convinced from the Hebrew originals then either from the Greek or from the Latine translations Bell. lib. 1. de verbo Dei cap. 2. as for example saith he in the second Psalm which the Apostles applyed more peculiarly to our blessed Saviour Acts 4. 25. The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine Apprehendite disciplinam Apprehend instruction makes nothing against the Jews but the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kiss the Son makes so much against them that it wholly stops their mouths because it bids them exhibit worship and reverence to the Son of God And shall we think that those men do not open the mouths of the Jews to blaspheme our blessed Saviour and shut their hearts from receiving him as the Messias who forbid others to exhibit this worship or reverence unto him So little Reason is there and less Religion for us instead of kissing the Son least he be angry to be angry with others for desiring to kiss the Son even our blessed Saviour the Son of God from all eternity but by his blessed incarnation made also in time the Son of man SECT IX Christs love to us that he would be made under the Law That man is a Son of Belial not a member of Christ that will not be under the Law all good Christians follow Christ both in active and in passive obedience OUR blessed Saviour was therefore made under the Law that we should not be kept under it He was made under the Obedience that we should not be kept under the curse of the Law Factus ex muliere factus sub lege He was made of a woman and therefore made under the Law For nothing that is made of but is also made under This is the Doctrine of heaven Apoc. 4. 11. and the inhabitants there rejoyce in it that as they were made by Gods power so also for his pleasure Therefore we say of the eternal Son of God that he was begotten of the Father not made of him because he is not under him but of the Son of man we justly say he was made of and consequently he was made under God Debitor essentiae debitor Justitiae Christ as man owed his being to God and therefore owed his service to him as such he was made by his power and therefore made under his Justice Christ was made under the obedience of the Ceremonial and Judicial Law that we should not be detained under the obedience of either He was made under the obedience of the moral Law not that we should be exempted from under the obedience but that we should be exempted from under the curse and condemnation of it Christ himself as made was made under the Law for made and made under cannot be severed and there is no being under without a Law We cannot consider the Son of God made under the Law but we must needs condemn the Sons of men who will make themselves above Law Sin is the transgression of the Law saith Saint John 1 John 3. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as well sine lege as contra legem as well without Law as against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is only beside or against Law but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also without Law And we may a little Criticise upon those words of the Greek Text so as we teach our Grammar to be subservient to our Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnis qui facit peccatum iniquitatem facit whosoever doth sin doth also iniquity for it is much more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more to do sin as our work then barely to sin as our misery The latter may be only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law but the former is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a privation of the Law that is a detestation and as far as in us lies an abolition of it For a willful sinner doth not only contemn Law but as much as he can confounds it as he sins against the Law so he would fain sin without the Law He wishes there were no Commandment to restrain him no Lord to over-rule him no judge to over-aw him And he that is of this temper is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked man a son of Belial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinc jugo one that will not be under a yoke one that will have no Law because he will not be under any This temper should be far from Christians because it was far from Christ The Text tells us He was made under the Law sure not for us to make our selves above it but that all good Christians should labour to follow him both in active and in passive obedience As for active obedience the Text is plain It is said of Christ Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come to do thy will O God And Saint Paul requires no less of every Christian Eph. 6. 6. Doing the will of God from the heart Again Christ saith of himself John 4 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me he could not live without his obedience and he also tells us that we have little hopes of eternal life without it Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven And as for passive obedience the Text is also as plain for Christ saith concerning himself when he was going to his sufferings not as I will but as thou wilt Mat. 26. 39. And Saint Peter saith no less concerning the Christian 1 Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator The obediential power in the creature is much more excellent then the natural power The power whereby we serve and obey our God is much more glorious then the power whereby we serve or preserve our selves And when we are come to so great a perfection of Christianity as to know this then we shall truly know Christ For truly to know Christ is to follow him and truly to follow Christ is to follow him to his Cross which when we shall be content to do we shall then find that as his service is perfect freedom so his affliction is perfect consolation but that belongs to another head and shall be the argument of the next Chapter wherein the Spirit of God will afford us more consolations then the malice of men can load us with afflictions CAP. III. The joyful manner of Christs welcom as proceeding from joy in the Holy Ghost witnessing to our consciences that through Christ we are not under the Law but under Grace and made the children of God by Adoption SECT I. The Spiritual man more wants joy then the Carnal man as being under greater labours both of sense and motion God the Holy Ghosts love
knowledge of God she is trusted with preaching which teacheth that knowledge And because she is trusted with the worship of God she is trusted with praying and with administring the holy Sacraments which constitute that worship So that we may see how incongruously some men do seek to turn all the worship of God into preaching when as in truth that more properly belongs to the knowledge then to the worship of God and though knowledge may direct our worship yet it cannot constitute it Wherefore God himself speaking of his publick worship as it was exercised among the Jews on their Sabbath calleth the Temple wherein it was exercised the house of Prayer I will make them joyful in my house of Prayer Isa 56. 7. And our blessed Saviour speaking of the same worship as it should be exercised among Christians calleth the place of its exercise the House of prayer My house shall be called of all Nations the house of prayer Mark 11. 17. In that he saith of all Nations he includeth the Christians who were so to be whereas the Jewish worshippers were but only of one Nation and in that he alloweth the Christians to have amongst them Gods house as well as the Jews t is evident he calleth not only the Temple at Hierusalem Gods house but also all other Temples or Churches which should ever after be set apart for Gods worship plainly sheweth that his zeal was not so much for that house whereof in few years after not one stone was to be left upon another as for those houses which were to continue to the worlds end And lastly in that he calleth the Temple though set apart for all the acts of Gods worship The house of prayer that whilst sacrifices were not yet abolished t is evident he would have prayer looked upon as the chiefest act of Gods worship as chiefly belonging to Gods house and that therefore no act of Religion should cast prayer out of Gods house which is the house of prayer as no act of irreligion should cast Gods house out of any Nation which is the house of prayer for All Nations Preaching was ordained for Praying not against it to teach us how to make our supplications to God not to exclude our making them Which truth is either so palpable as to obtain all mens consent or so powerful as to extort it for even they who are most zealous for preaching do not think fit to preach without praying nay they commonly turn their Sermons into prayers as if the one without the other were either an ineffectual or an incompleat act of Religion whereas prayer alone is neither thought ineffectual nor incompleat thereby giving that pre-eminence to prayer in the truth of their Judgements which they arrogate to preaching in the perversness of their practice that is To be the chiefest act of Religious worship No Christian Divine ought so to betray his own Vocation much less his Religion as to undervalue preaching nor yet so to betray his Trust as to overvalue it above Prayer either of them is the publick manifestation of Gods excellency which to do according to Gods command is both the greatest duty of a Christian and the greatest glory of Christianity But whereas Gods excellency may be manifested three wayes First by way of Enuntiation as in that of the Psalmist Great is the Lord and marvellous worthy to be praised Psal 145. 3. Secondly by way of admiration as O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world or What is man that thou art mindful of him Psalm 8. 1 4. Thirdly by way of invocation as In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion Psalm 71. 