observable that no Heresies are noted signanter in Scripture but such as are great errours practical in materiâ pietatis such whose doctrines taught impiety or such who denyed the coming of Christ directly or by consequence not remote or withdrawn but prime and immediate And therefore in the Code de S. Trinitate fide Catholica Heresy is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked Opinion and an ungodly doctrine 3. The first false doctrine we find condemned by the Apostles was the opinion of Simon Magus who thought the Holy Ghost was to be bought with money he thought very dishonourably to the blessed Spirit but yet his followers are rather noted of a vice neither resting in the understanding nor derived from it but wholly practical 'T is simony not heresy though in Simon it was a false opinion proceeding from a low account of God and promoted by his own ends of pride and covetousness The great heresy that troubled them was the doctrine of the necessity of keeping the Law of Moses the necessity of Circumcision against which doctrine they were therefore zealous because it was a direct overthrow to the very end and excellency of Christs coming And this was an opinion most pertinaciously and obstinately maintained by the Jews and had made a Sect among the Galathians and this was indeed wholly in opinion and against it the Apostles opposed two Articles of the Creed which served at several times according as the Jews changed their opinion and left some degrees of their errour I believe in Jesus Christ and I believe the holy Catholick Church For they therefore pressed the necessity of Moses Law because they were unwilling to forgo the glorious appellative of being Gods own peculiar people and that salvation was of the Jews and that the rest of the World were capable of that grace no otherwise but by adoption into their Religion and becoming proselytes But this was so ill a Doctrine as that it overthrew the great benefits of Christ's coming for if they were circumcised Christ profited them nothing meaning this that Christ will not be a Saviour to them who do not acknowledge him for their Law-giver and they neither confess him their Law-giver nor their Saviour that look to be justified by the Law of Moses and observation of legal rites so that this doctrine was a direct enemy to the foundation and therefore the Apostles were so zealous against it Now then that other opinion which the Apostles met at Jerusalem to resolve was but a piece of that opinion for the Jews and Proselytes were drawn off from their lees and sediment by degrees step by step At first they would not endure any should be saved but themselves and their Proselytes Being wrought off from this height by Miracles and preaching of the Apostles they admitted the Gentiles to a possibility of salvation but yet so as to hope for it by Moses Law From which foolery when they were with much ado perswaded and told that salvation was by Faith in Christ not by works of the Law yet they resolved to plow with an Oxe and an Ass still and joyn Moses with Christ not as shadow and substance but in an equal confederation Christ should save the Gentiles if he was helpt by Moses but alone Christianity could not do it Against this the Apostles assembled at Jerusalem and made a decision of the Question tying some of the Gentiles such only who were blended by the Jews in communi patria to observation of such Rites which the Jews had derived by tradition from Noah intending by this to satisfie the Jews as far as might be with a reasonable compliance and condescension the other Gentiles who were unmixt in the mean while remaining free as appears in the liberty S. Paul gave the Church of Corinth of eating Idol Sacrifices expresly against the Decree at Jerusalem so it were without scandal And yet for all this care and curious discretion a little of the leaven still remained All this they thought did so concern the Gentiles that it was totally impertinent to the Jews still they had a distinction to satisfie the letter of the Apostles Decree and yet to persist in their old opinion and this so continued that fifteen Christian Bishops in succession were circumcised even until the destruction of Jerusalem under Adrian as Eusebius reports 4. First By the way let me observe that never any matter of Question in the Christian Church was determined with greater solemnity or more full authority of the Church than this Question concerning Circumcision No less than the whole Colledge of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem and that with a Decree of the highest sanction Visum est spiritui sancto nobis Secondly Either the case of the Hebrews in particular was omitted and no determination concerning them whether it were necessary or lawful for them to be circumcised or else it was involv'd in the Decree and intended to oblige the Jews If it was omitted since the Question was de re necessaria for dico vobis I Paul say unto you If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing it is very remarkable how the Apostles to gain the Jews and to comply with their violent prejudice in behalf of Moses Law did for a time Tolerate their dissent etiam in re alioquin necessariâ which I doubt not but was intended as a precedent for the Church to imitate for ever after But if it was not omitted either all the multitude of the Jews which S. James then their Bishop expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou seest how many myriads of Jews that believe and yet are zelots for the Law and Eusebius speaking of Justus saies he was one ex infinitâ multitudine eorum qui ex circumcisione in Jesum credebant I say all these did perish and their believing in Christ served them to no other ends but in the infinity of their torments to upbraid them with hypocrisie and heresie or if they were saved it is apparent how merciful God was and pitiful to humane infirmities that in a point of so great concernment did pity their weakness and pardon their errors and love their good mind since their prejudice was little less than insuperable and had fair probabilities at least it was such as might abuse a wise and good man and so it did many they did bono animo errare And if I mistake not this consideration S. Paul urged as a reason why God forgave him who was a Persecutor of the Saints because he did it ignorantly in unbelief that is he was not convinced in his understanding of the truth of the way which he persecuted he in the mean while remaining in that incredulity not out of malice or ill ends but the mistakes of humanity and a pious zeal therefore God had mercy on him And so it was in this great Question of circumcision here only was the difference the invincibility of S. Paul's error and
restraint Certainly then this pretended restraint is no such formidable thing These men themselves do it by directing all of the matter and much of the manner and Christ himself did it by prescribing both the matter and the words too Sect. 123. SIXTHLY These restraints as they are called or determinations of the Spirit are made by the Spirit himself For I demand when any Assembly of Divines appoint the matter of prayers to all particular Ministers as this hath done is that appointment by the Spirit or no If no then for ought appears this directory not being made by Gods Spirit may be an enemy to it But if this appointment be by the Spirit then the determination and limitation of the Spirit is by the spirit himself and such indeed is every pious and prudent constitution of the Church in matters spiritual Such as was that of St. Paul to the Corinthians when he prescribed orders for publick Prophesying and Interpretation and speaking with Tongues The Spirit of some he so restrained that he bound them to hold their peace he permitted but two or three to speak at one meeting the rest were to keep silence though possibly six or seven might at that time have the spirit Sect. 124. SEVENTHLY Is it not a restraint of the spirit to sing a Psalm in Metre by appointment Clearly as much as appointing Forms of prayer or Eucharist And yet that we see done daily and no scruple made Is not this to be partial in judgment and inconsiderate of what we do Sect. 125. EIGHTHLY And now after all this strife what harm is there in restraining the spirit in the present sence What prohibition What law What reason or revelation is against it What inconvenience in the nature of the thing For can any man be so weak as to imagine a despite is done to the spirit of grace when the gifts given to his Church are used regularly and by order As if prudence were no gift of Gods spirit as if helps in Government and the ordering spiritual matters were none of those graces which Christ when he ascended up on high gave unto men But this whole matter is wholly a stranger to reason and never seen in Scripture Sect. 126. FOR Divinity never knew any other vitious restraining the spirit but either suppressing those holy incitements to vertue and good life which God's Spirit ministers to us externally or internally or else a forbidding by publick authority the Ministers of the Word and Sacraments to speak such truths as God hath commanded and so taking away the liberty of prophesying The first is directly vitious in materia speciali The second is tyrannical and Antichristian And to it persecution of true Religion is to be reduced But as for this pretended limiting or restraining the Spirit viz. by appointing a regular Form of prayer it is so very a Chimaera that it hath no footing or foundation upon any ground where a wise man may build his confidence Sect. 127. NINTHLY But lastly how if the Spirit must be restrained and that by precept Apostolical That calls us to a new account But if it be not true what means Saint Paul by saying The spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets What greater restraint than subjection If subjected then they must be ruled if ruled then limited prescribed unto and as much under restraint as the spirits of the superiour Prophets shall judge convenient I suppose by this time this Objection will trouble us no more But perhaps another will Sect. 128. FOR Why are not the Ministers to be left as well to their liberty in making their Prayers as their Sermons I answer the Church may if she will but whether she doth well or no let her consider This I am sure there is not the same reason and I fear the experience the world hath already had of it will make demonstration enough of the inconvenience But however the differences are many Sect. 129. FIRST Our Prayers offered up by the Minister are in behalf and in the name of the People and therefore great reason they should know beforehand what is to be presented that if they like not the message they may refuse to communicate especially since people are so divided in their opinions in their hopes and in their faiths it being a duty to refuse communion with those prayers which they think to have in them the matter of sin or doubting Which reason on the other part ceases For the Minister being to speak from God to the people if he speaks what he ought not God can right himself however is not a partner of the sin as in the other case the people