denied him as having no pre-existent matter out of which they can be said to be fram'd It must be consessed the word Create and Creation in Scripture is not so strictly used as in Philosophers Books but imports any notable production as well as that simple one without pre-existence Yet the thing it self is affirmed as where it is said All things were made by God for there nothing is excepted or exempted from his Power as Heb. 11. Heb. 11. 13. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear and he only can preserve all things who maketh all things But God in Christ or Christ through God upholdeth all things by the word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. Rev. 4. 11. And in the Revelations it is said Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure Chap. 10. 6. they were and are created And in the tenth Chapter the Angel sweareth by him that liveth for ever and ever who created Heaven and the things that are therein and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things that are therein And aptly do the words of the Psalmist answer the History of the Creation who speaking of the particulars Psal 148. 5. of this natural world saith of God He commanded and they were created this being the only means and method that we read all things to have been produced viz. the word of his Power Let there be Light Let there be the Firmament c. which being a demonstration of his immediate will most wisely implieth as some eminent Philosophers have with great admiration observed the proper Power of God Almighty to whom nothing is difficult that he willeth should come to pass Now where there is no limitation upon an agent but what proceeds from its own will there nothing is impossible and if it be possible for God to will as must be seeing man may desire to produce somewhat from nothing it must be possible to come to pass what so is willed by him otherwise God should be disappointed and frustrated in his intentions than which nothing can be thought more absurd or repugnant to the Nature of God And thus at the same time it appears as well what God made as how viz. That there is nothing extant whether visible or invisible but what was framed by him and that absolutely as the Apostle more expresly testifieth to the Colossians By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in Col. 1. 16. earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him By which we understand that all the Angels and several orders of those invisible Spirits in Heaven were the effect of his Power no less than were inferior and visible Creatures And though there be no particular mention of the time order place or manner of the Creation of Angels yet that they were so created general assurance we have from the Word of God the holy Ghost advisedly omitting and mens wits only conjecturing at the other things to prevent pride and curiosity in man to whom it was sufficient to make a description of those things which related to this visible world and concerned him to know So that the Heavens themselves with the glorious and numerous Lights thereof are no farther explained unto us than as their influences concern the nature and actions of Man It is a true Axiom that all things were made for man but it is not true that they had no other end why God created them namely Heavens heavenly Bodies and heavenly Spirits but for to serve the uses of man next to the ultimate end of all his own Glory For though it be said of Angels and we take the word in the properest sense and not as it may be for the several Messengers and Dispensers of Gods will and Word to the several Ages of men Are they not all ministring Spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to them who shall be heirs of salvation Yet we look on their attendance in such cases as an honorary command and tuition over us and secondary end to their first Institution rather than any thing of subjection or servility For when the Shepherd looks to his Flock and when the King is said to be for the People we are not in reason or sobriety to imagine a worth in the governed above the governour as some have sondly wretchedly and dangerously concluded For that Rule The end is more excellent than the means or thing ordained to that end holds true only when the thing is so ordain'd that its own end and good is not equally or more eminently included in the same or when the end is the principal agent in instituting such a thing to such an end But the Sheep never appointed the Shepherd to serve to rule and protect them nor did men oblige Angels to wait upon them nor as is above demonstrated the People firâ—t erect or constitute Governors or Governments over themselves these were done by a superior Power over them neither at this day can they that is ought by any imaginary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoretus Haeret. Fabular lib. 5. cap. 7. Charter alter the Archetype of Gods Institution And they that do attempt and have pretended to confer Power sometimes on Governors can at all do it directly and validly But they seem and are interpreted by many so to do when they unwarrantably and unreasonably deny it to others and submit to their own favourites though how lamely and improperly these acts of strength and not of right are carried on is also elsewhere shewed For no question but if the common sort of men could extend their presumptuous Power to Spirits as they do to Princes they would take such offence against their tutelary Angels as to put them out of office when they find themselves crossed in their inclinations or designs by them or perswading themselves they are neglected by them choosing others in their places and justifie such their acts from a dignity supposed in themselves from being the end of their care and ministration If indeed we appointed Spirits or Princes over us as men do choose servants to do their work for them and serve them then surely we might as justly turn them off again when ever they became unserviceable and prejudicial to us but seeing both are appointed by God we are to know our distance notwithstanding the good offices they do for us And that considering secondly That their own ends are no less principally and primarily served in such ministrations than the ends of others And yet I make no doubt but many persons to whom God hath given holy and righteous Spirits to protect and preserve them being ungoverned and refractory lewd and licentious contrary to the mind and motions of them presiding over them do in effect