1. T is evident that preaching can magnifie God only by way of enuntiation declaring his greatness and goodness or by way of admiration extolling it and I wish from my heart that our preaching did truly hit either of these marks which ought to aim at both But t is only praying which can magnifie him by way of invocation not only declaring and admiring his greatness and goodness but also Trusting it Therefore is this the highest degree of glory which man can give to God and t is as great a shame to give it to any else as not to give it him because this comprizeth as well as the other the act of enuntiation which is the work of the tongue and the act of admiration which is the work of the head but moreover addeth a most holy Affection which is the work of the heart and then is God most truly glorified as to the manifestation of his excellency when he is glorified both with tongue and head and heart How much more when all these meet together not only in one man but also in many millions which joyn together in one heavenly form of prayer whom though their number may make many Congregations yet their uniformity in prayer will not let make any more then one Communion These Congregations as they give most glory to God so they have most power with him and most blessings from him amongst the rest the blessings of Charity and concord which others who more delight in variety of Prayers as they do not so truly desire so they cannot so firmly enjoy according to the excellent gloss upon Rom. 15. Benè rogat Apostolus minores pro se orar◠multi enim minimi dum congregantur unanimes fiunt magni multorum preces impossibile est non impetrare illud quod est impetrabile If the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man availeth much then of many righteous men much more especially when they all pray as one man with one heart and with one mouth and though many in speaking yet but one in Praying though many as men yet but one as Christians unanimously beseeching for the Grace and mercy of Christ who having joined two natures in one person loves to see us joyn many persons in one communion SECT III. Preaching is twofold either by Translating and Reading or by Expounding the Holy Scriptures The great excellency and necessity of both and that our Church is entrusted with both and cannot justly be charged as defective in either GOD first instructed men in his own person till their wickedness made them unworthy of so good company then withdrawing himself to heaven he instructed them by his Prophets because though their sin had made them destitute of his good company yet his mercy would no let them be destitute of his good instruction Thus was God pleased to preach unto those under the Law by himself and by his Prophets And after the same manner was he also pleased to preach to us under the Gospel by his Son and by his Apostles So that all Preaching hath in Truth its beginning from God should have its continuance with him its end in him For those Doctrines which are now Preached by his ordinary Ministers may not differ the least tittle from those
sin shall not have dominion over you were not the reason of that a much greater comfort for ye are not under the Law but under Grace For they that groan under the oppression of Tyrants must needs be most glad to be delivered from their unjust and unmerciful dominion and here is that deliverance for sin which is a greater tyrant over the soul then any monster of men can be over the body shall not have dominion over you but they that have once been under the dominion of tyrants cannot be sure they are delivered out of their hands till they see themselves actually under the righteous and merciful dominion of their own rightful Governours And we may accordingly see that such is our deliverance from the dominion of sin in that it is said in the next words for ye are not under the law but under Grace the spirit of Grace now reigns in you and therefore will not let sin raign any longer in you nor the Law reign any longer over you as it is the strength of sin to provoke it or the judge of sinners to condemn and to torment them For if we lay not some such restriction upon the Apostles words we shall never be able to prove it is a mercy not to be under the Law which is gloriously magnified by the Spirit of God as that which giveth both holiness and wisdom Psal 19. 17. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul there is the holiness The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple there is the wisdom we must therefore say that the Law had a threefold use to restrain to condemn and to instruct to restrain sin to condemn the sinner and to instruct in righteousness The power the Law had to condemn sinners and to wrack our consciences before Gods judgement-seat is taken away by Christ so that they who truly lay hold on the Merit of Christ are not thus under the Law as condemning them And thus not to be under the Law is an invaluable mercy because the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4. 15. in shewing Gods wrath against sinners and us as sinners subject to that wrath But the power the Law had of restraining from sin and of instructing in righteousness still remains uncontroled of God and should be undoubted and undisputed of men for he that gave to the Jew an inheritance on earth to have his Law kept as t is said Psal 105. 43 44. And gave them the Lands of the heathen and they took the labours of the people in possession that they might keep his statutes and observe his Laws hath not promised to the Christian an inheritance in heaven to have his Law broken Therefore the Law must still restrain us from sin and direct us in righteousness only with this difference The power it hath of restraining us from sin grows less and less every day in the regenerate and can remain no longer then this life because sin it self in them shall remain no longer But the power the Law hath to instruct and direct in righteousness grows dayly more and more and is as immortal as righteousness it self and can never be abolished neither in this life nor in the life everlasting for it is easier for heaven and earth to pass then one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 17. Nay the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise 2 Pet. 3. 10. But this power of the Law shall not pass away for it follows ver 13. that in the new heavens dwelleth righteousness And if righteousness dwell there then also the Law which is the rule thereof for it is not possible that any creature should have its own will but only the will of God for the rule of righteousness on which will it must as necessarily depend for its doing as for its being since nothing can be independent in its working which is not independent in its being and he only is independent in his being who is wholly in and of and for himself that is God blessed for ever who is the efficient and final cause of all things the efficient cause by whom the final cause for whom they are and were created In a word the regulating power of the Law cannot be abolished for that shall still remain in heaven the restraining power of the Law is not abolished but only changed in that true faith makes us more obedient for love then the Law for fear and the condemning power of the Law shall never be abolished for it shall still reign over the damned souls in hell and breed the worm of conscience that dyeth not And yet t is this condemning power of the Law that we are chiefly redeemed from not that the power of condemning is taken from the Law but that we are taken from its condemnation so saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus He saith not There is no condemnation from the Law but he said there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ because they that are in Christ do in him fulfil the Law and so cannot be under the condemnation of it For though they perform not that legal obedience which is able to satisfie Gods Justice yet they perform that Evangelical obedience which is undoubtedly acceptable to his mercy Their obedience though not worth acceptance in it self yet is very well accepted in Christ and that makes them that are in Christ so exceedingly strive to shew themselves dutiful and obedient because no other are made the Sons of God in Christ but only those who are made obedient to him by his Spirit And they truly are under grace because they truly are under Christ the fountain of grace for grace and truth came by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. Gratia dupliciter dicitur uno modo ipsa voluntas Dei gratis aliquid dantis alio modo ipsum gratuitum donum Dei saith Aquinas 3a 2. 10. cap. Grace hath two significations First it is taken for the love of God Secondly it is taken for the gift of that love and accordingly he that is under Grace is partaker of both these both of Gods love and of Gods free gift proceeding from that love And the latter is the infallible demonstration of the former the gift is the demonstration of the love For grace as it is the love of God is the cause of no Religious operations in the soul but as it is the gift of Gods love and therefore this phrase ye are under grace doth not bid us look up to Gods decree but look down upon our own souls to see if we can find there such Religious habits as may cause those Religious operations which are the undoubted evidences and effects of the gift of grace and therefore the undoubted evidences because the undoubted effect of it For grace as it is the gift of God in the soul works not immediately by it self or by its own essence but by virtuous
