Men stupid and foolish that they may the better Lord it over them as besotted Vassals It cannot invite or ingage any to its Side by â—arnal allurements and provisions made for â—he lusts of Men. The making of such Provisions would extinguish its life and power and bring forth a spurious carnal Brood that always with deadly hatred pursues its true Proâ—essors It cannot lift up it self by serving the deâ—â—gns and lusts of earthly Potentates though it â—ives them their due honour to the full yet it â—empts them not by flattery to think of themselves above what they are nor doth it proâ—itute its Sacred Rules to patronize any enorâ—ities in their Conversations or political Adâ—inistrations It cannot subdue a People and hold them unâ—er by armed violence and usurpation for his were to subvert it self and undermine its â—wn foundation which is truth meekness and â—â—ghteousness It seeks not by any irregular motions to perâ—rb a settled State though adverse and injurious to it It cannot enter into the recesses 〈◊〉 wicked Policy its principles will not bear 〈◊〉 out in the cunning and close ways of dishonâ—… sty It abhors such ingagements as draw oâ—… necessity of proceeding in unrighteous or daâ—… gerous Counsels and especially such iniquiâ—… as would not pass away in a transient action but would hold up a lasting usurpation or iâ—… jury to its perpetual reproach and repugnanâ—… to it self It neither hath nor in human judgment 〈◊〉 like to have the sufficiency of an arm of Flesâ—… or worldly Puissance for its intrinsick and aâ—… biding strength untill it comes in a more exâ—… tensive power and more ample victory that hath been yet manifested in the World Thâ—… mutable Advantages of certain times and occaâ—… sions are but loose and hollow ground and nâ—… settled foundation for it to build upon It is not furthered by a course of subtilties and of intricate and cloudy projects which be get suspition of evil but by an openess an frankness of dealing in all certainty and clearness For in it self it is clear as the Sun anâ—… regular and certain as the ordinances of Heâ—… ven or the Motions of the Celestial Bodies Whatsoever degree of obliquity or uncertainty happeneth to it is only extrinsical proceeding from Mens corruptions and frailties who neâ—… ther are can be here absolutely exact and perfect in it It rejects the fury of passion bitterness clamours wrath tumult and all outrage In a word it can admit nothing that is inconsistent with intire honesty And it is not weakened by this strictness For Truth is great and powerfull and by a weak and gentle yet sound and solid manifestation of it self it maintains a conquest answerable to its own condition in this present World CHAP. XVIII The Interest of true Religion lies much in its venerable Estimation among Men. A Corrupt state of Religion nourishing Pride and Sensuality and yielding it self managable to the designs of Men after the course of the World is commonly upheld by an arm of Secular power which by ways of its own it can make sure to it self But pure Religion abhorring base compliances and residing in the hitherto lesser number that walk in the narrow way is not so well suted for a settled and continued potency in that kind Wherefore by how much the more it fails of an assurance of worldly Power and Greatness by so much the more it needs the advantage of venerable estimation for its own intrinsick excellence A desire of vain glory and an ambitious catching at the praise of Men is opposite to this interest and destroys the ends thereof But because things that appear not are of the same reason with things that are not in regard of influence upon the minds of Men Christianity should be made appear to be what it is indeed that it is not a meer Idea in the imagination or intellect but a wisdom and power that may be practiced and its glory is displaid in a Life of integrity purity and charity by the brightness of which graces in the primitive Times it became illustrious and was exalted over all the learning and vertue and potency of the Heathen World in such an Age as had all civil disciplines in their perfection and it is never so much indangered as when the sanctity of its Professors is fallen or exposed to scandal Eminent Holiness is after miracles the next great testimony to the truth and is now in the room of Miracles and its influence is very powerfull Wheresoever it is it invigorates others of this Fellowship that are near it and it commands aw and reverence from all Men. T is a great happiness when Persons indued herewith are in proportionable number fixed like stars of the first magnitude throughout the firmament of the Church when there are Men of strong Parts much prudence active spirits firm resolution who are filled with the Holy Spirit inflamed with love to God and devoted to seek the things that are Christs and fitted thereunto by real mortification and self-denial also when Persons of a lower sphere for the perfections of Nature or Learning have attained to a large measure of the primitive Spirit of Faith love meekness brotherly kindness and charity whereby they are made ready to every good work and provoke