retained unless they will be thought disturbers of this Article of their Christian faith He ascended into heaven For that institution cannot be only for a time which hath a reason that continues for ever And such is the reason here given by Saint Paul for instituting these Church-officers to wit The perfecting of the Saints the work of the Ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ A reason which is to hold till the end of the world and therefore doubtless so also must the Institution But we may â—ot stray away from our Mount Gerizim on which not the Sons of men but the eternal Son of God hath blessed us to follow after those whose delight is to be upon Mount Ebal to revile and to curse their Brethren nay their Mother the Church Let us then fix our eyes and our hearts upon our blessed Saviour for though one cloud received him out of his Disciples sight whiles he was ascending yet not all the clouds nor the whole body of heaven was able to keep Saint Stephen from seeing him after he was ascended for so we read Acts 7. 55. But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God what he did then see with the eye of flesh we may still see with the eye of faith especially if with him we suffer couragiously and contentedly and not only so but also thankfully for Jesus sake we shall with him likewise see Jesus standing on the right hand of God Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God v. 56. Adstantem ad dexteram Dei i. e. Paratum ad me confirmandum in veritatis confessione recipiendum ad sese saith Beza I see him standing that is ready to confirm me in the confession of his truth and as ready to receive me for confessing it And he borrowed this his gloss from Saint Gregory in his Sermon upon the Ascension
must needs be controverted to the worlds end unless it could be proved that not only Christ but also the blessed Virgin doth indeed sit at the right hand of God being joyned with Christ in the government of his Kingdom which is altogether impossible for that Christ himself sits there in his humane nature only by vertue of the personal union to and with the eternal Son of God whose property alone it is to sit at the right hand of his Father For though the Holy Ghost be also equal with the Father in the same power and glory and therefore together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified yet he is not said to sit at his right hand that 's a phrase spoken peculiarly of the Son in whom the Divine nature was as it were ecclipsed for a while in the state of his humiliation and in whom the humane nature now shineth most gloriously in the state of exaltation And besides for that the Son alone doth administer the Kingdom of the Father immediately from the Father but the Holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom not only from the Father but also from the Son For although God the Father Son and Holy Ghost do equally govern the Church both militant and triumphant that is do equally administer one and the same Kingdom in heaven and earth yet the Father administreth it of himself not by himself for he is of none as in being so in working The Son administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for as his being so his working is of the Father The holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for he is of the â—ather and of the Son so that God the Father administreth his Kingdom immediately by God the Son who is next him in order and mediately by God the Holy Ghost who so administreth from the Father as also from the Son and therefore is not said to sit at the right hand of the Father because he hath the administration of the Kingdom of God not of the Father alone but of the Father and of the Son whereas the Son hath it immediately and only of the Father So that our blessed Saviour did administer the Kingdom of his Father from all eternity as God But now since his Ascension he doth also administer the same as God in man or as God manifest in the flesh And it is his property alone to sit at the right hand of God because it is his property alone to govern all things in heaven and in earth immediately from the Father Laus Deo will reflect directly on him no less then on the Father and the Holy Ghost for the blessed administration of his Kingdom but Virginique Matri Mariae may securely be left out and is blasphemously and idolatrously put in since the blessed Virgin her self must needs think it robbery to be equal with her Son when her Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with God And certainly if the Fathers in the first Council of Constantinople thought it enough to prove the Holy Ghost coequal with the Father and the Son by saying Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified Then we cannot but think it too much that the blessed Virgin is worshipped and glorified with all three persons of the Trinity as if she were to be thought coequal with Father Son and Holy Ghost But perchance Bellarmine was resolved to gratifie the present practise of his Church with a doxology answerable to that Antiphona Gaude Maria Virgo cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo Rejoyce O Virgin Mary thou alone hast taken away all heresies in the universal world And he having made it his work to confute all for hereticks who