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pascha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 herba amara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Azymus Their Annuntiation belonging to the Passeover was how God passed their Fathers over that night wherein he destroyed the first born of the Egyptians Their annuntiation belonging to the bitter herbs was of their Fathers grievous servitude and bondage in Egypt which made even their lives bitter unto them And their annuntiation belonging to the unleavened bread was their happy and sudden deliverance from that bondage for the Egyptians were so urgent upon the people that they took their dough before it was leavened their kneading troughs being bound up in their cloathes upon their shoulders Exod. 12. 24. We had at the same time a much greater deliverance and why should we have a less Annuntiation For where the mercy it self is much greater why should the memorial thereof be so much less God gives a signal intimation to the Jew Exod. 12. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec ista non illa This is that very night as if there were not demonstrative pronouns enough to shew that this mercy was to be as particular in their thankful commemoration as it had been in Almighty Gods free donation And Saint Paul seems to speak as signally to the Christian when he saith The same night that he was betrayed 1 Cor. 11. 23. as if he would not have us forget the particular time when he cometh so near the very words of Moses This is that very night to be observed to the Lord And indeed why should not we keep a Christian Passeover as well as a Christian Sabbath were they not both alike feasts of the Jews and as so are they not both alike abolished by the Apostle Gal. 4. 10. saying ye observe daies and moneths and times and years I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you labour in vain A Jewish observation of daies which observes daies for themselves is without doubt destructive of Christianity for it places Religion in things meerly ceremonial Not so a Christian observation of daies for duties for that places Religion only in morals Again why hath not the Christian Church as good Authority if not as justifiable warrant to observe an Anniversary as it hath to observe a Weekly festival as well the feast of the Christian Passeover once a year as the feast of the Christian Sabbath once a week for both are alike recommended in the Law and neither is directly commanded in the Gospel and we may not add to Gods commands no more then we may take from them nor may we think the New Testament defective in any necessary command or doctrine unless we will advance Judaism above Christianity Therefore since it will pose the best Divine in Christendom to shew that Text in the New Testament which commandeth the observation of a Sabbath and we cannot run to the letter of the fourth Commandment to keep the first day in stead of the seventh we must be contented in this case with the general equity of the Law and that gives the Church power to consecrate Annual as well as Weekly Festivals to the honour of God and condemneth our profaness in neglecting our perversness in despising the one as well as the other Besides it is evident we cannot or if we can sure the Apostles could not keep a Lords day all the year but as a repetition of Easter-day which was the first Lords day even the very day of his resurrection wherefore we must either say it is a Jewish not a Christian Sabbath or say it is a Lords day from the great Lords day the day of our Lords resurrection For though Saint John telling us He was in the Spirit on the Lords day pointeth clearly at our Sunday the weekly remembrance of Christs resurrection and not at Easter-day the annual remembrance of it because in those Churches of Asia to which he writ Easter-day was not yet confined to the first but might be kept on any other day of the week yet without doubt he called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day for that it was a weekly repetition of that very day which our Lord had consecrated to himself by rising from the dead called for that reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Lords day by the primitive Christians And shal we then not think it worth our notice that our blessed Saviour himself chose such a time for his Passion and Resurrection as by the unerring Characters of heaven might be exactly observed all the world over to the worlds end were it so that our Civil year were made agreeable with the Tropical or that the Catholick Church of Christ in its first and purest age would have been so careful to find out and so zealous to settle the time of this Festival if the Fathers of these blessed ages which were less quarrelsom but more pious then any have been since had not thought it highly concerned the honour of Christ and the propagation and justification of the Christian Religion Surely we cannot easily more gratifie the Jews then by putting down the memory of that time wherein they crucified Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh nor can we more easily scandalize good Christians then by putting down the memorial of that time wherein he was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 3 4. And God deliver his Church from such practises as are fit to gratifie Jews but to scandalize good Christians SECT IV. Of the antient contention about the observation of Easter That the Apostles zeal more about Duties then about Daies doth not overthrow the observing of particular daies in the service of God And that those daies ought to be observed by Preaching Praying Administring of the Sacrament and also by Almes-deeds So that false administration sc of the Holy Eucharist in one kind and false Devotions and false Doctrine and sordid illiberality in not relieving the poor are allâ— alike Profanations of a Festival FAmous was the controversie betwixt Policrates and Victor the one Bishop of Ephesus the other Bishop of Rome concerning the celebrating of Easter-day For the Churches of Asia would needs keep the very day of the first full moon in Spring conceiving the Apostles condescention to the Iew to have been a dogmatical sanction to the Christian but the Western Churches who had no conversation with the Iews and therefore were not moved through compliance with them at first to forsake their Christian liberty and at last the Christian truth for the Quartadeciâ—… were in proâ—ess of time declared Hereticks would not keep the very day of that full Moon but the Sunday after it for their Easter-day the learned Scaliger gives this reason for their difference The Jewish Converts following their old custom kept still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Passeover in remembrance of Christs Passion
The third is Lex charitatis it must give place to the Law of charity as is proved from the saying of Hosea I will have mercy and not sacrifice ver 7. The fourth is Authoritas legislatoris the authority of the law-giver for he that made it may abrogate it an argument not used in the Text concerning any intrinsically moral law or duty The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath ver 8. We may add a fifth from the repetition of the same story and that is Intentio legislatoris it must give place to the intent of the Law-giver which is the good not the mischief of those to whom he gives his Law And this Limitation or Interpretation we find Mar. 2. 27. in these words the sabbath was made for man that is for mans good to wit the outward rest of his body and the inward rest of his soul and therefore it is not his intent who made the Sabbath for mans good both in corporal and spiritual rest that it should bind him to any real mischief either in his body or in his soul wherefore it is evident by our blessed Saviours own determination That though great is the obligation of those ceremonies which are of Gods own immediate appointment yet greater is the obligation of the least moral duty then of any of those ceremonies when that Moral duty concerns either our selves or our neighbours and not only when it concerns our God For ceremonials are appointed for Morals but Morals are appointed for themselvs Positive constitutions are for the inforcement of natural institutions but natural institutions are for the God of nature Wherefore since Gods worship is not ceremonial but moral not positive but natural the Sabbath is both positive and ceremonial it must follow that the worship was not ordained for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for the worship and consequently the worship is cleerly above the Sabbath And this same Antisabbatarian doctrine is not only of Christs but also of Moses his own teaching if we may believe the Jewish Doctors themselves upon those words of Exod. 12. 16. And in the first day and in the Seventh day shall be an holy convocation For there this is Aben Ezzra's gloss in the first day because that was the day of their going out of Egypt and in the seventh day because that was the day of Pharaohs being drowned therefore those two dayes were more strictly observed then any of the rest that came in betwixt them And yet if we look narrrowly into the matter not the dayes themselves but the duties performed on them made the holy convocations for it is evident from the Text that the first day was sanctified by eating of the Passeover and the Seventh day was sanctified by the heavenly Songs and thanksgivings of Moses and Miriam so it was the Passeover and the thanksgiving not the first and the seventh day that is Holy duties not holy dayes which made the Gathering of the people to be an holy convocation and shewed it to be so We ask no more of Christians but this That they will allow Duties to be above dayes in making of holy convocations and consequently the publike worship of God to be above the Sabbath the day wherein he is to be so worshipped And this being granted which cannot well be denied it must needs follow that they best keep the sabbath who have the best publike worship of God which is the duty not they who are strictest in observing of the day which is the ceremony who talke much of the Sabbath but follow such a service or worship of God as is more agreeable with mans humors or with humane invention then with Gods word or divine institution A Service or worship which though it may be solemn and publike in regard of the Convention yet not in regard of the Communion since no man can câ—me as a Communicant to that worship concerning the which he is not well assured that it is according to the analogy of Faith For he may neither give up his conscience in a blind obedience nor may he retain it upon uncertainties the one being against the evidence the other against the assurance of faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom 14. 