others thereunto As the eminent piety of some so the approâ—ed piety of the generality of serious Professors imports exceedingly to the reputation and reverence of true Religion The spiritual Man discerneth the excellency of the Divine life and the beauty of Holiness and the natural Man also can discern humility chastity temâ—erance patience charity integrity as things morally good and profitable to Men and by â—…ese things the truth is vindicated and mainâ—…ined To defile the purity of this Professiâ—… is to stain its glory and to stain iâ—s glory is 〈◊〉 render it weak and despicable None thereâ—…re may pass for the allowed Disciples of this â—ay but such as keep themselves pure from 〈◊〉 foul sins of Sensuality and from all palpaâ—… dishonesty Howbeit the lawfull favour â—…d assistance of any others may with due cauâ—… be admitted in its concernments A harmless life if barren and unprofitable is of little value in it self and also of little force to advance any Profession Nay a fruitless life is scandalous and unchristian They are the words of Christ herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples The root of such fruitfulness in good works is love out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned to which belong those praises that it is the end of the Commandment and the fulfilling of the Law Now because they that walk circumspectly are often censured by the looser Sort to be uncharitable it doth the more concern them really to shew forth the laudible fruits of Charity and to maintain all good works before Men though not to be seen of Men and to hate narrowness of Soul and base selfishness What do ye more
Spiritual strain which is most agreeable to the things of the Spirit of God and which as coming from life and Spirit is better discerned than described There is a speaking not in words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And though this more eminently took place in the Apostles and such other extraordinary persons yet there is no sufficient reason to restrain it to them alone St. Paul may well be understood to speak of this as a gift received by them that had received not the Spirit of the world but that which is of God and as something suted to the perception and taste of all Spiritual men It doth not exclude the use of human wisdom though the wisdom of the Spirit sway in chief For no doubt even Paul's human learning and prudence was herein serviceable though in subserviency to the influence and conduct of the Spirit This Spirituality of expression is conformable to that of the Spirit of God in Scripture though not confined to the words thereof Surely the mysteries of Salvation cannot be better handled than in those terms in which they were first delivered to wit in Scripture expressions or others consonant thereto solidly and pertinently used and to call this canting savours to much of that Spirit to which holy language is unsavory Without controversie the strongest reason is of greatest force to gain the wills of men to imbrace true Religion For that which crosseth sensuality selfishness and all the depraved appetite of our lapsed nature as Religion doth must needs have its greatest strength next under the power of divine grace in the force of right reason But care and skill is requisite that it be so prepared offered and set home that it may be sutable to them that should receive it and that the cogency thereof may so reach unto and fasten upon their judgments as to gain their wills Philosophical ratiocinations are too remote not only from low and dull capacities but also from the greater part of them that are competently apprehensive and intelligent and so being too much estranged from them they do not touch them to the quick A familiar natural plain and obvious way of reasoning comes home to all men and is most felt at the heart and that by Scholars themselves though their intellect may be more delighted in more accurate or reserved Speculations Scriptural preaching is indeed the most rational as coming with such reason as is of greatest force with men in matters of Salvation For Gods written word is a treasure of divine wisdom that throughly furnisheth the man of God Besides the infallible testimony thereof hath more authority than Philosophical reason though sound and true can have upon Christian hearers and it peirceth deeper and sticks closer And arguments taken and words spoken from Scripture wherewith the people converse dayly are more easily apprehended and retained and so are more instructive and every way more usefull than other reasonings Though numerous citations of sentences out of human Authors be an unprofitable kind of ostentation yet the Sentences of Holy Writ which is the evidence of our Christian hope and the testimony of him who is truth it self are most effectual to edification And whosoever is able to speak reason in divine matters is to make a rational use of Scripture and if any quote it impertinently and absurdly it is through defect of reason and they would be as injudicious in their Sermons without those quotations But nice and haughty wits mostly cavil without cause and charge profitable