possibly may be Sect. 130. SECONDLY It is more fit a liberty be left in Preaching than Praying because the address of our discourses and exhortations are to be made according to the understanding and capacity of the audience their prejudices are to be removed all advantages to be taken and they are to be surprized that way they lie most open But being crafty I caught you saith St. Paul to the Corinthians And discourses and arguments ad hominem upon their particular principles and practises may more move them than the most polite and accurate that do not comply and wind about their fancies and affections St. Paul from the absurd practise of being baptized for the dead made an excellent Argument to convince the Corinthians of the Resurrection But this reason also ceases in our prayers For God understandeth what we say sure enough he hath no prejudices to be removed no infirmities to be wrought upon and a fine figure of Rhetorick a pleasant cadence and a curious expression move not him at all No other twinings and compliances stir him but charity and humility and zeal and importunity which all are things internal and spiritual It was observed by Pliny Deos non tam accuratis adorantium precibus quà m innocentiâ sanctitate laetari gratiorémque existimari qui delubris eorum puram castámque mentem quà m qui meditatum carmen intulerit And therefore of necessity there is to be great variety of discourses to the people and permissions accordingly but not so to God with whom a Deus miserere prevails as soon as the great Office of forty hours not long since invented in the Church of Rome or any other prayers spun out to a length beyond the extension of the office of a Pharisee Sect. 131. THIRDLY I fear it cannot stand with our reverence to God to permit to every spirit a liberty of publick address to him in behalf of the people Indeed he that is not fit to pray is not always fit to preach but it is more safe to be bold with the people than with God if the persons be not so fit In that there may be indiscretion but there may be impiety and irreligion in this The people may better excuse and pardon an indiscretion or a rudeness if any such should happen than
mislikes for all such things are wicked and in enmity with God * But it seems Saint Ignatius was mightily in love with this precept for he gives it to almost all the Churches he writes to We have already reckoned the Trallians and the Magnesians But the same he gives to the Priests of Tarsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye Presbyters be subject to your Bishop The same to the Philadelphians Sine Episcopo nihil facite Do nothing without your Bishop But this is better explicated in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna Sine Episcopo nemo quicquam faciat eorum quae ad Ecclesiam spectant No man may do any thing without the Bishop viz. of those things which belong to the Church So that this saying expounds all the rest for this universal obedience is to be understood according to the sence of the Church viz. to be in all things of Ecclesiastical cognizance all Church-affairs And therefore he gives a charge to S. Polycarp their Bishop that he also look to it that nothing be done without hiâ— leave Nihil sine tuo Arbitrio agatur nec item tu quicquam praeter Dei facies voluntatem As thou must do nothing against Gods will so let nothing in the Church be done without thine By the way observe he says not that as the Presbytery must do nothing without the Bishop so the Bishop nothing without them But so the Bishop nothing without God But so it is Nothing must be done without the Bishop And therefore although he incourages them that can to remain in Virginity yet this if it be either done with pride or without the Bishop it is spoiled For Si gloriatus fuerit periit si id ipsum statuatur sine Episcopo corruptum est His last dictate in this Epistle to S. Polycarp is with an Episcopo attendite sicut Deus vobis The way to have God to take care of us is to observe our Bishop Hinc vos decet accedere Sententiae Episcopi qui secundum Deum vos pascit quemadmodum facitis edocti à spiritu You must therefore câ—â—form to the sentence of the Bishop as indeed ye do already being taught so to do by Gods holy Spirit There needs no more to be said in this cause if the authority of so great a man will bear so great a burden What the man was I said before what these Epistles are and of what authority let it rest upon Vedelius a man who is no ways to be suspected as a party for Episcopacy or rather upon the credit of Eusebius S. Hierome and Ruffinus who reckon the first seven out of which I have taken these excerpta for natural and genuine And now I will make this use of it Those men that call for reduction of Episcopacy to the Primitive state should do well to stand close to their principles and count that the best Episcopacy which is first and then consider but what S. Ignatius hath told us for direction in this affair and see what is gotten in the bargain For my part since they that call for such a reduction hope to gain by it and then would most certainly have abidden by it I think it not reasonable to abate any thing of Ignatius his height but expect such subordination and conformity to the Bishop as he then knew to be a law of Christianity But let this be remembred all along in the specification of the parts of their Jurisdiction But as yet I am in the general demonstration of obedience The Council of Laodicea having specified some particular instances of subordination and dependance to the Bishop summs them up thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So likewise the Presbyters let them do nothing without the precept and counsel of the Bishop so is the translation of Isidore ad verbum This Council is ancient enough for it was before the first Nicene So also was that of Arles commanding the same thing exactly * Vt Presbyteri sine conscientiâ Episcoporum nihil faciant Sed nec Presbyteris civitatis sine Episcopi praecepto amplius aliquid imperare vel sine authoritate literarum ejus in unaquaque parochiâ aliquid agere says the thirteenth Canon of the Ancyran Council according to the Latin of Isidore The same thing is in the first Council of Toledo the very same words for which I cited the first Council of Arles viz. That Presbyters do nothing without the knowledge or permission of the Bishop Esto subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe It is the counsel of S. Hierome Be subject to thy Bishop and receive him as the Father of thy soul. I shall not need to derive hither any more particular instances of the duty and obedience owing from the Laity to the Bishop For this account will certainly be admitted by all considering men God hath intrusted the souls of the Laity to the care of the Ecclesiastical orders they therefore are to submit to the government of the Clergie in matters Spiritual with which they are intrusted For either there is no Government at all or the Laity must govern the Church or else the Clergie must To say there is no Government is to leave the Church in worse condition than a tyranny To say that the Laity should govern the Church when all Ecclesiastical Ministeries are committed to the Clergy is to say Scripture means not what it says for it is to say that the Clergy must be Praepositi and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Praelati and yet the prelation and presidency and rule is in them who are not ever by Gods spirit called Presidents or Prelates and that it is not in them who are so called * In the mean time if the Laity in matters Spiritual are inferiour to the Clergy and must in things pertaining to the Soul be ruled by them with whom their Souls are intrusted then also much rather they must obey those of the Clergy to whom all the other Clergy themselves are bound to be obedient Now since by the frequent precept of so many Councils and Fathers the Deacons and Presbyters must submit in all things to the Bishop much more must the Laity and since the Bishop must rule in chief and the Presbyters at the most can but rule in conjunction and assistance but ever in subordination to the Bishop the Laity must obey de integro For that is to keep them in that state in which God hath placed them But for the main S. Clement in his Epistle to S. James translated by Ruffinus saith it was the doctrine of Peter according to the institution of Christ That Presbyters should be obedient to their Bishop in all things and in his third Epistle That Presbyters and Deacons and others of the Clergie must take heed that they do nothing without the license of the Bishop * And to make this business up compleat all these authorites of
Bishop and were his Emissaries for the gaining souls in City or Suburbs But when the Bishops divided Parishes and fixt the Presbyters upon a cure so many Parishes as they distinguished so many delegations they made And these we all believe to be good both in Law and Conscience For the Bishop per omnes divinos ordines propriae hierarchiae exercet mysteria saith Saint Denis he does not do the offices of his Order by himself only but by others also for all the inferiour Orders do so operate as by them he does his proper offices * But besides this grand act of the Bishops first and then of all Christendom in consent we have fair precedent in Saint Paul for he made delegation of a power to the Church of Corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person It was a plain delegation for he commanded them to do it and gave them his own spirit that is his own authority and indeed without it I scarce find how the Delinquent should have been delivered over to Satan in the sence of the Apostolick Church that is to be buffetted for that was a miraculous appendix of power Apostolick * When Saint Paul sent for Timothy from Ephesus he sent Tychicus to be his Vicar Do thy diligence to come unto me shortly for Demas hath forsaken me c. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus Here was an express delegation of the power of jurisdiction to Tychicus who for the time was Curate to Saint Timothy Epaphroditus for a while attended on Saint Paul although he was then Bishop of Philippi and either Saint Paul or Epaphroditus appointed one in substitution or the Church was relinquished for he was most certainly non-resident * Thus also we find that Saint Ignatius did delegate his power to the Presbyters in his voyage to his Martyrdom Presbyteri pascite gregem qui inter vos est donec Deus designaverit eum qui principatum in vobis habiturus est Ye Presbyters do you feed the Flock till God shall design you a Bishop Till then Therefore it was but a delegate power it could not else have expired in the presence of a Superiour To this purpose is that of the Laodicean Council Non oportet Presbyteros ante ingressum Episcopi ingredi sedere in tribunalibus nisi fortè aut aegrotet Episcopus aut in peregrinis eum esse constiterit Presbyters must not sit in Consistory without the Bishop unless the Bishop be sick or absent So that it seems what the Bishop does when he is in his Church that may be committed to others in his absence And to this purpose Saint Cyprian sent a plain Commission to his Presbyters Fretus ergo dilectione religione vostrâ his literis hortor mando ut vos Vice mea fungamini circa gerenda ea quae adiministratio religiosa deposcit I intreat and command you that you do my office in the administration of the affairs of the Church and another time he put Herculanus and Caldonius two of his Suffragans together with Rogatianus and Numidicus two Priests in substitution for the excommunicating Foelicissimus and four more Cùm ego vos pro me Vicarios miserim So it was just in the case of Hierocles Bishop of Alexandria and Melitius his Surrogate in Epiphanius Videbatur autem Melitius praemenire c. ut qui secundum locum habebat post Petrum in Archiepiscopatu velut adjuvandi ejus gratiâ sub ipso existens sub ipso Ecclesiastica curans He did Church offices under and for Hierocles And I could never find any Canon or personal declamatory clause in any Council or Primitive Father against a Bishops giving more or less of his jurisdiction by way of delegation * Hitherto also may be referr'd that when the goods of all the Church which then were of a perplex and busie dispensation were all in the Bishops hand as part of the Episcopal function yet that part of the Bishops office the Bishop by order of the Council of Chalcedon might delegate to a Steward provided he were a Clergy-man and upon this intimation and decree of Chalcedon the Fathers in the Council of Sevill forbad any Lay-men to be Stewards for the Church Elegimus ut unusquisque nostrûm secundùm Chalcedonensium Patrum decreta ex proprio Clero Oeconomum sibi constituat But the reason extends the Canon further Indecorum est enim laicum Vicarium esse Episcopi Saeculares in Ecclesiâ judicare Vicars of Bishops the Canon allows only forbids Lay-men to be Vicars In uno enim eodemque officio non decet dispar professio quod etiam in divinâ lege prohibetur c. In one and the same office the Law of God forbids to joyn men of disparate capacities Then this would be considered For the Canon pretends Scripture Precepts of Fathers and Tradition of Antiquity for its Sanction SECT LI. But they were ever Clergy-men for there never was any Lay-Elders in any Church-office heard of in the Church FOR although Antiquity approves of Episcopal delegations of their power to their Vicars yet these Vicars and Delegates must be Priests at least Melitius was a Biship and yet the Chancellor of Hierocles Patriarch of Alexandria so were Herculanus and Caldonius to Saint Cyprian But they never delegated to any Lay-man any part of their Episcopal power precisely Of their lay-power or the cognisance of secular causes of the people I find one delegation made to some Gentlemen of the Laity by Sylvanus Bishop of Troas when his Clerks grew covetous he cur'd their itch of Gold by trusting men of another profession so to shame them into justice and contempt of money Si quis autem Episcopus posthâc Ecclesiasticam rem aut Laicali procuratione administrandam elegerit non solùm à Christo de rebus Pauperum judicatur reus sed etiam Concilio manebit obnoxius If any Bishop shall hereafter concredit any Church affairs to Lay-Administration he shall be responsive to Christ and in danger of the Council But the Thing was of more ancient constitution For in that Epistle which goes under the Name of Saint Clement which is most certainly very ancient whoever was the Author of it it is decreed Si qui ex Fratribus negotia habent inter se apud cognitores saeculi non judicentur sed apud Presbyteros Ecclesiae quicquid illud est dirimatur If Christian people have causes of difference and judicial contestation let it be ended before the Priests For so Saint Clement expounds Presbyteros in the same Epistle reckoning it as a part of the sacred Hierarchy To this or some parallel constitution Saint Hierom relates saying that Priests from the beginning were appointed Judges of causes He expounds his meaning to be of such Priests as were also Bishops and they were Judges ab initio from the beginning saith S. Hierom So that the saying of the Father may no way prejudge
he did otherwise he did it after the man had been highly warned of the particular and could have obeyed easily which was the case of the man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath and was like the case of Adam who was upon the same account judged by the Covenant of works 10. This then was an emanation both of Gods justice and his mercy Until man had sinned he was not the subject of mercy and if he had not then receiv'd mercy the infliction had been too severe and unjust since the Covenant was beyond the measures of man after it began to multiply into particular laws and man by accident was lessen'd in his strengths 11. From hence the corollaries are plain 1. God was not unjust for beginning his entercourse with mankind by the Covenant of works for these reasons I. Because Man had strengths enough to do it until he lessen'd his own abilities II. The Covenant of works was at first instanc'd but in a small Commandment in abstaining from the fruit of one tree when he had by him very many others for his use and pleasure III. It was necessary that the Covenant of works should begin for the Covenant of faith and repentance could not be at first there was no need of it no opportunity for it it must suppose a defailance or an infirmity as physick supposes sickness and mortality IV. God never exacted the obedience of Man by strict measures by the severity of the first Covenant after Adams fall but men were sav'd then as now they were admitted to repentance and justified by faith and the works of faith And therefore the Jews say that three things were before the world The Law the name of the Messias and Repentance that is as S. Paul better expresses it This Repentance through faith in the Messias is the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the world unto our glory So that at first it was not impossible and when it was it was not exacted in the impossible measure but it was kept in pretence and overture for ends of piety wisdom and mercy of which I have given account it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wise dispensation but it was hidden 12. For since it is essential to a law that it be in a matter that is possible it cannot be suppos'd that God would judge man by an impossible Commandment A good man would not do it much less the righteous and merciful Judge of Men and Angels But God by holding over the world the Covenant of works non fecit praevaricatores sed humiles did not make us sinners by not observing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the minutes and tittles of the law but made us humble needing mercy begging grace longing for a Saviour relying upon a better Covenant waiting for better promises praying for the Spirit of grace repenting of our sins deploring our infirmities and justified by faith in the promises of God 13. II. This then is the great introduction and necessity of repentance We neither could have liv'd without it nor have understood the way of the Divine Justice nor have felt any thing of his most glorious attribute But the admission of us to repentance is the great verification of his justice and the most excellent expression of his mercy This is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ springing from the fountains of grace purchas'd by the blood of the Holy Lamb the Eternal sacrifice promised from the beginning always ministred to mans need in the secret Oeconomy of God but proclaim'd to all the world at the revelation of God incarnate the first day of our Lord Jesus 14. But what are we eased now under the Gospel which is a Law of greater holiness and more Commandments and a sublimer purity in which we are tied to more severity than ever man was bound to under any institution and Covenant If the Law was an impossible Commandment who can say he hath strictly and punctually perform'd the injunctions of the Gospel Is not the little finger of the Son heavier than the Fathers loyns Here therefore it is to be inquired Whether the Commandments of Jesus Christ be as impossible to be kept as the Law of Moses If we by Christ be tied to more holiness than the sons of Israel were by Moses Law then because that could not be kept then neither can this But if we be not tied to more than they how is the law of Christ a more perfect institution and how can we now be justified by a law no better than that by which we could not be justified But then if this should be as impossible as ever why is it a-new imposed why is it held over us when the ends for which it was held over us now are served And at last how can it be agreeable to Gods wisdom and justice to exact of us a law which we cannot perform or to impose a law which cannot justly be exacted The answering and explicating this difficulty will serve many propositions in the doctrine of Repentance SECT II. Of the possibility or impossibility of keeping the Precepts of the Gospel 15. IT were strange that it should be possible for all men to keep the Commandments and requir'd and exacted of all men with the intermination or threatning of horrid pains and yet that no man should ever do it S. Hierome brings its Atticus thus arguing Da exemplum aut confitere imbecillitatem tuam and the same also was the argument of Orosius and the reasonableness of it is a great prejudice against the contrary affirmation of S. Austin Alipius Evodius Aurelius Possidius who because it is no good consequence to argue à non esse ad non posse and though it is not done yet possibly it might conclude that it is possible to keep the Commandments though as yet no man ever did but he that did it for us all But as Marcellinus said well It is hard to say that by a Man a thing can be done of which although there was a great necessity and a severe Commandment yet there never was any example Because in men there is such infinite variety of tempers dispositions apprehensions designs fears and hopes purposes and interests that it were next to a miracle that not one of all mankind should do what he can and what so highly concerns him But because this although it be a high probability yet is no certain demonstration that which S. Paul taught is certainly to be relied upon That the Law could not do it for â—s that is could not bring us justification in that it was weak through the flesh meaning that because we were so weak we could not fulfil the righteousness of the Law therefore we could not be justified by that Covenant Mosâ— manns graves facies cornata impedita lingua lapideae tabulae Moses's hands were heavy his face bright his tongue stammering and the tables were of stone by which is meant that the imposition and