23. Whether it be not of faith for want of evidence or for want of assurance Nor doth this divinity whereby we â—ollow the best Divine that ever was in preferring substances above accidents morals above ceremonials Duties above dayes any whit diminish the true Santification of the Sabbath but rather improve advantage it For it is an undeniable rule of reason and much more of religion That all moral duties must have moral antecedents concomitants and consequents which if we will apply to this moral duty of Gods publike worship we shall find any day consecrated there to whether weekly or yearly little enough either for our preparation before we go to worship or for our attention whiles we are worshipping or for our meditation and thankfulness after we have worshipped In a word a Sabbath in general is doubtless moral by the fourth commandment which requires a day to be set apart or made holy for Gods publike worship requires that the day so set apart be esteemed holy and religious though not so much for its own sake as for its works sake according to St. Pauls command concerning the Ministers that are set apart for the same worship 1. Thes 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake which text plainly convinceth those men to be the greatest sabbath-breakers and contemners of the fourth commandment who will not know those which labour among them in the Lord unless it be to contemn and to revile and to oppress them and are so far from acknowledging those labourers to be over them in the Lord that they strive both to bring the labour under their girdles and to tread the labourers under their feet for the Apostle saith expresly they are to be esteemed highly if not for their own yet surely for their works sake in saying so teacheth us to say the same of the time and place that are consecrated to the publike worship of God For by the rule of proportion what is commanded concerning one adjunct of Religion is commanded concerning the rest and we may not think we have dicharged our duties to the fourth commandment by honouring the time but pillaging and defying both the Places and the Persons that are consecrated to Gods service or to speak yet more plainly by crying up the Sabbath but beating down both Churches and Ministers And indeed the fourth commandment it self hints no less which deriveth the reason of the Sabbaths being sanctified above other dayes not from any holiness in the day it self or any set number of dayes but only from the holiness that is in God Wherefore
preached by Paul and Silas because they found it agreeable with the written Word These were more noble in that they searched the Scriptures whether those things were so therefore many of them believed Acts 17. 11 12. And sure we are to go in the same way they did go unless we can prove that either the Scripture is now less Dogmatical then it was in those days or the Church more Apostolical And there is great Reason for it as well as great Religion For we plainly see that the Church is much ordered according to the will of man but weare sure the word was wholy ordered according to the will of God For the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. We must say the same of the New what he saith of the Old Testament for as came the Prophecy of old time so also came the Gospel in the latter times not by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost And from hence we must conclude the Authority of the Scripture to be the highest authority that can be in setling and establishing the Christian Religion For if the Prophets and Apostles did not only speak but also write as they were moved by the Holy Ghost it must needs follow that the doctrine of the Church must have its force and weight from their doctrine but their doctrine from it self as that which came directly and immediately from the Holy Ghost the infallible Spirit of God which best knew his mind as being his own Spirit and hath most truly derived his mind and meaning to us as being his infallible Spirit So it is evident The Scripture is no less to teach the Church then the Church is to teach the People according to that irrefragable determination of their irrefragable Doctor Si enim aliquis asserit aliquid quod non sit determinatum in sacra Scriptura vel quod non sequatur directe ex fide mortaliter peccat quia se constieuit supra Deum Judex enim est supra id de quo debet judicare Qui ergo suâ authoritate asserit aliquid de Deo ponit se supra Deum quia judicat de Deo Haec est superbia Intellectus quam prohibet Apostolus Rom. 12. Non plus sapere quà m oportet sapere sed sapere ad sobrietatem Alensis par 1. qu. 68. mem 1. ar 2. If any Doctor and consequently if any Church which is but a company of Doctors doth positively affirm any thing as matter of Faith or Religion which is is not directly determined in the holy Scriptures or doth not inevitably follow from the Faith therein revealed he sinneth mortally because he exalteth himself above God For the Judge is above that of which he is to judge Therefore he who without warrant from God positively asserteth any thing of God putteth himself above God in that he judgeth of God which is the Spiritual pride forbidden by the Apostle Rom. 12. 3. Be not wise above what is required but be wise to Sobriety Therefore surely the Church cannot teach that as a Doctrine of Christianity which she hath not learned of Christ and where hath she learned of Christ but in his Word SECT IV. That the state of true Christianity is to be learned only in the Church of Christ for there only doth Christ teach by his word which the Church is bound to translate that the People may understand it and by his spirit which teacheth both infallibly and irresistibly That the state of true Christianity is not confined to any one particular Church for that Christ teacheth more or less in all Christian Churches and yet this is no ground for Sectaries to run from the Church THE state of Christianity as it came by our Saviour Christ in being so also in knowing It hath its being from his merit its knowing from his word whence it follows by undeniable consequence that the state of true Christianity is to be learned only in the Church of Christ for there only is the word of Christ by which he teacheth to mens conviction there only is the Spirit of Christ by which he teacheth to mens Conversion For the voice must needs proceed from the body and the Church is his body Col. 1. 24. therefore it is to be feared that those who care not to be of the body either do not hear his voice or do not much profit by hearing it For it is not to be doubted but Christ hath intrusted his Church with his word as appears Rom 3. 2. Vnto them were commited the oracles of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were intrusted with the oracles of God The Jewish Church with the Oracles of the Old Testament and the Christian Church with the oracles of the new And this precious Talent was intrusted with the Church not to be wrapped up in a Napkin but to be imployed to Gods glory the peoples good for so we find that the law and the Prophets were read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day Acts 13. 15. 27. And by the same reason the Christian Church is still bound to take care that the Gospel or New Testament be also read in our Churches which because it cannot in the original tongue wherein it was written to the Edification of the people the Church is bound to translate it into such languages as the people do understand that she may not be defective in her trust which is to use the word of God most for Gods glory and for his peoples good And that Church doth in this particular best discharge her trust which sets forth the word of God in the truest and fittest translation not rigidly according to the words in all places but yet exactly according to the sense for neither doth Christ himself nor his holy Apostles cite the Old Testament so much according to the words as according to the sense And if men had no other obligation to their Church but only this That they could not know what God had said in his holy word unless their Church had taught them yet this alone if rightly weighed would keep them both from Heresie and from Schism from Heresie in receding from that doctrine which came from God and from Schism in receding from that communion wherein they were first made partakers of that doctrine This is certain the Text saith plainly The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved Acts 2. 47. which would never have been written if to depart from the doctrine or to be out of the communion of the Church were the ready way of Salvation Therefore as S. Peter once said to our blessed Saviour so ought all good Christians still to say unto his Church for rightly translating the word of Christ Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life John 6. 68. for without question God did