Preachers with injudiciousness meerly through their own vain curiosity and inconsiderateness Scripture quotations are sometimes used by way of allusion or for illustration not for strict proof and that which is brought for proof if it be not full and cogent yet it may add some weight and then it is not abused Besides if a passage be used in a sound and pious though not in its proper sense it is pardonable It is fit indeed that in citing Texts we know their true import and go more by weight than number shunning impertinency and superfluity yet it is not unfit to note that all sound and good Preachers are not alike judicious and those that are very solid may be guilty of some oversights and 't is a bad matter that their Ministery which God hath owned and honoured with good success in his Service should be set at nought for a few mistakes perhaps more pretended than real about the sense of some Scripture when it is not applyed otherwise than the Analogy of faith will bear and nothing is defended but known truth I have known a pious but strangely mistaken sense of a Scripture sentence cast into the mind and there fixed to have been the first occasion of seriousness in Religion to one that afterward lived and dyed a godly Christian. Now that which was causal in this conversion was the godly truth it self which was written in Gods word and the mistaking it to lie in such a sentence where it did not being but accidental was no hinderance I do in no wise countenance the irrational use of Scripture but am sensible of the importance of good judgment and due care about the sense thereof yet I cannot approve the scornful haughtiness of some men who deride godly persons well instructed in the Scripture as having nothing but words and Phrases and senseless notions either because they come short of Scholar-like exactness or because they speak of the things of God in a more Evangelicall and Spiritual strain than these can well bear In speaking the best use of art is to speak to best purpose and for that end in divine matters to speak with greatest Majesty and authority And this is done not by ostentation of wit by puerile and effeminate rhetorications by a rapsody of flanting words by starched speech by cadency of sounds or any too elaborate politeness that please the shallow fancy but by the evidence of reason set forth in a masculine and unaffected Eloquence that hath power over the wills of men which are tough and knotty peices Perspicuity is a great vertue and felicity in discourse for hereby what is offered gains attention and enters the mind and abides therein but intricacy and obscurity is a bar to its entrance and entertainment Hereunto an easie and obvious method evident coherence and plainness of expression conduceth mainly Wherefore he that minds what he hath to do is not careful by a more curious artifice to please the fancies of some itching hearers but hath most regard to that composure that makes most for a general benefit and edification And for this cause as he would not multiply words without need and become tedious so he would not be too succinct and close and by that means either too dark or too quick to inform or effect the people In vulgar auditories a dilating of the matter is most necessary so that idle tautologies and prolixity be avoided and it may be
number distinguished from the world by his own mark which is no other than his own image in righteousness and true Holiness To discern a laborious lively faithfull Ministery from that which is lazy lifeless and deceitfull and to regard the one and the other accordingly to note the ignorant foolish profane and scandalous of that Function to contemn a vile person and to honor them that fear the Lord to take notice of the Serpentine Seed and to turn away from such to abhor impiety and to have no fellowship with the wicked in their evil deeds provokes an evil Generation that are hereby reproved and judged and they raise an outcry against the Godly as Factious unsociable despisers of Government makers of Parties and enemies to Peace To examin the doctrines precepts traditions and customs of Men by Gods Word to use all just means to discern his Will and to choose to obey God rather than Men when their commands are contrary to his is reviled for proud perverseness contempt of ancient Customs and the authority of Superiors disobedience to Kings and Laws To be zealous for Gods honour and the purity of Religion to be earnest and active in stopping the course of Sin and promoting Piety and the means of Salvation and to be concerned for Gods Interest in the World more than the common Sort are make the Religious to seem pragmatical turbulent and unpeaceable Not to run into the common excess of Riot nor to comply with mad Mirth and Jollity offensive Gallantry or any Extravagancy that is in Fashion is accounted Stoical Superciliousness and Morosity Strictness of Profession seriousness and necessary preciseness of Conversation seems to many to be the same thing with Phariseism wherewith the most conscientious are commonly most reproached and so the hatefull name of Christs worst enemies is cast upon his true and