were not of his own gan gives thanks to the blessed Virgin as if by her help he had perfected this great confutation whereas without doubt it is no more in the power of any creature to take away a heresie then it is to change the heart or will of the heritick nor is it in the power of all the Jesuites in the world to prove us poor protestants guilty of heresie because we dare not be guilty of blasphemy nor of Idolatry For it is blasphemy to ascribe that perfection and it is Idolatry to give that honour to the creature which is proper only to the Creator And t is a wonder that Baronius who is pleased to say that our Church of England is wholly drowned in heresie would not impute the cause of that mischeif to our rejecting this and the like Hymns or prayers to the blessed Virgin and say she would not take away our heresies because we had taken away her worship for this reason had certainly been more ingenuous in one of that perswasion then to tell us that we were therefore given over to our delusions because we denyed to pay the Peter pence For that is his observation in his Annals Anno Christi 740. That Ina King of the West Saxons appointed every house in his Dominions to pay a penny to Saint Peter every year that his subjects knowing Saint Peter to be their Lord should more zealously addict themselves to his service and call upon him in their necessities â—t annui census pensitatione cognosceret se subditum S. Petro quem scientes omnes Dominum esse suum propensiori studio colerent in opportunitatibus invocarent But that when this yearly revenue did cease to be payed the Church of England was swallowed up by an inundation of heresies Vbi cessavit pendi vectigal istud utcunque mali redemptum haeresum alluvione Anglicana Ecclesia absorbetur whereas if the mony were paid upon that reason of Invocating Saint Peter it could not be excused from heresie to have continued that payment However this reason is more for the Penny then for the Pater noster and sure the Church of England had more heresies whilst it paid the Peter pence then it hath had ever since unless we look upon these few late years wherein the poor woman cloathed with the Sun hath been distressed by a great red Dragon and forced to flee into the wilderness Rev. 12. But Gods truth is never the worse for being persecuted and Gods faithfull servants will not fall from his truth because of persecution For they know they serve a Master who himself hath said My Kingdom is not of this world John 18. 36. and therefore they who profess themselves subjects of his Kingdom will not change with the world For though our Saviours Kingdom be not of this world yet hath he subjects on earth as well as in hâ—…en And therefore in his Ascension whereby he took possession of his Kingdom he provided for them both For those on earth by the diffusion of his grace called by the Apostle Receiving gifts for men for those in heaven by the diffusion of his glory expressed by this phrase And sate on the right hand of God By
yet he will not forsake us for ever The Psalmist that asks the question Will the Lord absent himself for ever and will he be no more intreated Is his mercy clean gone for ever and is his promise come utterly to an end for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure Answers it negatively in that he checks himself for asking it saying It is mine own infirmity Psalm 77. 8 9 10. And agreeable to this Doctrine is that distinction of the Schools desertio explorationis Poenae There is a twofold spiritual desertion a Desertion of tryal and of punishment by the first God may and often doth withdraw his presence from his best servants to prove them but not by the second to punish them taking punishment properly not as the chastisement of a loving Father but as the vengeance of an angry Judge Thus saith the Evangelist Jesus having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end John 13. 1. If he had not loved them he would never have come to them and loving them to the end how shall he depart from them And lest we should think this peculiarly spoken of the Apostles contrary to that rule of Rom. 4. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed where we may plainly see that the Scripture though it often is but particular in the occasion yet is alwayes universal in the instruction I say lest we should think this occasionally spoken of the Apostles Saint Paul saith it also Doctrinally of all others whom God hath been pleased to call to his communion Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 8. And he gives the reason of his Doctrine in the next verse God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord as if he had said he hath converted you and he will confirm you not for a while but unto the end and the reason is because he is faithful He hath called you to the fellowship or the communion of his Son Jesus Christ and he will keep and confirm you in it unto the end He forsakes not the fellowship which himself hath ordained for he is faithful He hath ordained that you should have fellowship with him in his Son and he is so faithful to his own ordination that he gives his Holy Spirit to call you to and keep you in that fellowship to the intent you may be joyned with him in the communion of grace till he bring you to the communion of glory So that the fault is wholly our own if God make not his perpetual abode with us after once he is come unto us T is because either we do not stick to our Saviour the Son of his love or because we do stick to our sins which he cannot love For he will not constantly abide either with an unfaithful or with an unfruitful soul The unfaithfull soul forsakes his communion the unfrui tfll soul forgets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle Children are the bond of Wedlock Nay God saith so too Now this time will my husband be joyned unto me because I have born him three sons Gen. 29. 