all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 2. 14. thereby decâ—aring unto us as it were the two integral parts of our Christian communion Peace and Holiness and the reason why we should embrace them both even that we may come to the beatifical vision follow peace with all men that you may have communion with Gods Church and follow holiness that you may have communion with God himself for if you leave out either of these or leave following either of these you cannot see the Lord We that follow peace with no men not so much as with our selves how shall we see God we that follow holiness in no kind at least conscientiously but only contentiously pretending to set it up in some one commandment that we may the more plausibly beat it down in all the rest how shall we see God Let all unpeacefull and unholy men for surely they go both together though holiness hath of late been made a pretence for breaking the peace here see the danger of their perversness that hereafter they feel not the mischief of it those who neither follow peace nor holiness and yet pretend their eyes are open so as to see God more then all the world besides For it is a sad thing so to see God as not to come neer him Dives could do so in hell He could see Abrahams bosome though he could not get neer it for it was afar off saith the Text Luke 16. 23. T is a sad thing to have a Vision of God without a fruition but t is an impossible thing to have a fruition without a communion Excellently Alensis asks this question Per quid est unio membrorum in corpore Ecclesiae By what is it that good Christians are joined together or the faithfull are united as members in the body of the Church and he thus answers it Per unam perfectionem una enim est perfectio in capite Christo in omnibus Sanctis sc Spiritus sanctus ex quo est nobis communio Trinitatis et per unam dispositionem sc Fide spe charitate opere nam Idem credunt Idem appetunt seu volunt Idem expectant Idem imitantur Par. 3. q. 12. m. 2. art 3. Christ and good Christians are all united together by one Perfection and by one Disposition By one perfection for there is the same perfection in Christ the head and in all the Saints which are his body to wit the Holy-Ghost which joins them both in communion with the blessed Trinity and by one Disposition to wit in Faith Hope Charity and Works for they all believe the same thing viz. The first truth All desire the same thing viz. The chiefest good All expect the same thing viz. Eternal bliss All imitate the same thing viz. The pattern or example of holiness and hence it is that they all are of the same communion SECT V. That the Catholick Church requires our communion by the authority of Christ as his body That the whole Christian Church is this Catholick Church and that it is known to be so by the word of Christ and how a particular Church may be sure to keep communion with the Catholick Church HE that truly desires communion with God cannot but highly esteem and zealously pursue the actual communion with his Church because the Church is appointed to bring and lead him unto God And this was the reason of that antient saying Extra Ecclesiam non est Salus Out of the Church there is no hope of Salvation that is out of the Catholick Church which is the body of Christ So that for any man not to be a member of that body is in effect to be a limb of the devil and fewel for hell which consideration made Saint Cyprian break out into that pathetical expostulation Vbi ex qua â—ui nâ—tus est qui filius Ecclesiae non est ut habere quis possit Deum Patrem ante Ecclesiam matrem Saint Cypr. Epist and Pompeium Where of whom or to whom is he born who is not â— Son of the Church that he should have God for his father who hath not the Church for his mother And this doctrine not only many very good Christian Divines but also the Jewish Doctors have enforced as a duty of the Text from these words of Solomon My Son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the Law of thy mother Prov. 1. 8. for say they by Father is here meant God the Father almighty and by Mother is here meant the Church which teacheth us the word of God Thus Solomon Jarchi glosseth that Text my Son hear the instruction of thy father that is saith he Hear the Instruction which God blessed for ever gave to Moses partly in writing partly by word of mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And forsake not the Law of thy mother that is saith he forsake not the Law of the Church or the Congregation of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the interpretations of the Scribes which are as it were a hedge of the Law And doubtless he that will not hearken to the Churches instruction will not hearken to Gods instruction and he that will not hearken to Gods instruction cannot hope for Gods communion which made the Prophet Jeremiah to say Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee Jer. 6. 8. T is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut non laxetur anima mea à te lest my Soul be loosed or disjointed from thee the same word saith Rabbi David that is used about the hollow of Jacobs thigh being out of joint and the signification of it is the removing of a thing out of its place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence we may gather that the communion of faithful Souls with God is like the knitting of the joints in the bodies of men and as a member when it is out of joint affords great pain but no use to the man as long as it is dislocated So is it with the Soul whiles it is out of Gods communion it is subject to very much horrour and great anguish but is not capable of any good motion or inclination Consider what it is to put thy soul out of joint before thou play the Ephraimite starting aside like a broken bow from the communion of God in his Church for if the dislocation of a joint be so painfull because of the distention of the parts what pangs and horrours must needs accompany a disjointed Soul that is distended upon the wrack of an evil and a troubled conscience Accordingly Rabbi David thus glosseth the Prophets words Be thou instructed O Jerusalem for if thou wilt not be instructed my good-will shal be separated from thee that I will take no delight in thee A dismal judgement for a Separatist that God will be separated from him and take no delight in him but the reason is because he would needs be separated from God and
utriusque Tabulae that the Prince is entrusted with the keeping of both the Tables of the Decalogue is easily to be proved concerning each Table by it self For the words forecited out of the fourth commandment prove it sufficiently concerning the first table as that takes care for the external worship And as for the Duties of Religion that belong to the Second Table all the world agrees that the Prince is immediately and directly entrusted with them by vertue of the Fift Commandment And since the old Testament as far as it concerns Moral duties is no other then a various Paraphrase or Exposition upon the Decalogue we may not unfitly apply all those Texts that enjoyn or approve the supream Magistrates care of Gods publick worship as so many glosses upon this Text of the fourth commandment Particularly that signal Injunction of God to Joshuah This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success Josh 1. 8. In that he saith This book of the Law we may not any more leave out the first Table of the Decalogue out of Joshuahs commission then out of Gods book in that he saith Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein we must infer unless we will say that God spake to Joshua as to a private man at that very time when he made him a publick person and governour of his people in Moses his stead That this is a full precept both for his knowledge and for his practice concerning Religion as it was established for Prince and Priest and People Lastly in that he saith For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and ther thou shalt have good success We have a Promise answerable to that precept And what can be brought more for the proof of any duty then Gods precept and Gods promise His Precept commanding it his promise rewarding it the one to direct the other to encourage our obedience We need not doubt of our work if we have a Precept we cannot doubt of his acceptance if we have a promise Quae faciunt divisa beatos in te mista fluunt Those two things either of which severally and by it self were enough to authorize the Civil Magistrate to have a special care of and regard to Religion are here joyntly and both together in Joshuahs Commission to wit Precept and Promise So that to deny him the Precept concerning the Piety is in effect to deny him the Promise concerning the Prosperity And by the same reason If we will not have Christian Princes Religious we must have them improsperous If they will not take care of Religion God will not take care of them unless we dare say that our Saviour Christ came to defalcate from the power and trust which God had given to Princes by Legacy in the Old Testament because that being made Christian either they would deserve it less or abuse it more But in all the New Testament we find not the least hint of any such defalcation either by Christ or by his Apostles 1. Not by Christ he never diminished but altogether established the right of Princes for he withdrew himself when the Jews would have made him King John 6. 15. and professed openly before Pilate saying My Kingdom is not of this world John 18. 36. And acknowledged Pilates power over him John 19. 11. So far was he either from leaving a Vice-Roy behind him as an universal Monarch of the whole world to give some Princes a faculty to act and take away from others their power of acting or from leaving his Kingly office among a company of inferiour Presbyters with power to controul and subvert the government of Churches and States under pretence of setting up his Kingdom 2. Not by Christs Apostles they never diminished or debased the rights of Princes but rather advanced and extolled them So Saint Paul calleth them Gods Ministers and writeeth to the Clergy of Rome in the first place and to the people of Rome by and after them saying Ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Rom. 13. 4 5. What ye even Omnis Anima every soul ver 1. Nec animam Papae excipit He excepteth not the soul of the Pope said Aeneas Silvius whilst he was the Popes Scribe in the Council of Basil though when himself was afterwards Pope under the name of Pius the second he was of another mind whence that scoff was put upon him Quod Aeneas probavit Pius damnavit what Aeneas did piously approve that Pius did impiously condemn And t is possible that in the first place he condemned himself t is probable he thought some others might justly condemn him imputing the change of this opinion rather to his preferment then to his Judgement for so himself doth say in his Bulla Retractationum as t is recorded by Binius Dicent fortasse aliqui cum Pontificatu hanc nobis opinionem advenisse cum dignitate mutatam esse sententiam But t is certain there was reason enough for this condemnation because he shewed the greater Truth while he had the lesser Trust was a truer interpreter of the Text as a private man then as a Pope was more faithful whilst he was yet less powerful for surely Saint Paul that saith Every soul excepteth none Even Christs Vicar is by this precept Let every soul be subject himself made a subject to Gods Minister So likewise Saint Peter willeth those whom he calleth a chosen generation a royal Priesthood to submit themselves to Kings and Governours for the Lords sake saying For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2. 13 15. If they are a chosen generation that do submit then are they a reprobate generation that do rebell and if they submit for the Lords sake they who will not submit regard not the Lord If the one be well doing the other surely is ill doing and if the one silence the ignorance of foolish men then the other may be ashamed not to silence it self and all its presumptuous advocates In this strain of alleageance and obedience writ all the antient Divines whilst yet their interest had not corrupted their Divinity So Saint Augustine Reges quum in errore sunt pro ipso errore leges contra veritatem ferunt quum in veritate sunt similiter contra errorem pro ipsa veritate decernunt Ita legibus malis probantur boni legibus bonis emendantur mali Rex Nebuchodonosor perversus legem saevam dedit ut simulachrum adoraretur idem correctus severam ne Deus verus blasphemaretur In hoc enim Reges sicut divinitus eis praecipitur Deo serviunt in