faithfull Followers Wherefore it is worth the while to note who and what they were It is evident from the Gospel-History that the Pharisees were a strict Sect and in great reputation for seeming-Holiness no Separatists from the Jewish Church but of chiefest sway therein and of great esteem among the Rulers They little cared for the ordering and government of the Heart and placed Perfection in outward works and in Rituals more than Morals and chiefly in the Ceremonies of their own devising and the Traditions of the Elders and in zeal for the Corban or the Churches Treasure and to these things they made the weightiest duties of the Law give place They wore broad Phylacteries and affected a proud reservedness and formal gravity Those Fastings Prayers and Alms-deeds that should have been done in secret they made a shew of openly to be seen of Men. They would be counted Rabbies and owned for absolute teaching Masters and Leaders of the People and would have all subject to their dictates And they were Maligners and Opposers of the power of Godliness and Persecutors of the true Israelites to maintain their own institutes and interest Now for our part we have no need nor mind to vindicate the true off-spring of such Forefathers It concerns all Christians as Christ warn'd the Disciples to beware of this leaven But the truth is something of Phariseism may be found among some of all Parties as self-confidence vain-glory self-praise censoriousness arrogance partiality perverseness of conscience or straining at gnats and swallowing of camels And peradventure those that most object it to others may be most deeply infected with it themselves but however it concerns all Sorts to beware of it and do as much as is possible to purge it out from among them and every Christian should strive to keep himself from any smatch of it seeing it was so unsavoury to Christ. It is thus very discernable from the manifold misapprehensions of the way it self how Godliness falls under the hard thoughts and speeches of the mistaken World But wisdom is justified of her Children And if Godliness it self by misapprehension become a rock of offence no wonder the World is scandalized at the hypocrisie of false Pretenders and at the real faults and weaknesses of sincere Professors But Christ hath said Blessed is he that is not offended in me Undoubtedly the making of an higher Profession doth not exempt any from a just conviction and reproof That Hypocrites should be detected and the scandalous faults even of sincere Christians noted is the interest of true piety And charity both towards them that give offence and towards them that take it to their hurt requireth such discovery The Godly lay to heart no evils more than the scandals of Professors and they know they are most concerned to take heed lest any root of bitterness bearing gall or wormwood should spring up among them And those that sin before all their discipline is to rebuke before all that others may fear But the great mischief is that some so speak and write of Hypocrites and offences as to reproach Godliness it self and bring the Profession of it into disgrace When they take notice of any thing amiss in Men professing Godliness whether the matter of fact be true or false or the scandal be in reality or appearance only they presently say these are your Professors they are all such and the whole pack affords no better The real or seeming hypocrisie pride covetousness unrighteousness uncharitableness selfishness of some is cast upon all From some instances of aberration they argue against a godly tenor of Conversation and deny sincerity where they see a falling short of Perfection They disparage a serious and circumspect course of Life by pretending it may be but a meer guise or shew there may be lurking vices and they who have scaped gross Sensuality may be guilty of spiritual sins as pride and envy and so they ground their detraction upon suppositions and surmises of what may be though not appearing They inveigh against hypocrisie in that manner which hardens the vicious in their deâ—auchery and they incourage Libertines in â—dleness and excess of vanity by telling them that the Precisians may do worse Those godly exercises that lie out of the common road as to instance in Holy conference they bring into contempt by objecting an unseasonable and preposterous use thereof or the impertinency and weakness of some therein They censure inordinate transports of zeal and whimsies in Religion more bitterly than lewdnesses outrages gross impieties and daring wickedness of dissolute Persons They will burden the sober-minded that are zealous for their God with the inexcusable madness of some intemperate Zealots The failings of the Religious they aggravate above measure and particularly some passionate disorders that are commonly complexional and have less of the will and consequently of sinfull malignity in them than many sins that make lesser noise and raise less clamour and they magnifie the eveness moderation mildness and other humanities of loose or lukewarm Persons for the true Christian Spirit They upbraid the Godly with their solemn confessions and