have received our pardon for what we have not kept 33. II. As the law of Moses was not of it self impossible absolutely and naturally so neither are the Commandments of the Gospel For if we consider the particulars of Moses law they were such a burthen which the Jews themselves were loth to part withal because it was in the Moral part of it but a law of abstinence from evil to which fear and temporal promises was as they understood it a sufficient endearment But that burthen which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear was the sting of the law that it allowed no repentance for great crimes but the transgressor should die without mercy under two or three witnesses Now then since in the Gospel there is no such thing but there is an allowance of repentance this must needs be an easie yoke This only is to be added That the righteousness of the law was in abstinence from evil the righteousness of the Gospel is in that and in the doing all the affirmative Commandments of Christ. Now this being a new obligation brought also with it new abilities I mean the glorious promises of the Gospel which whosoever believes heartily will find himself able to do or suffer any thing for the enjoying of them and this is that which is taught us by S. Paul For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son made it possible by the Spirit of Grace and by our spiritual conversation 34. III. There is a Natural possibility and a Moral there are abilities in every man to do any thing that is there commanded and he that can do well to day may do so to morrow in the nature of things this is true and since every sin is a breach of a law which a man might and ought to have kept it is naturally certain that when ever any man did break the Commandment he might have done otherwise In man therefore speaking naturally and of the Physical possibilities of things there is by those assistances which are given in the Gospel ability to keep the Commandments Evangelical But in the Moral sence that is when we consider what Man is and what are his strengths and how many his enemies and how soon he falls and that he forgets when he should remember and his faculties are asleep when they should be awake and he is hindred by intervening accidents and weakned and determin'd by superinduc'd qualities habits and necessities the keeping of the Commandments is morally impossible Now that this may also be taken off there is an abatement and an allowance made for this also Our infirmities are pitied our ignorances excused our unavoidable errors not imputed These in the law were imputable and it was lawful for the avenger of blood to kill a Man-slayer who sinn'd against his will if he could overtake him before he got to Sanctuary These I say in the law were imputable but they were not imputed Gods mercy took them off privately upon the accounts of his Mercy and a general Repentance But in the Gospel they are neither imputed nor imputable They were paid for before-hand and put upon the accounts of the Cross God winked at the times of your ignorance and The Lord had pity on me because I did it in ignorance said S. Paul and so Christ prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they do But ye did it ignorantly as did also your Rulers so S. Peter and upon that account he called them to accept of mercy And it is certain in reason that if God forgives those sins of malice of which we repent infinitely rather will he not impute what we cannot probably or possibly avoid For to do otherwise were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a severity above the measures of humane sufferance and capacity to be punished for infirmities when they do not sin wilfully and therefore God who remembers and pities our infirmities will never put these into his account especially the holy Jesus having already paid our symbol Upon the account of these particulars it is certain God does not exact of us an impossible commandment that is not in the impossible measure for that is the meaning of those words of S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is impious to say the Commandments of the Spirit i. e. of the Gospel are impossible viz. in that sence in which they are exacted 35. But now to the second inquiry Since in justice God exacts not an impossible law how does it consist with his wisdom to impose what in justice he does not exact I answer 1. That it was necessary the Law in its latitude and natural extension should be given for if in the sanction any limits and lessenings had been described it had been a permission given to us to despise him in a certain degree and could in no sence have been proportionable to his infinity God commands us to love him with all our hearts and all our strengths that is always and with all that we can if less than this had been imposed and we commanded to love God but to a less and a certain proportion besides that it would not have been possible for us to understand when we did what was commanded it would have been either a direct lessening our opinion of God by tempting us to suppose no more love was due to him than such a limited measure or else a teaching us not to give him what was his due either of which must necessarily tend to Gods dishonour 36. II. The commanding us to do all that we can and that always though less be exacted does invite our greatest endeavours it entertains the faculties and labours of the best and yet despises not the meanest for they can endeavour too and they can do their best and it serves the end of many graces besides and the honour of some of the Divine Attributes 37. III. By this means still we are contending and pressing forwards and no man can say he does now comprehend or that his work is done till he die and therefore for ever he must grow in grace which could not be without the proposing of a Commandment the performance of which would for ever sufficiently imploy him for by this means the Commandments do every day grow more possible than at first A lustful person thinks it impossible to mortifie his lust but when he hath long contended and got the mastery it grows easie and at last in the progressions of a long piety sin is more impossible than duty is He that is born of God sinneth not neither indeed can he so S. John and Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things saith S. Paul It is long before a man comes to it but the impossibility by degrees turns into a possibility and that into an easiness and at last into a necessity It is a trouble for some to commit a sin By
Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandments are not grievous If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. O Eternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies Thou O God didst see our follies and observe our weaknesses thou knowest the aversness of our nature to good and our proneness to commit vanity and because our imperfect obedience could not bring us to perfect felicity whither thou didst design us the great God of all the world was pleased to make a new Covenant with Man and to become a debtor to his servants Blessed be God and blessed be that Mercy which hath done so great things for us O be pleased to work that in us which thou expectest from us Let us not lose our title in the Covenant of Faith and Repentance by deferring the one or dishonouring the other but let us walk worthy of our vocation according to the Law of Faith and the Mercies of God and the Covenant of our Lord Jesus II. O Blessed Jesus never suffer us to abuse thy mercies or to turn thy Grace into wantonness Let the remembrance and sense of thy glorious favours endear our services and let thy goodness lead us to Repentance and our Repentance bring forth the fruits of godliness in our whole life Imprint deeply upon our hearts the fear and terror of thy Majesty and perpetually entertain our spirits with highest apprehensions of thy loving kindness that we may fear more and love more every day more and more hating sin crucifying all its affections and desires passionately loving holy things zealously following after them prudently conducting them and indefatigably persevering in them to the end of our lives III. O Blessed and Eternal God with thy spirit inlighten our understandings in the rare mysterious Secrets of thy Law Make me to understand all the most advantageous ways of duty and kindle a flame in my Soul that no difficulty or contradiction no temptation within or persecution without may ever extinguish Give me a mighty grace that I may design to please thee with my best and all my services to follow the best examples to do the noblest Charities to pursue all Perfection ever pressing forward to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus Let us rather choose to die than to sin against our Consciences Let us also watch that we may omit nothing of our duty nor pretermit any opportunity by which thou canst be glorified or any Christian instructed comforted or assisted not resting in the strictest measures of Command but passing forward to great and prudent significations of love doing heroick actions some things by which thou mayest be greatly pleased that thou mayest take delight to pardon to sanctifie and to preserve thy servants for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of Repentance And what parts of duty are signified by it in Holy Scriptures SECT I. THE Greeks use two words to express this duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post factum angi cruciari to be afflicted in mind to be troubled for our former folly it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavorinus a being displeased for what we have done and it is generally used for all sorts of Repentance but more properly to signifie either the beginnings of a good or the whole state of an effective Repentance In the first sence we find it in S. Mathew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye seeing did not repent that ye might believe him Of the second sence we have example in Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented too but the end of it was he died with anguish and despair and of Esau it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he found no place for an effective repentance but yet he repented too for he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fain would have had it otherwise and he sought it with tears which two do fully express all the meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is distinguished from the better and effective Repentance There is in this Repentance a sorrow for what is done a