quantum Reges sunt si in suo regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verum etiam quae ad divinam religionem Aug. lib. 3. contra Cres cap. 51. Kings when they are in any error make laws for that error against the Truth When they are in the Truth they make laws for the truth against error So good men are tried by wicked laws and wicked men are mended by good laws King Nebuchodonosor being yet in his perversness made a law for his image to be worshipped But being himself amended made as severe a law that the true God should not be blasphemed For in this thing Kings do God service as Kings according to his own command if in their dominions they require what is good and forbid what is evil and that not only in regard of humane society but also in regard of Divine Religion Thus he plainly affirmed Kings to be Gods Trustees not only in regard of the second but also of the first Table of the Decalogue though as long as they remained wicked Kings they did only abuse their Trust So likewise Saint Ambrose in his Commentaries upon Luke 5. calleth it magnum spirituale documentum a great and spiritual point of Divinity whereby Christians are taught subjection to the higher powers not to break the constitutions of their earthly Princes and he proves it to be so for that Christ himself paid tribute The argument is irrefragable from Christ to the Christian from the Son of God to the servant of God If he shewed his obedience who can give us leave to be disobedient or pardon us for being so So likewise Saint Chrysostom in his Commentaries upon the Romans cap. 13. tells us that Saint Paul requireth Priests and Monks to be subject as well as other men in that he saith Let every soul be subject to the higher power yea though thou wert an Apostle saith he or an Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For subjection doth not overthrow but rather establish Religion And so likewise Saint Gregory doth often in his Epistles call Mauritius the Emperour his Lord yea in his very chair he doth in effect determine for the lawfulness of that appellation sending this for a decretal to the Bishops of Sicily Legem quam piissimus Imperator dedit vestrae studui fraternitati transmittere The Law which the most Religious Emperour hath given I was careful to send to you And why was he so careful to send it but that they should be as careful to obey it Grat. Dist 53. c. 1. I could easily heap up more quotations of the antient Divines but that the testimonies of these four Doctors of the Church are more then sufficient to prove this was in their dayes the Churches Doctrine And if it were so then t is not for the credit of our Churches to say Now it is not so nor for the credit of our Religion to say it should not be so For we see plainly that Jehosaphat who was in great esteem with Gods Prophet Elisha 2. Reg. 3. 14. and with God himself 2 Chron. 19. 3. though he left the Priests to discharge their own office yet he thought the external Polity both Civil and Ecclesiastical within the reach and compass of his Regal power And accordingly he constituted not only Zebadiah the Ruler of the house of Judah his chief commissioner for all the Kings matters but also Amariah the chief Priest his chief commissioner for all the matters of the Lord 2 Chron. 19. 11. And Constantine the great and after him Theodosius Martian Justinian and other Christian Emperours followed his example in so much that the whole Civil Law especially in the Code and in the Novels containeth many several Laws and constitutions both concerning Ecclesiastical persons and causes that is to say concerning the whole discipline of the Church And this is a Truth which no true Civilian can or will deny Nay yet more no true Canonist though of late their mouths have been most open against Princes can or will deny this Truth unless he resolve to leave the Church that he may flatter the Court of Rome and not only to go against the antient Canons but also against his own Master Gratian the father of Canonists For he brings in Pope Pelagius professing to Childebertus the King that he was bound by the Word of God to be obedient to his Laws Quibus sc legibus nos etiam subditos esse sacrae Scripturae praecipiunt Grat. causa 25. qu. 1. cap. 10. And the gloss cannot but take notice of it saying Argum. quod Papa subest Imperatori This is an argument that the Pope is subject to the Emperour But because the gloss is willing to elude this Argument by saying that this subjection goes no further then paying of tribute it is not amiss to shew that Gratian himself in another place extends it generally to all the Imperial Laws For in that very distinction wherein he pleadeth for the civil constitutions to be under the Ecclesiastical sc Dist 10. he produceth some signal testimonies and proofs that even after the decay of the Empire and the translating it to the Germans the Emperours notwithstanding had made Laws concerning the Church and the Popes themselves had professed their obedience to those Laws I will instance but in one which is in the ninth Chapter of that distinction wherein Leo the fourth Bishop of Rome thus writeeth to Lotharius the third Emperour of the Germans for he was the son of Lodowick the son of Charls the great De capitulis vel praeceptis imperialibus vestris vestrorumque Pontificum praedecessorum irrefragabiliter custodiendis quantum valuimâ—s valemus Christo propitio nunc in aevum nos conservaturos modis omnibus profitemur As concerning your Imperial constitutions and those of the High Priests your predecessors we know they are undeniably to be observed and profess that we now do and with Christs help ever will by all means observe them The new Commentator upon the Decree as it is published by the authority of Gregory the thirteenth from the word Pontificum in this Epistle of Leo being applied to the Emperours maketh this collection that the Emperours established no constitutions in cases of Religion without the advice of their Bishops which is a very true just and reasonable assertion for doubtless they were bound to look after the advice of their Divines in matters of the Church no less then after the advice of their Lawyers in matters of the Commonwealth even as the Kings of Judah had done before them for even David himself in ordering the Levites followed the advice of Gad the Kings Seer and of Nathan the Prophet 2 Chron. 29. 25. But he taketh it for granted that the Emperours did make and establish such constitutions and that when they were made not only the people of Italy but also the Popes of Rome themselves did obey them For saith he these
words of Leo relate to the Capitula or constitutions of Charles the great and Lodowick his son which Lotharius had commanded to be observed throughout all Italy And when it had been buzzed by some to the Emperour that the Pope disliked those constitutions he was very zealous to clear and to purge himself from that suspition by this Epistle De qua re Leo hac se Epistola videtur purgare voluisse And indeed the words of the Epistle shew a very fierce zeal for though he charge not himself with an Oath yet he plainly chargeth them with a lye that either had or should report so to the Emperour si fortasse quilibet aliter vobis dixerit vel dicturus fuerit sciaâ—is eum pro certo mendacem And yet this is not all For as Pope Leo in this Epistle made a solemn protestation of his own obedience to the Emperours Laws so in another after this cited by Gratian in the thirteenth Chapter of this same tenth Distinction he made an humble supplication that others might also be compelled to obey them Vestram flagitaneus clementiam c. For which though some late Canonists may perchance say he had too little spirit to be a good Pope yet we cannot deny but in this Tenent he had too much Truth to be a bad Divine For Christ took not from Kings their trust that he might give it unto Church-men no more then God took from Moses that he might give to Aaron And consequently Christian Kings are still obliged to discharge this Trust in their own dominions as belonging to them by the Law of nature and therefore not impaired but confirmed by the Law of grace since it is the work of grace to consummate and perfect nature not to overthrow it For the Moral Law given to the Jews by Moses was the same that had before been given by God himself to Adam only it was written again in Tables of stone because by our sin we had much defaced that writing which had been engraven in the tables of our hearts So then what is commanded by Moses in the fifth Commandment was before commanded by God in the Law of nature