particularly assured of his being in Christ The whole Antecedent I grant viz. That every man believeth Christ when he receiveth him and that Christ is received by Faith And that every man is bound to apply Christ particularly and his Promises to himself But the consequence here made follows not from hence For by the former a man believes assuredly that the Promises of Grace made through Christ to the Church do particularly belong to him he hath a right to them being called to the Covenant Neither do we promise any other security of Salvation by only Faith but to those that labour in their calling and be fruitful of good Works Dr. Fulk on Rhem. Test Phil. 3. v. 11. And thus far a man is and ought to be sure of his Salvation But there being implyed in all Promises of Everlasting Salvation certain conditions of obeying and repenting as well as believing simply whether a man is to that degree proficient in these as to put him in actual possession of Christ this is no where revealed neither are we commanded to believe it And when St. Paul saith to the Romans * Rom. 8. 15 16. See likewise 1 John 5. 9 10 Ye have not received again the spirit of bondage to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father What is more plain than that his meaning is to distinguish the general state of the Church of the Jews from the Church of the Gentiles and the spirit of Moses as I may so say which tender'd to bondage from the spirit of Christ which is that free Spirit For as it is elsewhere said If the Son make you free then shall you be free indeed And from hence no more can be concluded to any single person than to the whole Church of God in which there are many reprobates as all agree Neither is the matter helped out any whit by what follows The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Sons of God I presume few will be so severe and ignorant as to deny the large acceptation in Scripture of the Children of God and Sons of God and Saints viz. That generally they signifie no more than those who were elected outwardly to the Faith and Profession of Christ and to the means of becoming not only denominatively and of Right but really and effectually in Fact the heirs of Eternal Salvation To be then the Sons of God here with St. Paul signifies no more than by Faith to be the peculiar people and favorites of God above all such as were not thus brought home to Christs Fold Now that such singular Grace and Priviledges belonged to Christian St. Paul proves from the testimony of the Spirit namely That the Christian Religion is only the true Religion thus The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit Our own Judgment our Consciences doth stedfastly assure us that we are the Children of God but this is not all this proves nothing to another to the convincing of him that we are the true Servants and Children of God but the Spirit of God bearing witness with our Spirit doth And the Spirit of God beareth witness with us sufficiently when it declareth openly by miracles signs and wonders wrought before the eyes of our Adversaries that what we preach and believe is the truth Which is the same with what St. Paul writes to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2. 4. saying And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power That your faith might stand not in the wisdom of man but in the power of God In which words he plainly sheweth the ground of the Corinthians faith not to be taken from any fair or plausible Rhetorick or form of words whereby men are led oftentimes to believe against reason but on the more solid grounds of extraordinary miracles wrought by the power of God and which did demonstrate to all equal judges That it was the Spirit of God which both taught them such mysteries of Faith as they preached and confirmed the same by such signs and wonders as did appear generally at the publication of the Gospel Now what doth all or any of this concern the supposed particular inward tacit testimony whereby it is said a man is to be assured of his Salvation And no more do the words of the Apostle in the end of the same Chapter prove too long to be recited but this Rom. 8. 35 36 37 38 39. is briefly to be answered 1. That they speak not at all of any individual single Christian but of the Church of God and that indefinitely or at large viz. That God hath so determined to plant propagate and maintain that Religion into which divers were collected by the ministry of the Apostles that whatever or from whomsoever evils might befall the Church of God yet they should never prevail with such persecutions to separate the faithful from Christ no not all the Powers nor Principalities on Earth nor all the Angels of Heaven or of Hell But to secure these and the like testimonies the better to their opinions some much admired persons of the Reformation peradventure suspecting what might be answered have proceeded to say That what promises Calvin Inst Christ hath made to his Church do equally concern every Christian as well as the Church which I cannot yield to without these Exceptions First That it may be understood of a particular Church as well as particular Persons But as may hereafter appear God hath made no absolute promise to any particular Church so far that it can be any point of Faith to believe that Gods counsel decree are such to it as never to suffer it to Apostatize from him So that no individual Church can be sure of its perseverance in the truth and if not that how should any particular person claim so much But the Promises of Christ being taken as they ought of a Church indefinitely it is most agreeable to Gods word to maintain an infallible perpetuity of the same Again It is to be remembred that all this while we are speaking not so much of certainty before God according to which we may yield the Salvation of men to be infallible but certainty before men or to the party concerned immediately which we call Assurance or Evidence In the body of an Orthodox Church it is certain in it self that many men shall be saved but not certain to us that any one therein shall nor evident to any one that he shall To the reasons taken from the Power of God who is able to save and reveal this And the truth of God who is faithful in his Promise And the Knowledge of God that he knoweth who are his what need we make any answer besides showing the vanity of that inference which is drawn from the possibility of any thing to the Fact it self and of that presumption rather than faith which