34. Therefore was his name called Levi The Levite had his name from conjunction for shame let him not be the author of separation And again yet more fully God hath endued me with a good dowry now will my husband dwell with me because I have born him six sons and she called his name Zebulon Gen. 30. 20. Zebulon id est donum cohabitationis saith Tremelius Donatum filium ad conciliandam cohabitationem viri a pledge or pawn of the husbands dwelling with his wife and delighting in her society So is it also in the Spiritual Matrimony in the Marriage of the soul with Christ That he may betroth us unto himself for ever he doth betroth us in righteousness and judgement in loving-kindness and in mercies and in faithfulness Hos 2. There is righteousness and faithfulness as well as there is loving-kindness and mercy in this blessed wedlock Righteousness and faithfulness required on our parts as well as loving-kindness and mercies on his part and we must take heed of losing the righteousness and the faithfulness for fear we should lose the loving-kindness and the mercies Gratia est habitus mentis totius vit◠ordinativus Grace is a habit of the mind ordering the whole life saith Alensis par 3. qu. 61. m. 2. In what but in righteousness Grace ordereth the whole life in righteousness will not suffer any part of it to be spent in unrighteousness so likewise saith Saint Paul Grace reigneth through righteousness to eternal life Rom. 5. 21. Take away the righteousness take away the reign of grace take away the reign of grace and farewell to the reign of glory unless you will look for glory without eternal life O blessed Jesus who art the only guest and joy of religious souls I confess that I am not worthy thou shouldest once come under my roof yet I beseech thee to make me fit for thine everlasting abode That I being faithfull and fruitfull in all righteousness unto the death may receive of thee a Crown of life who didst dye for my sins and rise again for my Justification and now sittest on the right hand of God making intercession for me Thou hast been the Mediator of this blessed communion betwixt God and my soul O be thou also the preserver of it that in it and for it I may bless and praise thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen Christ reteined in the true Christian Communion Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 17 18. Nec Haereticus pertinet ad Ecclesiam Catholicam quae diligit Deum Nec Schismaticus quoniam diligit Proximum Aug. de fide Symbolo cap. 10. Neither doth a Heretick belong to the Catholick Church because she loves God nor a Schismatick because she loves her neighbour The Prooem Christian Communion is to be considered in its Authority in its Excellency and in its Sincerity GReat are the divisions of wicked and ungodly men whilst at first they run away from God and as great are their distractions when at last they run away from one another It is their sin that they will needs be at enmity with God it is their punishment that they cannot but be at enmity among themselves This small Treatise endeavours either to keep us from this great misery or to recover us out of
But they consider not that the way to follow Naaman in his wrath is to out goe him in his leprosie and that those Heathens who gave him the contrary advice have in that given judgement against such Christians My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much rather then when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean T is little less then madness to spend those precious minutes in cavilling disputations which would be much better spent in soul-saving devotions For after once Cain had expostulated with God saying Am I my brothers keeper Gen. 4. 9. he staid not long in his presence for so it is written ver 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord What is it for a man to cavil at Religion instead of practising it but to expostulate with God as if he could quit that score by his objection which he is bound to pay by his obedience or as if it were for his advantage to be quarrelling with his Creditor whilst he should be saying Forgive us our debts Will he indeed not be so holy as to delight in the presence of Gods grace and shall he be so happy as to delight in the presence of his glory Is it our misery that we cannot be sufficiently joyful in the Lord and shall it also be our sin that we will needs be angry with him Tristitia de bono spirituali est peccatum prepinquum odio Deo saith the Casuist To be sorry for the overture of any Spiritual Good is a sin that comes neer the hatred of God and therefore to be maliciously bent against such a good must needs be to hate him This consideration