that is to say that all Fathers whether natural or spiritual or civil should be entrusted with and have power over their own children in subordination to though not in opposition against the commands of the Eternal Father And this right of Princes doth Pope Leo himself acknowledge in giving them the title of Pontifices High Priests which had been assumed by themselves before in their edicts and accordingly saith the gloss imperatores olim Pontifices appellabantur Which he proveth by the Authority of Isidâ—re in these express words cited afterwards dist 21. c. 1. Aâ—tea autem qui Regeserant Pontifices erant nam majorum haec erat consuetudo ut Rex esset etiam Sacerdos Pontifex unde Romani Imperatores Pontifices dicebantur Hence it is that among the titles of Aurelius the Romane Emperour this is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Summus sacerdos Maximus Euseb l. 4. Eccles histor cap. 13. Which is a good proof that by the Law of Nations the authority of Religion was judged to be in the Prince though the administration of it was in the Priest nor was this an erroneous conceit of the Heathens for God himself would have the ceremonies of Religion to be instituted and established by Moses who was a civil Magistrate not by Aaron who was a Priest though they were executed only by Aaron After Moses Joshua removed the Ark gave the charge of Religion and renewed the Covenant betwixt God and the people And after him David and Solomon Josiah and Ezechiah did by their authority as Kings order and reform Religion overthrow Idolatry and superstition so that we may justly and truly infer that Princes had that Trust of Christian Religion before they themselves were Christians to understand it and still have it though they are never so bad Christians to abuse it T is one thing what they are by their deeds another thing what they are by their duties for by their duties they are preservers of Gods truth and peace though by their deeds they often prove the persecutors of his truth and the disturbers of his peace God made them preservers though they too too often make themselves Persecutors of his Church Thus Basilius the Emperour publickly assumeth to himself this Trust in the eighth general Council cited in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine and merciful providence having put into my hands the helm of the universal ship That is of the Church wherein as in Noahs Ark all those are gathered who are saved from perishing A large claim and yet not one of all the Council opens his mouth against it Nay they all plainly give their suffrages for it in the ninth Action when they solemnly make this profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We well know O Emperour that there are under your power Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Abbates and Clergie-men and Monks and that you are the Governour of them all This was accounted no bad Divinity almost nine hundred years after Christ for this Council was held in the year eight hundred and seventy both by Greek and Latine Churches the Popes Legates then present not dissenting from the rest nay the Pope himself giving his actual and publick assent to this Tenent at this day in that at his consecration he solemnly professeth to Saint Peter and his Church I could rather wish it were to God but it is to Saint Peter Profiteor tibi Beate Petre sanctaeque tuae Ecclesiae That he doth receive and will keep this eight as well as the other seven general Councils and promising to himself that Saint Peter will be gracious to him at the last day when I desire God only to be gracious to me as he did carefully observe this his profession Eris autem mihi in illa terribili die haec conanti diligenter servare curanti propitius This profession of the Pope at his inauguration is set down at large by Binius in his notes upon this Council so that t is scarce out of use in the Church of Rome at this day to make it whatever it is to keep it And yet t is much that a profession so solemnly made should be slightly kept for surely those words Deo tibi sciens me redditurum de omnibus quae profiteor districtam in divino judicio rationem Knowing I shall give a strict account to God and to you at the day of Judgement of all that I now profess though we leave out the Tibi in the case are such words as may well make a Pagan Foelix tremble to hear them much more a Christian Bishop tremble to speak them and both Pagans and Christians tremble to break them Nor may any Divine think or teach this Doctrine of Supremacy to be a matter of indifferency for to deny it to be the Kings
now he could not endure to be without it any longer The outragious persecutions of Saul had disturbed him The furious and frequent invasions of the Philistines had disturbed the people Hence it was that Gods worship had been without the Ark and Israel had been without Gods worship Religion had been without its life and they had been without Religion Either of which alone was enough to make the troubles of their souls much more irksome and intolerable then were the troubles of their bodies how much more both of them joyned together And thus were they prepared by the want of so great blessings the more perfectly to discry and the more eanestly to desire the incomparable happiness they should have in the enjoyment of them and happily hence it was that when God offered to David either a seven years famine or a three months war or a three dayes pestilence yet he rather made choice of this then of the other though in all probability he might expect that himself should be the first to perish in the pestilence which was sent for his sake but the last that should perish either in the famine or in the war I am willing to impute the reason of this choice meerly to his love of Religion He was afraid that a seven years famine might make the people for want of meat grudge and repine at their sacrifices and so there would be a cessation of Religion which is a probable conjecture because above three years of the famine had been already past when God asked him the question saith Rabbi David thereby reconciling the seven years in 1 Sam. 24. with the three years of famine 1 Chron. 21. 12. So that David seeing so great a decay in the sacrifices for a famine but of three years had reason to fear that if it should last out all the seven years there would be at all no sacrifice I say he was afraid that a seven years famine might make the people for want of meat to put into their own bellies grudge and repine at their sacrifices and so there would be a cessation of Religion But he was sure that in a three months war the souldiers would make havock both of sacrifices and of Priests and so there would be a disturbance if not a total desolation and destruction of Religion Therefore he had rather venter to die first in the pestilence then last either in the famine or in the war because he feared that in either of those exigencies Religion might also die with him particularly he seemed most averse from the war as foreseeing that he could not flee three months before the enemies but the Ark of God would also be forced to flee with him SECT VI. The Limitation both of the Princes and of the Priests Trust in matters of Religion that neither may deviate from the Law of God and that the authority of the Churches laws is most enfeebled by them who make least esteem of the Law of God casting the aspersions of Obscurity and Vncertainty upon the Holy Scriptures IN matters of humane interest it may be reasonably disputed which is the more blame-worthy Whether he that abuseth a Trust which he hath or he that usurpeth a Trust which he hath not for though the one may sin with the greater injustice yet the other doth sin with the greater insolency But in matters of Divine Interest t is without dispute he is a greater sinner that usurpeth a Trust then he that only abuseth it for this mans sin may be out of ignorance or infirmity but the other certainly sins out of pride and presumption T is grievous for a man to fail with God by abusing a Trust that is given him but t is abominable for a man to justle with God by invading a Trust that he hath not given and will not give The ordering of Religion is a trust that God hath given unto men and they sin desperately who abuse it But the making of Religion is a Trust that God hath not given and they sin damnably who usurp it I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give unto another Isa 42. 8. But if he hath given to men the power of making Religion by which alone his name is glorified he hath given his glory unto another and hath not reserved it unto himself wherefore let it be the glory of God alone to establish any thing that is of Religion whether it be so Speculatively or Practically whether as an article of Faith or as a Duty of Life And let it be mans glory only to execute what God hath established Kings by their Temporal Priests by their Spiritual power not making Religion but only ordering it not establishing their own commands in Gods worship but only executing his That God who is governour of his enemies may not be denyed to be governour of his Servants and he that is Master in all the world may not be thought to be no Master in his own Family Therefore we may see and must confess that the Trust both of Princes and of Priests in matters of Religion is but a limited Trust not to do what themselves please but what God hath commanded them T is not for Pharaoh to say Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Exod. 5. 2. when Moses himself had a limited commission For see saith he that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount Hebr. 8. 5. God having not given power to any man to act against him but only for him Whence there is not only great prudence but also great Piety in that excellent saying which is attributed to that noble Civilian Baldus In rebus Juris Divini vel naturalis Summus Princeps nihil potest contra Veritatis praeceptum Alioquin quicquid fecerit nullum est quemadmodam quod à Commissario vel procuratore contra mandatum committitur In matters that concern the Law of God or the Law of nature the greatest Prince in the world may enjoin and act nothing against the command of Truth If he do his injunction and action are both null or void in themselves even as what is done by a Commissioner or a Proctor is null if it be against the command delivered to him or the Trust reposed in him And this we are sure is not only good Law but also good Divinity For in that we are commanded to obey the Magistrate for the Lords sake t is evident we cannot owe and may not pay him obedience against the Lord For that were to obey man rather then God And the same Divinity will also hold in Summus Pontifex as well as in Summus Princeps in the chiefest Ecclesiastical as well as in the chiefest Civil Magistrates For they act only as Gods Trustees by their spiritual no less then the other by their Temporal power and have little reason to expect the same obedience when they forsake their Trust as when they follow it Saint