or lust and anger and grief and all things else which need great constancy and wisdom lest the storm should drown reason in us in the gulf of sin For these affections or passions were not sin but the excess of them not being bridled did effect this The same he affirms in Homl. 11. ad 6. Rom. and the 12. Homil. on Rom. 7. And not much unlike this was that excellent discourse of Lactantius in his seventh Book de Divino praemio cap. 5. But Theodoret in his Commentaries upon the Romans follows the same discourse exactly And this way of explicating the entrance and facility of sin upon us is usual in antiquity affirming that because we derive a miserable and an afflicted body from Adam upon that stock sin enters Quae quia materiam peccati ex fomite carnis Consociata trahit nec non simul ipsa sodali Est incentivum peccaminis implicat ambas Vindex poena reas peccantes mente sub unâ PeccandÃque cremet socias cruciatibus aequis Because the soul joyned to the body draws from the society of the flesh incentives and arguments to sin therefore both of them are punished as being guilty by consociation But then thus it was also before the fall For by this it was that Adam fell So the same Prudentius Haec prima est natura animae sic condita simplex Decidit in vitium per sordida foedera carnis The soul was created simple and pure but fell into vice by the evil combination with the flesh But if at first the appetites and necessities and tendencies of the body when it was at ease and health and blessed did yet tempt the soul to forbidden instances much more will this be done when the body is miserable and afflicted uneasie and dying For even now we see by a sad experience that the afflicted and the miserable are not only apt to anger and envy but have many more desires and more weaknesses and consequently more aptnesses to sin in many instances than those who are less troubled And this is that which was said by Arnobius Proni ad culpas ad libidinis varios appetitus vitio sumus infirmitatis ingenitae By the fault of our natural infirmity we are prone to the appetites of lust and sins 7. From hence it follows that naturally a man cannot do or perform the Law of God because being so weak so tempted by his body and this life being the bodies day that is the time in which its appetites are properly prevailing to be born of Adam is to be born under sin that is under such inclinations to it that as no man will remain innocent so no man can of himself keep the Law of God Vendidit se prior ac per hoc omne semen subjectum est peccato Quamobrem infirmum esse hominem ad praecepta legis servanda said the Author of the Commentary on S. Paul's Epistles usually attributed to S. Ambrose But beyond this there are two things more considerable the one is that the soul of man being devested by Adam's fall by way of punishment of all those supernatural assistances which God put into it that which remained was a reasonable soul fitted for the actions of life and of reason but not of any thing that was supernatural For the soul being immerged in flesh feeling grief by participation of evils from the flesh hath and must needs have discourses in order to its own ease and comfort that is in order to the satisfaction of the bodies desires which because they are often contradicted restrained and curbed and commanded to be mortified and killed by the laws of God must of necessity make great inlets for sin for while reason judges of things in proportion to present interests and is less apprehensive of the proportions of those good things which are not the good things of this life but of another the reason abuses the will as the flesh abuses the reason And for this there is no remedy but the grace of God the holy Spirit to make us be born again to become spiritual that is to have new principles new appetites and new interests The other thing I was to note is this That as the Devil was busie to abuse mankind when he was fortified by many advantages and favours from God So now that man is naturally born naked and devested of those graces and advantages and hath an infirm sickly body and enters upon the actions of life through infancy and childhood and youth and folly and ignorance the Devil it is certain will not omit his opportunities but will with all his power possess and abuse mankind and upon the apprehension of this the Primitive Church used in the first admission of infants to the entrance of a new birth to a spiritual life pray against the power and frauds of the Devil and that brought in the ceremony of Exsufflation for ejecting of the Devil The ceremony was fond and weak but the opinion that introduced them was full of caution and prudence For as Optatus Milevitanus said Neminem fugit quod omnis homo qui nascitur quamvis de Christianis parentibus nascitur sine Spiritu immundo esse non possit quem necesse sit ante salutare lavacrum ab homine excludi ac separari It is but too likely the Devil will take advantages of our natural weaknesses and with his temptations and abuses enter upon children as soon as they enter upon choice and indeed prepossess them with imitating follies that may become customs of sinfulness before they become sins and therefore with rare wisdom it was done by the Church to prevent the Devils frauds and violences by an early Baptism and early offices 8. As a consequent of all this it comes to pass that we being born thus naked of the Divine grace thus naturally weak thus incumbred with a body of sin that is a body apt to tempt to forbidden instances and thus assaulted by the frauds and violences of the Devil all which are helped on by the evil guises of the world it is certain we cannot with all these disadvantages and loads soar up to Heaven but in the whole constitution of affairs are in sad dispositions to enter into the Devils portion and go to Hell Not that if we die before we consent to evil we shall perish but that we are evilly disposed to do actions that will deserve it and because if we die before our new birth we have nothing in us that can according to the revelations of God dispose us to Heaven according to these words of the Apostle In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing But this infers not that in our flesh or that in our soul there is any sin properly inherent which makes God to be our present enemy that is the only or the principal thing I suppose my self to have so much reason to deny But that the state of the body is a
philosoph c. 2. Concupiscere 〈◊〉 concupiscere mentiri non mentiri quaecunque talia in quibus consistunt virtutis vitii opera haec sunt in nostro libero arbitrio B. Macarius Aegyptius hom 15. Caeterúmve semel omninò resonet permanea◠delectus arbitrii libertas quam primitus homini dedit Deus ea propter dispensatione suâ res administrantur corporum solutio sit ut in voluntate hominis situm sit ad bonum vel malum converti Marcus Heremita lib. de Baptismo ultra medium speaks more home to the particular question Haec similia cum sciat scriptura in nostrâ potestate positum esse ut haec agamus nec ne propterea non Satanam neque peccatum Adae sed nos increpat infra Primam conceptionem habemus ex dispensatione quemadmodum ille perinde ac ille pro arbitrio possumus obtemperare vel non obtemperare Julius Firmicus de erroribus profanarum religionum cap. 29. Liberum te Deus fecit in tuâ manu est ut aut vivas aut pereas quia te per abrupta praecipitas S. Ambros. in exposit Psalm 40. Homini dedit eligendi arbitrium quod sequatur ante hominem vita mors si deliqueris non natura in culpa est sed eligentis affectus Gaudentius Brixianus tertio tractat super Exod. Horum concessa semel voluntatis libertas non aufertur ne nihil de eo judicare possit qui liber non fuerit in agendo Boetius libro de consolatione philosophiae Quae cum ita sint manet intemerata mortalibus libertas arbitrii Though it were easie to bring very many more testimonies to this purpose yet I have omitted them because the matter is known to all learned Persons and have chosen these because they testifie that our liberty of choice remains after the fall that if we sin the fault is not in our Nature but in our Persons and Election that still it is in our powers to do good or evil that this is the sentence of the Church that he who denies this is not a Catholick believer 15. And this is so agreeable to nature to experience to the sentence of all wise men to the nature of laws to the effect of reward and punishments that I am perswaded no man would deny it if it were not upon this mistake For many wise and learned men dispute against it because they find it affirmed in H. Scripture every where that grace is necessary that we are servants of sin that we cannot come to God unless we be drawn and very many more excellent things to the same purpose Upon the account of which they conclude that therefore our free will is impaired by Adam's fall since without the grace of God we cannot convert our selves to Godliness and being converted without it we cannot stand and if we stand without it we cannot go on and going on without it we cannot persevere Now though all this be very true yet there is a mistake in the whole Question For when it is affirmed that Adam's sin did not could not impair our liberty but all that freedom of election which was concreated with his reason and is essential to an understanding creature did remain inviolate there is no more said but that after Adam's fall all that which was natural remained and that what Adam could naturally do all that he and we can do afterwards But yet this contradicts not all those excellent discourses which the Church makes of the necessity of Grace of the necessity and effect of which I am more earnestly perswaded and do believe more things than are ordinarily taught in the Schools of Learning But when I say that our will can do all that it ever could I mean all that it could ever do naturally but not all that is to be done supernaturally But then this I add that the things of the Spirit that is all that belongs to spiritual life are not naturally known not naturally discerned but are made known to us by the Spirit and when they are known they are not naturally amiable as being in great degrees and many regards contradictory to natural desires but they are made amiable by the proposition of spiritual rewards and our will is moved by God in wayes not natural and the active and passive are brought together by secret powers and after all this our will being put into a supernatural order does upon these presuppositions choose freely and work in the manner of Nature Our will is after Adam naturally as free as ever it was and in spiritual things it 's free when it is made so by the Spirit for Nature could never do that according to that saying of Celestine Nemo nisi per Christum libero arbitrio benè utitur Omnis sancta cogitatio motus bonae voluntatis ex Deo est A man before he is in Christ hath free-will but cannot use it well He hath motions and operations of will but without God's grace they do not delight in holy things But then in the next place there is another mistake also when it is affirmed in the writings of some Doctors that the will of man is depraved men presently suppose that Depravation is a Natural or Physical effect and means a diminution of powers whereas it signifies nothing but a being in love with or having chosen an evil object and not an impossibility or weakness to do the contrary but only because it will not For the powers of the will cannot be lessened by any act of the same faculty for the act is not contrary to the faculty and therefore can do nothing towards its destruction III. As a consequent of this I infer that there is no natural necessity of sinning that is there is no sinful action to which naturally we are determined but it is our own choice that we sin This depending upon the former stands or falls with it But because God hath super-induced so many Laws and the Devil super-induces temptations upon our weak nature and we are to enter into a supernatural state of things therefore it is that we need the Helps of supernatural grace to enable us to do a supernatural duty in order to a divine end so that the necessity of sinning which we all complain of though it be greater in us than it was in Adam before his fall yet is not absolute in either nor meerly natural but accidental and super-induced and in remedy to it God also hath superinduced and promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask Him SECT IV. Adam's Sin is not imputed to us to our Damnation 16. BUT the main of all is this that this sin of Adam is not imputed unto us to Eternal Damnation For Eternal Death was not threatned to Adam for his sin and therefore could not from him come upon us for that which was none of ours Indeed the Socinians affirm that the death which entered into the