his Son for marrying without his liking and approbation fall into the guilt of those Hereticks against which the Scripture and Antiquity both make who simply condemn Marriage in it self as unclean and evil No more surely doth that Church which prohibits it conditionally to her children We hear of many husbands dying who leave their wives such an additional Estate as they could not by any Law challenge so long as they continue unmarried or upon condition of continuing in the state of widowhood And so may a Father gratifie and oblige his children if he pleases without incurring the suspicion of holding marriages unlawful whatever other censure may pass upon them And when the Church saith she will not admit any to minister in her Family more immediately before God what doth she say more than that Master of a Family who will not have a married servant in his house about him but likes it very well to use his service in other matters And does this deserve such noise and out-cryes as are made against it Undoubtedly it is as free for the Church to judge of persons fit and unfit for her use as for any Lord or Master whatever And to make a Law not absolute that such a thing should not be done but that none that do such things should beimplyed in such offices And what reason is there that Civil Policie shall directly deny this but Ecclesiastical prudence may not Are there not many other Societies as well as Ecclesiastical which without reproach do the very same thing Men have a Freedom to do the thing or not to do it and more the Scripture hath not left us but to do it without observing any condition from Superiour neither the Law of God or Man hath left free Can there be therefore any more moderate or equal course than so to leave the matter that the one singleness of life shall be commended above the other and peradventure countenanced and encouraged but the other accepted too Yet neither extream will be content with this But one will have a Law to abstract and the other as it should seem by their reasons out of Scripture have it enjoyn'd though they put a stop to the conclusion and will not have it contain what if their Premisses be good it must For if every Bishop must be the husband of one wife and every Priest be a Bishop surely every Priest must marry And if innocencie and purity can be no otherwise maintained surely the Scripture requiring these requires that too But now we come to the conveniencies and incommodities of the state Virginal and Vidual in reference to the Clergy For now waving the supposition of any Divine injunction several Divine and Political reasons have been invented sufficient to determine against Priests some of which being ridiculous some profane and some heretical we shall mention only such as have somewhat of sobriety The first whereof may be That it becometh such as attend on so sacred a thing as Gods Altar to be pure of body and mind too And therefâ—re to abstain from all fleshly acts We know how that Flesh in Gods word goes under suspicion generally of somewhat impure and contrary to spiritualness and true purity and so indeed all fleshliness must be avoided But in it self it implies no more than a state of imperfection not inconsistent with though much inferiour to spiritual acts In the first sense Covetousness Ambition Pride and such like are Fleshly lusts no less than Venery In the second Conjugal acts and state are in the sense of the Gospel no more Fleshly than eating and drinking But whereas we find many to have been willing to be mistaken in so colourable a piece of Religion as to declare even against the natural pollutions as they may be called as prejudicial in themselves to spiritual perfection whether the will concurs thereunto or not and though proper circumstances be duly observed I cannot excuse them from Munichaean errour wholly or at least Judaical And Zonaras hath in a learned and sober Tractate on purpose declared Zonaras apud Leunclavium Jur. Graeco Lat. Tom. 1. p. 351. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. Serm. 19. the contrary showing it no more a pollution of the Flesh than a foul nose may to which I refer the learned as also to a peculiar Treatise Chrysostome hath of Virginity where he satisfies both the superstitious and brutish Christian him who though he declares against ancient Heresies concerning lawful marriage yet advances such arguments to commend and prefer Virginity which Hereticks were condemned for using this man in that he at large disputeth against Marcion Valentinus and Manes by name for their excessive magnifying Virginity to the absolute condemnation of marriage and yet withal abounds in the praise and prelation of Virginity and sheweth that it is necessary to hold marriage lawful and of God before any man can please God in virginity He sheweth first that no such Heretick as condemns Marriage absolutely shall be rewarded for their pretended purity He proveth next They shall be damn'd rather for it while the Catholicks shall be promoted to the Societies of Angels become bright Lamps in Heaven and which is above all abide with the Bride He showeth they are worse than the Heathen Greeks who so judge of Virginity and Marriage The Gentiles saith he shall surely go to Hell but yet with this advantage that they enjoy the pleasures of Marriage Riches and other worldly comforts for a time But Hereticks shall be punished both here and hereafter Here they they are punished by voluntary abstinences there by involuntary Plagues The Gentiles shall neither be the better nor worse for their Fastings and Chastities but Hereticks shall suffer extream punishment for the things they expected ten thousand thanks For Fasting and Virginity are neither good nor evil in themselves but only according to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys ib. the choice of them that use them they may be either Nay says he afterwards the sobriety of Hereticks is much worse then the riotousness of any Heathens For this only opposes Man but that fights against God And afterward Hereticks professing Chastity not only pollute their souls but bodies also And again He that condemneth marriage injureth Virginity also And much more to this purpose Now if after all this he abounds in the extolling of Virginity above Marriage making it an Angelical life at which Puritans are wont to mock and scoff which have stood them in more stead then Scripture it self to make way for their opinions with what pretense of antiquity can the Levellers of all orders and states of Christianity object against Virginal or Vidual Chastity either as not possible or not lawful or not more commendable than a wedded state And with what hazard of incurring the censure upon ancient Hereticks do modern Patrons of Chastity raise their building upon their rotten foundations as too many who are ashamed of it do notwithstanding Surely this may