may stop the mouths if not wound the hearts of those who make it their work to revile such heavenly prayers as cannot be received with too much admiration nor repeated with too much devotion for this is little other then to revile God and his Church in one and the same breath to revile God in his Religion and to revile Gods Church in her communion Whether a man think himself so perfect as to need no spiritual Guide to take care of him or think his Church so imperfect as to seek for his spiritual guide from some other place the case is all one as to the contempt though very different as to the cause of it For the Church calling him to the Practice of those duties which are truly Christian in the name and by the Authority of Christ T is not his cavilling against his Mother on earth can dispense with his Undutifulness against Her and much less against his Father in heaven If God be rightly invocated and adored and his name truly glorified according to the Duties of Religion He is no less then a Separatist from God who refuseth to joyn in that Invocation Adoration and Glorification according to the Duty of Communion For neither can an erroneous cnnscieâ—ce excuse him in point of Religion nor an erroneous conceit excuse him in point of Communion First an erroneous conscience cannot excuse him in point of Religion For an erroneous conscience cannot absolve or discharge any man from doing his bounden duty to God and therefore not from Invocating Adoring and Glorifying his holy name since it is unjust that errour should be a priviledge and impossible that a mans conscience should be above Gods command but here are no less then three of Gods Commandments that oblige him to the duties of Religion Secondly an ereoneous conceit cannot excuse him in point of Communion For an erroneous conceit hath much less power then an erroneous conscience to excuse him for disobeying Gods command and here are no less then two of Gods Commandments that oblige him to the duty of Communion to wit The fourth because the Communion concerns Gods publick worship and the fift because the publick worship is commanded by publick authority For the Communion being indeed with the eternal Son of God as it must be since the Religion is truly from him in all its performances of Invocation Adoration and Administration t is not his thinking or any mans saying That he may not Communicate with Hereticks or Schismaticks can excuse him for not communicating with his Brethren and much less with his Saviour whose Communion is ever to be desired with great earnestness and never to be deserted without great shame and greater sin According to that excellent exhortation of our Church But when you depart I beseech you ponder with your selves from whomye depart ye depart from the Lords Table ye depart from your Brethren and from the banquet of most heavenly food What greater sin then to depart from the Lords heavenly table and food What greater shame then to depart from your own Brethren and to be able to give no conscientious reason of your departure To depart from the Lord in his Religion is against the three first Commandments To depart from your Brethren in their Communion with the Lord is against the fourth and with his Church is against the fift Commandment Is it not then unfound and unsafe to alledge the fift Commandment for the apparent breach of it self and also of the other four And yet even that Commandment is unduely alledged for your departure For besides that such an allegation of it denyeth Paternal authority where God hath given it and which certainly doth oblige you and supposeth Paternal authority where God hath not given it and which cannot oblige you there is also a supposal of such an authority as God cannot give For God cannot deny himself and therefore he cannot given an authority to his Church against himself but only for himself and consequently not against Religion but only for Religion This is all the authority Saint Paul claimeth The Lord hath given us authority for edification not for destruction 2 Cor. 10. 8. Nay more This is all the authority the Church can claim and that in the judgement of Aquinas himself Quum Potestas Praelati spiritualis qui non est Dominus sed Dispensator in aedificationem sâ—t data non in destructionem ut patet 2. ad Cor. 10. Sicut Praelatus non potest imperare ea quae secundum se Deo displicent sc Peccata It a non potest prohibere ea quae secundum se Deo placent sc Virtutis opera 22 ae quest 88. art 12. ad secundum When the Power of a spiritual Prelate who is not a Lord but only a Dispencer of the Word and Sacraments is given for edification and not for destruction as it is manifest 2 Cor. 10. Even as a Prelate cannot command those things which in themselves are displeasing to God to wit the committing of any sin So he cannot forbid those things which in themselves are pleasing unto God to wit the working of any vertue How much less can he forbid the works of many vertues together by forbidding the exercise of true Religion Therefore let me alwaies