subjected in humane Nature for if it were otherwise then an universal should be more particular than that which is Individual and a whole should be less than a part actiones sunt suppositorum and so for omissions now every sin is either one or other and therefore it is impossible that this which is an affection of an universal viz. of humane Nature can be a sin for a sin is a breach of some Law to which not Natures but Persons are obliged and which Natures cannot break because not Natures but persons only do or neglect 30. That Naturally is engendred of the off-spring of Adam This clause is inserted to exclude Christ from the participation of Adams sin But if concupiscence which is in every mans Nature be a sin it is certain Christ had no concupiscence or natural desires for he had no sin But if he had no concupiscence or natural desires how he should be a man or how capable of law or how he should serve God with choice where there could be no potentia ad oppositum I think will be very hard to be understood Christ felt all our infirmities yet without sin All our infirmities are the effects of the sin of Adam and part of that which we call Original sin therefore all these our infirmities which Christ felt as in him they were for ever without sin so as long as they are only Natural Unconsented to must be in us without sin For whatsoever is Naturally in us is Naturally in him but a man is not a man without Natural desires therefore these were in him in him without sin and therefore so in us without sin I mean properly really and formally But there 's a Catachresis also in these words or an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naturally engendred of the off-spring of Adam Cain and Abel and Seth and all the sons of Adam who were the first off-spring and not engendred of the off-spring of Adam were as guilty as we But they came from Adam but not from Adams off-spring therefore the Articles is to be expounded to the sence of these words Naturally engendred or are of the off-spring of Adam 31. Whereby Man is very far gone from Original Righteousness That is men are devolved to their Natural condition devested of all those gifts and graces which God gave to Adam in order to his supernatural end and by the help of which he stood in Gods favour and innocent until the fatal period of his fall This Original Righteousness or innocence we have not Naturally for our Natural innocence is but Negative that is we have not consented to sin The Righteousness he had before his fall I suppose was not only that but also his doing many actions of obedience and intercourse with God even all which passed between God and himself till his eating the forbidden fruit For he had this advantage over us He was created in a full use of reason we his descendents enter into the world in the greatest imperfection and are born under a law which we break before we can understand and it is imputed to us as our understanding increases And our desires are strongest when our Understanding is weakest and therefore by this very Oeconomy which is natural to us we must needs in the Condition of our nature be very far from Adams Original Righteousness who had perfect reason before he had a law and had understanding assoon as he had desires This clause thus understood is most reasonable and true but the effect of it can be nothing in prejudice of the main business and if any thing else be meant by it I cannot understand it to have any ground in Scripture or Reason and I am sure our Church does not determine for it 32. And is inclined to evil That every Man is inclined to evil some more some less but all in some instances is very true and it is an effect or condition of nature but no sin properly Because that which is unavoidable is not a sin 2. Because it is accidental to nature not intrinsecal and essential 3. It is superinduc'd to Nature and is after it and comes by reason of the laws which God made after he made our Nature he brought us laws to check our Nature to cross and displease that by so doing we may prefer God before our selves this also with some variety for in some laws there is more liberty than in others and therefore less Natural inclination to disobedience 4. Because our Nature is inclined to good and not to evil in some instances that is in those which are according to nature and there is no greater Endearment of vertue than the Law and Inclination of Nature in all the Instances of that Law 5. Because that which is intended for the occasion of vertue and reward is not Naturally and essentially the principle of Evil. 6. In the instances in which Naturally we incline to evil the inclination is naturally good because it is to its proper object but that it becomes morally evil must be personal for the law is before our persons it cannot be Natural because the law by which that desire can become evil is after it 33. So that the flesh lusteth against the spirit This clause declares what kind of inclination to evil is esteemed criminal That which is approved that which passeth to act that which is personally delighted in in the contention which is after regeneration or reception of the Holy Spirit For the flesh cannot lust against the spirit in them that have not the spirit unless both the principles be within there can be no contention between them as a man cannot fight a duel alone so that this is not the sin of Nature but of persons for though potentially it is sin yet actually and really it is none until it resist the spirit of God which is the principle put into us to restore us to as good a state at least as that was which we were receded from in Adam By the way it is observable that the Article makes only concupiscence or lusting to be the effect of Adams sin but affirms nothing of the loss of the wills liberty or diminution of the understanding or the rebellion of the passions against reason but only against the spirit which certainly is Natural to it and in Adam did rebel against Gods Commandments when it was the in-let to the sin and therefore could not be a punishment of it And therefore The illative conjunction expresly declares that the sence of the Church of England is that this corruption of our Nature in no other sence and for no other reason is criminal but because it does resist the Holy spirit therefore it is not evil till it does so and therefore if it does not it is not evil For if the very inclination were a sin then when this inclination is contested against at the same time and in the same things the man sins and does well and he can never have a
clear ready and a prepared will he dies and disputes not 2. An animal man or a mere moral man that is one under the law one instructed and convinced by the letter but not sanctified by the Spirit he sins willingly because he considers and chuses it but he also sins unwillingly that is his inclinations to vice and his first choices are abated and the pleasures allayed and his peace disturbed and his sleeps broken but for all that he sins on when the next violent temptation comes The contention in him is between Reason and Passion the law of the mind and the law of the members between conscience and sin that weak this prevailing 3. But the Regenerate hath the same contention within him and the temptation is sometimes strong within him yet he overcomes it and seldom fails in any material and considerable instances Because the Spirit is the prevailing ingredient in the new Creature in the constitution of the regenerate and will prevail For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith that is by the faith of Jesus Christ by him you shall have victory and redemption and again Resist the Devil and he will flee from you for he that is within you is stronger than he that is in the world and Put on the whole armor of God that ye may stand against the snares of the Devil that ye may resist in the evil day and having done all to stand for All things are possible to him that believes and Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things and therefore in all these things we are more than conquerors for God is able to do above all that we can ask or think he can keep us from all sin and present us unblameable in the sight of his glory So that to deny the power of the Spirit in breaking the tyranny and subduing the lusts of the flesh besides that it contradicts all these and divers other Scriptures it denies the Omnipotency of God and of the Spirit of his grace making sin to be stronger than it and if grace abound to make sin superabound but to deny the willingness of the Spirit to redeem us from the captivity of sin is to lessen the reputation of his goodness and to destroy the possibility and consequently the necessity of living holily 34. But how happens it then that even the regenerate sins often and the flesh prevails upon the ruine or the declensions of the Spirit I answer It is not because that holy principle which is in the regenerate cannot or will not secure him but because the man is either prepossess'd with the temptation and overcome before he begins to oppose the arms of the Spirit that is because he is surpris'd or incogitant or it may be careless the good man is asleep and then the enemy takes his advantage and sows tares for if he were awake and considering and would make use of the strengths of the Spirit he would not be overcome by sin For there are powers enough that is arguments and endearments helps and sufficient motives to enable us to resist the strongest temptation in the world and this one alone of resurrection to eternal life which is revealed to us by Jesus Christ and ministred in the Gospel is an argument greater than all the promises and inticements of sin if we will attend to its efficacy and consequence But if we throw away our arms and begin a fight in the Spirit and end it in the flesh the ill success of the day is to be imputed to us not to the Spirit of God to whom if we had attended we should certainly have prevailed * The reliques and remains of sin are in the regenerate but that is a sign that sin is overcome and the kingdom of it broken and that is a demonstration that when ever sin does prevail in any single instances it is not for want of power but of using that power for since the Spirit hath prevailed upon the flesh in its strengths and hath crucified it there is no question but it can also prevail upon all its weaknesses 35. For we must be curious to avoid a mistake here The dominion of the Spirit and the remains of the flesh may consist together in the regenerate as some remains of cold with the prevailing heat but the dominion of one and the other are in every degree