give an ear to the holy Prophets Exhortation O Praise the Lord with me and let us magnifie his name together Psal 34. 3. For where God is praised and magnified in the Religion I am very strictly bound to joyn my self in the Communion Nay more Let me alwaies give my heart to the holy Prophets resolution I was glad when they said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord Psal 122. 1. where God calleth to the practice of godliness t is not for another to say to me You shall not go nor for me to say to my self I will not For I must be glad of the Call and much more of the Practice Now Christ the eternal Son of God calleth us to the practice of the true Christian Religion three several waies By his Word by his Example and by his Communion By his Word for he commandeth us to perform all the duties of Religion By his Example for himself whiles he was upon earth did perform them And by his Communion for now he is in heaven he recommendeth to his Father all our Religious performances so making intercession to God for us as also with us How shall I answer him at the last day if I neglect his Word if I reject his Example if I renounce his Communion His Word pierceth mine Ear his Example pierceth mine Eye but his Communion pierceth my Heart His Word and his Example pierce my sense but his Communion pierceth my soul For if it were said of Sauls Messengers nay of Saul himself when they saw the company of the Prophets prophecying and Samuel standing as appointed over them that the Spirit of God was upon them and they also prophesied 1 Sam. 19. 20. Then surely when I see a company of Christians praying and Christ himself standing as appointed over them for so himself hath avowed where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18. 20. if the Spirit of God be in me I will also pray with them and it must be some evil Spirit in me that makes me either reject or renounce their prayers For if there be indeed The Communion of Saints saying unto me We will go into the house of the Lord I am bound to have the affection which is due to that Communion and say I was glad when they said unto me we will go for this indefinite Particle When not defining one set time will suffer me to exclude no time T is like a general Commission which not prescribing what day to do the business leaves it to be done any day and to neglect no opportunity of doing it Indefinitum in materià necessarià aequipollet universali when the duty it self is absolutely necessary though it be set down as indifinite yet we must look upon it as universal for though the Casuists do tell us concerning affirmative precepts Ligant semper sed non ad semper That they bind us at all times but not to all times yet we must understand their meaning only of our actual exercise and performance of those duties not of our habitual disposition and desire to perform them For there is not one minute of our life wherein we are not bound to be in a disposition and desire of serving God And thus doth Solomon Jarchi expound the Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shamacti Laetatus sum I was glad I did hear saith he the sons of men saying When will this David die that his son Solomon may succeed and build the Temple that so we may go to the house of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vaani Shomeach And I was very glad to hear them say so Thus saith he David preferred Gods service before his life And so will every man who knoweth he hath such a Religion as if he rightly follow it will bring him to salvation Aben Ezra goes further in his gloss and saith That All the people of Israel was of Davids mind and that every one of them did say as well as he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord Why should we Christians have a worse Zeal upon better Hopes For he that will not be glad when others say unto him We will go into the house of the Lord may live to be sorry That there is not a house of God for him to go to But O Thou who camest to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death Remove not the Candlestick away from us because we have neglected and abused the light of Grace But let the Priests of the Lord still serve the Lord between the Porch and the Altar weeping and saying Be favourable O Lord be favourable unto thy People Let not thine heritage be brought to such confusion lest the Heathen be Lords thereof Wherefore should they say among the Heathen where is now their God And let us thy undutiful unthankful unworthy people still enjoy the inestimable freedom of thy Gospel Publick Communions in thy Church and Publick Prayers and Praises in thy Name Heal our back-slidings and repair those great and wide breaches which we have lately made in our Piety in our Fidelity and in our Charity And amidst the many inconstancies and many more impieties of this wicked world make thine own sheep still hear thy voice and thine own people still secure and glad in thee That notwithstanding all obstacles and oppositions they shall yet more and more worthily praise and adore thy most holy and Reverend name among the faithful in this life and in the great Congregation of Saints and Angels in the life to come being all of us joyned now in affection hereafter in possession with that heavenly consort and holy Communion which is alwaies saying Hallelujah Salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God Father Son and Holy Ghost world without end Amen Una est in trepida mihi re medicina Jehovae Cor patrium Os verax omnipotensque manus FINIS Deo Trinuni Gloria in aeternum