inconsistent as both cold and heat cannot in any sence be both said to be the prevailing ingredient A man cannot be said to be both free from sin and a slave to sin If he hath prevailed in any degree upon sin then he is not at all a servant of that portion from whence he is set free but if he be a captive of any one sin or regular degree of it he is not Gods freed man for the Spirit prevails upon all as well as upon one and that is not an infinite power that cannot redeem us from all our slavery But to be a slave of sin and at the same time to be a servant of righteousness is not only against the analogy of Scripture and the express signification of so many excellent periods but against common sence it is as if one should say that a man hath more heat than cold in his hand and yet that the cold should prevail upon and be stronger than the heat that is that the weaker should overcome the stronger and the less should be greater than that which is bigger than it 36. But as the choice of vertue is abated and as the temptation grows more violent and urges more vehemently is made less pleasant in the regenerate person so is the choice of vice in the Moral or Animal man The contention abates the pleasure in both their choices but in the one it ends in sin in the other it ends in victory So that there is an unwillingness to sin in all but in the impious and profane person in the far distant stranger But the unwillingness to sin that is in the Animal or Moral man is nothing else but a serving sin like a grumbling servant or like the younger son of the Farmer in the Gospel he said he would not but did it for all his angry words And therefore that the unregenerate man acts the sin against his mind and after a long contention against it does not in all cases lessen it but sometimes increases it Nec leviat crimen eorum magis verò auget quòd eos diù restitisse dixistis said Pope Pelagius To resist long and then to consent hath in it some aggravations of the crime as being a conviction of the mans baseness a violence to reason a breach of former resolutions a recession from fair beginnings and wholly without excuse * But if ever it comes to pass that in the contention of flesh and spirit the regenerate man does sin he does it unwillingly that is
and those great advantages which by this Doctrine so understood may be reaped if men will be quiet and patient void of prejudice and not void of Charity This Madam is reason sufficient why I offer so many justifications of my Doctrine before any man appears in publick against it but because there are many who do enter into the houses of the rich and the honourable and whisper secret oppositions and accusations rather than arguments against my Doctrine the good Women that are zealous for Religion and make up in the passions of one faculty what is not so visible in the actions and operations of another are sure to be affrighted before they be instructed and men enter caveats in that Court before they try the cause But that is not all For I have found that some men to whom I gave and designed my labours and for whose sake I was willing to suffer the persecution of a suspected truth have been so unjust to me and so unserviceable to your self Madam and to some other excellent and rare personages as to tell stories and give names to my proposition and by secret murmurs hinder you from receiving that good which your wisdom and your piety would have discerned there if they had not affrighted you with telling that a Snake lay under the Plantane and that this Doctrine which is as wholsome as the fruits of Paradise was enwrapped with the infoldings of a Serpent subtile and fallacious Madam I know the arts of these men and they often put me in mind of what was told me by M. Sackvill the late Earl of Dorsets Vncle that the cunning Sects of the World he named the Jesuits and the Presbyterians did more prevail by whispering to Ladies than all the Church of England and the more sober Protestants could do by fine force and strength of argument For they by prejudice or fears terrible things and zealous nothings confident sayings and little stories governing the Ladies Consciences who can perswade their Lords their Lords will convert their Tenants and so the World is all their own I should wish them all good of their profits and purchases if the case were otherwise than it is but because they are questions of Souls of their interest and advantages I cannot wish they may prevail with the more Religious and Zealous Personages and therefore Madam I have taken the boldness to write this tedious Letter to you that I may give you a right understanding and an easie explication of this great Question as conceiving my self the more bound to do it to your satisfaction not only because you are Zealous for the Religion of this Church and are a person as well of Reason as of Religion but also because you have passed divers obligations upon me for which all my services are too little a return DEVS JVSTIFICATVS OR A VINDICATION OF THE Glory of the DIVINE ATTRIBUTES In the Question of ORIGINAL SIN IN Order to which I will plainly describe the great lines of difference and danger which are in the errors and mistakes about this Question 2. I will prove the truth and necessity of my own together with the usefulness and reasonableness of it 3. I will answer those little murmurs by which so far as I can yet learn these men seek to invade the understandings of those who have not leisure or will to examine the thing it self in my own words and arguments 4. And if any thing else falls in by the by in which I can give satisfaction to a Person of Your great Worthiness I will not omit it as being desirous to have this Doctrine stand as fair in your eyes as it is in all its own colours and proportions But first Madam be pleased to remember that the question is not whether there be any such thing as Original Sin for it is certain and confessed on all hands almost For my part I cannot but confess that to be which I feel and groan under and by which all the World is miserable Adam turned his back upon the Sun and dwelt in the dark and the shadow he sinned and fell into Gods displeasure and was made naked of all his supernatural endowments and was ashamed and sentenced to death and deprived of the means of long life and of the Sacrament and instrument of Immortality I mean the Tree of Life he then fell under the evils of a sickly body and a passionate ignorant uninstructed soul his sin made him sickly his sickness made him peevish his sin left him ignorant his ignorance made him foolish and unreasonable His sin left him to his nature and by his nature who ever was to be born at all was to be born a child and to do before he could understand and be bred under Laws to which he was always bound but which could not always be exacted and he was to chuse when he could not â—eason and had passions most strong when he had his understanding most weak and was to ride a wild horse without a bridle and the more need he had of a curb the less strength he had to use it and this being the case of all the World what was every mans evil became all mens greater evil and though alone it was very bad yet when they came together it was made much worse like Ships in a storm every one alone hath enough to do to out-ride it but when they meet besides the evils of the storm they find the intolerable calamity of their mutual concussion and every Ship that is ready to be oppressed with the tempest is a worse tempest to every vessel against which it is violently dashed So it is in mankind every man hath evil enough of his own and it is hard for a man to live soberly temperately and religiously but when he hath Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters Friends and Enemies Buyers and Sellers Lawyers and Physicians a Family and a Neighbourhood a King over him or Tenants under him a Bishop to rule in matters of Government spiritual and a People to be ruled by him in the affairs of their Souls then it is that every man dashes against another and one relation requires what another denies and when one speaks another will contradict him and that which is well spoken is sometimes innocently mistaken and that upon a good cause produces an evil effect and by these and ten thousand other concurrent causes man is made more than most miserable But the main thing is this when God was angry with Adam the man fell from the state of grace for God withdrew his grace and we returned to the state of mere nature of our prime creation And although I am not of Petrus Diaconus his mind who said that when we all fell in Adam we fell into the dirt and not only so but we fell also upon a heap of stones so that we not only were made naked but defiled also and broken all in pieces yet this I believe to be certain that
and efficacy of the Premisses and that the persons should not more certainly be condemned then their Opinions confuted and lastly that the infirmities of men and difficulties of things should be both put in balance to make abatement in the definitive sentence against mens persons But then because Toleration of Opinions is not properly a Question of Religion it may be a Question of Policy and although a man may be a good Christian though he believe an errour not fundamental and not directly or evidently impious yet his Opinion may accidentally disturb the publick peace through the over-activeness of the persons and the confidence of their belief and the opinion of its appendant necessity and therefore Toleration of differing Perswasions in these cases is to be considered upon political grounds and is just so to be admitted or denied as the Opinions or Toleration of them may consist with the publick and necessary ends of Government Onely this As Christian Princes must look to the interest of their Government so especially must they consider the interests of Christianity and not call every redargution or modest discovery of an established errour by the name of disturbance of the peace For it is very likely that the peevishness and impatience of contradiction in the Governours may break the peace Let them remember but the gentleness of Christianity the liberty of Consciences which ought to be preserved and let them doe justice to the persons whoever they are that are peevish provided no man's person be over-born with prejudice For if it be necessary for all men to subscribe to the present established Religion by the same reason at another time a man may be bound to subscribe to the contradictory and so to all Religions in the world And they onely who by their too much confidence intitle God to all their fancies and make them to be Questions of Religion and evidences for Heaven or consignations to Hell they onely think this Doctrine unreasonable and they are the men that first disturb the Churche's peace and then think there is no appeasing the tumult but by getting the victory But they that consider things wisely understand that since salvation and damnation depend not upon impertinencies and yet that publick peace and tranquillity may the Prince is in this case to seek how to secure Government and the issues and intentions of that while there is in these cases directly no insecurity to Religion unless by the accidental uncharitableness of them that dispute which uncharitableness is also much prevented when the publick peace is secured and no person is on either side ingaged upon revenge or troubled with disgrace or vexed with punishments by any decretory sentence against him It was the saying of a wise States-man I mean Thuanus Haeretici qui pace datâ factionibus scinduntur persecutione uniuntur contra Remp. If you persecute Hâ—â—reticks or Discrepants they unite themselves as to a common defence if you permit them they divide themselves upon private interest and the rather if this interest was an ingredient of the Opinion 5. The summe is this It concerns the duty of a Prince because it concerns the Honour of God that all vices and every part of ill life be discountenanced and restrained and therefore in relation to that Opinions are to be dealt with For the understanding being to direct the will and Opinions to guide our practices they are considerable onely as they teach impiety and vice as they either dishonour God or disobey him Now all such Doctrines are to be condemned but for the persons preaching such Doctrines if they neither justifie nor approve the pretended consequences which are certainly impious they are to be separated from that consideration But if they know such consequences and allow them or if they do not stay till the Doctrines produce impiety but take sin before-hand and manage them impiously in any sense or if either themselves or their Doctrine do really and without colour or feigned pretext disturb the publick peace and just interests they are not to be suffered In all other cases it is not onely lawfull to permit them but it is also necessary that Princes and all in Authority should not persecute discrepant Opinions And in such cases wherein persons not otherwise incompetent are bound to reprove an errour as they are in many in all these if the Prince makes restraint he hinders men from doing their duty and from obeying the Laws of Jesus Christ. SECT XVII Of Compliance with Disagreeing persons or weak Consciences in general 1. UPon these grounds it remains that we reduce this Doctrine to practical Conclusions and consider among the differing Sects and Opinions which trouble these parts of Christendome and come into our concernment which Sects of Christians are to be tolerated and how far and which are to be restrained and punished in their several proportions 2. The first Consideration is since diversity of Opinions does more concern publick peace then Religion what is to be done to persons who disobey a publick Sanction upon a true allegation that they cannot believe it to be lawfull to obey such Constitutions although they disbelieve them upon insufficient grounds that is whether in constituta lege disagreeing persons or weak Consciences are to be complied withall and their disobeying and disagreeing tolerated 3. First In this Question there is no distinction can be made between persons truly weak and but pretending so For all that pretend to it are to be allowed the same liberty whatsoever it be for no man's spirit is known to any but to God and himself and therefore pretences and realities in this case are both alike in order to the publick Toleration And this very thing is one argument to perswade a Negative For the chief thing in this case is the concernment of publick Government which is then most of all violated when what may prudently be permitted to some purposes may be demanded to many more and the piety of the Laws abused to the impiety of other mens ends And if Laws be made so malleable as to comply with weak Consciences he that hath a minde to disobey is made impregnable against the coercitive power of the Laws by this pretence For a weak Conscience signifies nothing in this case but a dislike of the Law upon a contrary perswasion For if some weak Consciences do obey the Law and others do not it is not their weakness indefinitely that is the cause of it but a definite and particular perswasion to the contrary So that if such a pretence be excuse sufficient from obeying then the Law is a Sanction obliging every one to obey that hath a minde to it and he that hath not may chuse that is it is no Law at all for he that hath a mind to it may doe it if there be no Law and he that hath no mind to it need not for all the Law 4. And therefore the wit of man cannot prudently frame a law
of that temper and expedient but either he must lose the formality of a law and neither have power coercitive nor obligatory but ad arbitrium inferiorum or else it cannot antecedently to the particular case give leave to any sort of men to disagree or disobey 5. Secondly Suppose that a Law be made with great reason so as to satisfie divers persons pious and prudent that it complies with the necessity of Government and promotes the interest of God's service and publick order it may easily be imagined that these persons which are obedient sons of the Church may be as zealous for the publick Order and Discipline of the Church as others for their opinion against it and may be as much scandalized if disobedience be tolerated as others are if the Law be exacted and what shall be done in this case Both sorts of men cannot be complied withall because as these pretend to be offended at the Law and by consequence if they understand the consequents of their own Opinion at them that obey the Law so the others are justly offended at them that unjustly disobey it If therefore there be any on the right side as confident and zealous as they who are on the wrong side then the disagreeing persons are not to be complied with to avoid giving offence for if they be offence is given to better persons and so the mischief which such complying seeks to prevent is made greater and more unjust obedience is discouraged and disobedience is legally canonized for the result of a holy and a tender Conscience 6. Thirdly Such complying with the disagreeings of a sort of men is the total overthrow of all Discipline and it is better to make no Laws of publick Worship then to rescind them in the very constitution and there can be no end in making the Sanction but to make the Law ridiculous and the Authority contemptible For to say that complying with weak Consciences in the very framing of a Law of Discipline is the way to preserve unity were all one as to say to take away all Laws is the best way to prevent disobedience In such matters of indifferency the best way of cementing the fraction is to unite the parts in the Authority for then the question is but one viz. Whether the authority must be obeyed or not But if a permission be given of disputing the particulars the Questions become next to infinite A Mirrour when it is broken represents the object mutiplied and divided but if it be entire and through one centre transmits the species to the eye the Vision is one and natural Laws are the Mirrour in which men are to dress and compose their actions and therefore must not be broken with such clauses of exception which may without remedy be abused to the prejudice of Authority and peace and all humane Sanctions And I have known in some Churches that this pretence hath been nothing but a design to discredit the Law to dismantle the Authority that made it to raise their own credit and a trophee of their zeal to make it a characteristick note of a Sect and the cognizance of holy persons and yet the men that claimed exemption from the Laws upon pretence of having weak Consciences if in hearty expression you had told them so to their heads they would have spit in your face and were so far from confessing themselves weak that they thought themselves able to give Laws to Christendome to instruct the greatest Clerks and to catechize the Church herself And which is the worst of all they who were perpetually clamourous that the severity of the Laws should slacken as to their particular and in matter adiaphorous in which if the Church hath any Authority she hath power to make Laws to indulge a leave to them to doe as they list yet were the most imperious amongst men most decretory in their sentences and most impatient of any disagreeing from them though in the least minute and particular whereas by all the justice of the world they who perswade such a compliance in matters of fact and of so little question should not deny to tolerate persons that differ in Questions of great difficulty and contestation 7. Fourthly But yet since all things almost in the world have been made matters of dispute and the will of some men and the malice of others and the infinite industry and pertinacy of contesting and resolution to conquer hath abused some persons innocently into a perswasion that even the Laws themselves though never so prudently constituted are superstitious or impious such persons who are otherwise pious humble and religious are not to be destroyed for such matters which in themselves are not of concernment to Salvation and neither are so accidentally to such men and in such cases where they are innocently abused and they erre without purpose and design And therefore if there be a publick disposition in some persons to dislike Laws of a certain quality if it be fore-seen it is to be considered in lege dicenda and whatever inconvenience or particular offence is fore-seen is either to be directly avoided in the Law or else a compensation in the excellency of the Law and certain advantages made to out-weigh their pretensions But in lege jam dicta because there may be a necessiy some persons should have a liberty indulged them it is necessary that the Governours of the Church should be intrusted with a power to consider the particular case and indulge a liberty to the person and grant personal dispensations This I say is to be done at several times upon particular instance upon singular consideration and new emergencies But that a whole kinde of men such a kinde to which all men without possibility of being confuted may pretend should at once in the very frame of the Law be permitted to disobey is to nullifie the Law to destroy Discipline and to hallow disobedience it takes away the obliging part of the Law and makes that the thing enacted shall not be enjoyn'd but tolerated onely it destroys unity and uniformity which to preserve was the very end of such laws of Discipline it bends the Rule to the thing which is to be ruled so that the Law obeys the subject not the subject the Law it is to make a Law for particulars not upon general reason and congruity against the prudence and design of all Laws in the world and absolutely without the example of any Church in Christendome it prevents no scandal for some will be scandalized at the Authority itself some at the complying and remisness of Discipline and several men at matters and upon ends contradictory All which cannot some ought not to be complied withall 8. Sixthly The summe is this The end of the Laws of Discipline are in an immediate order to the conservation and ornament of the publick and therefore the Laws must not so tolerate as by conserving persons to destroy themselves and the publick benefit but if