that Christian joy The first part is Christ Preached The second part is Christ Practised The third part must be your own that is Christ Purchased which from the bottom of his heart and in the bowels of Christian Charity he wisheth unto you who is Your Brother and Servant in Christ E. H. A Prayer in honour of Christs Nativity OBlessed Jesus thou Lover and Redeemer of souls God manifest in the flesh who camest unto men and didst become man to bring true light into the world from the Father of Lights grant we beseech thee unto us miserable sinners so to glorifie thee for thy coming to us and being in us and reigning over us that though of our selves we are in darkness and in the shadow of death yet in thee we may come to see the true light of Grace and by thee may come to enjoy the true light of Glory to glorifie thee eternally who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God eternal world without end Amen A short Scheme of the whole Christ welcomed in his Nativity Hath three Chapters The first sheweth the Motives of that welcome The second sheweth the Reasons of that welcome The third sheweth the joyful manner of that welcome CAP. 1. Shewing the Motives of Christs welcome from God and from Gods Church both Triumphant and Militant Hath fifteen Sections Sect. 1. CHrists image repairs the loss of Gods image in man The Churches desire tâ—… Christ should be formed in us Christs humiliation is the Christians exaltation Sect. 2. Christs humiliation was in the fulness of time Sect. 3. The fulness of time in which Christ came to humble himself was the perfection of time Sect. 4. God observed the fulness of time for the sending of Christ to fill our souls with Patience and with Piety which two make up the true Christians fulness Sect. 5. The authority of God and of his Church for a solemn Festival to celebrate the coming of Christ and that the Church did no more then her Duty in appointing that Festival and an Advent Sunday to prepare for it and that we cannot justly or safely gainsay that Appointment Sect. 6. Christmass no superstitious word and Christmass-day observed not for it self but for its duty takes off all controversies and can fall under no just exceptions and may not fall under any unjust cavils much less calumnies Sect. 7. The difference betwixt a Iewish and a Christian observation of daies This latter is a moral part of Gods service and may not be neglected without scandal Sect 8. To oppose the celebration of Christs Nativity is a scandal to Christians and a stumbling block to Iews keeping them from Christianity Sect. 9. The Iews equally scandalized by Idolatry and by Profaneness especially that profaneness or irreligion which immediately dishonoureth our Saviour Christ Sect. 10. That those Christians who oppose Christmass-day do give occasion to other good Christians to suspect them as not well grounded in the Christian Religion Sect. 11. The first Christmass-day was kept by the holy Angels therefore no will-worship in keeping Christmass but rather a necessity to keep it from Heb. 1. 6. The Kingdom of Christ as Creator and as Redeemer Sect. 12. We must embrace all opportunities of glorifying Christ that we may not be thought to desert either our Saviour or our selves whiles we are defective in our Devotions either for want of Preparation before them which hath hitherto made us so bad Christians in so good a Churâ—â— or of Affection in them which will keep us from being good Christians or of Thankfulness after them which will keep us from worthily magnifying the name of Christ Sect. 13. A new song for the coming of Christ God the Father Son and Holy Ghost carefully observed the time of our Saviours coming into the world therefore it can be no true piece of Reformation for men not to observe it Sect. 14. Everlasting thankfulness is due to God for this everlasting mercy Sect. 15. Time not perfect in Gods account from our Creation but from our Redemption The Iews not destroyed and Time not untimed meerly in relation to the coming of Christ Time still continued for the world to make a right use of his coming No other time perfect in Gods account but that wherein he gives his Son And no other should be perfect in our account but that wherein we receive him CAP. 2. Shewing the Reasons of Christs welcome because of the infinite love of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost bestowed on man in his Redemption Hath nine Sections Sect. 1. GOds first gift to man was his love in Christ his second Gift was Christ in our nature No Gift can prove a blessing unless God give it in love Not Government not the Gospel though the one be the best temporal the other the best Spiritual Gift Sect. 2. Gods love in Christ though it be Universal in the diffusion yet is it particular in the Obligation Sect. 3. Gods love to man in Christ was the ground of his Consultation with himself how to bring us to eternal life Sect. 4. Gods love to man in Christ was not in vain or without Success though his Churches love to us in daily Praying for us and teaching us to pray for our selves often proves unsuccessful And yet our best proof that God hath loved us in Christ is That we love him again both in his Authority and in his Ordinances and in his Members Sect. 5. Gods love to us in Christ was not in vain or without a cause for as much as Christ was the ground of our Election as well as the Author of our Reconciliation More men Reconciled by Christ to God then Recommended to Him Or more men reconciled Potentially then Actually Sect. 6. Gods love in Christ is not a fond love therefore he scourgeth whom he loveth The Christian Church not taught in the New Testament to expostulate for being scourged though she be crucified as Christ was between two thieves Sect. 7. Christs love to us that he would come from the bosom of his Father to teach and to redeem us The title of the chief corner-stone blasphemously applyed to his pretended Vicar Christ was not an Apostle one sent from God but an Ex-apostle one sent out of God Sect. 8. Tht mother of Christ so a Woman as still a Virgin The Prayer of the seventy Interpreters Christs love to us that he would be made the Son of a woman whereby he hath exalted men above Angels A mercy not to be forgotten till there be no man to remember it That the Iews corrupted not the Text proved from the Prophecies concerning Christ Sect. 9. Christs love to us that he would be made under the Law That man is a Son of Belial not a Member of Christ who will not be under the Law All good Christians follow Christ both in Active and in Passive obedience CAP. 3. Shewing the joyful manner of Christs welcome as proceeding from joy in the Holy-Ghost
witnessing to our Consciences that through Christ we are not under the Law but under Grace and made the children of God by Adoption Hath nine Sections Sect. 1. THE spiritual man more wants joy then the carnal man as being under greater labours both of sense and motion God the Holy Ghosts love to man in teaching him how to rejoyce for his Redemption Hymns expressing that joy may be only to the honour of God and directed to him The evil spirit silenced at the coming of Christ but the mouth of the good Spirit was opened Sect. 2. God the Holy Ghosts love to man in giving him the assurance of his particular redemption without which there can be no joy for his Creation It had been good for that man if he had never been born spoken of Judas according to our Saviours own judgement not our Apprehensions that Gloss an abusing of the Text The joy of our Redemption is not to be lost Sect. 3. That this redemption whereof the Holy Ghost assureth us is twofold First privative because we are not under the Law that is not under it as condemning us though we be under the Law as regulating and restraining us Secondly Positive because we are under Grace and know that we are so The right way to attain that knowledge Sect. 4. The great joy of Christians for being under Grace or for being Adopted in Christ And how that joy is to be moderated by the consideration of our own frailty and of Gods impartial Justice in the Judgement to come Sect. 5. Our Adoption in Christ not spoken of by Saint John without a double Preface One Practical Another Speculative and is here according to the likeness of his Grace shall be hereafter according to the likeness of his Glory The threefold image of God in man Sect. 6. Christians are more eminently the children of God then were the Jews The difference betwixt the Adoption and other spiritual blessings of the Jews and of Christians That though they were Adopted to be Heirs as we are yet were they tutoured as Infants till the coming of Christ by whom was wrought a true Reformation Sect. 7. A Particular time appointed to rejoyce in Christ not by way of Restriction but by way of Application The Christians joy far above the Iews both for his Redemption and for his Adoption The priviledge of true Faith And how the Redemption by Christ is larger then the Adoption by him and the Adoption greater in his Giving then in our Receiving Sect. 8. Christs most holy Prayer a very comfortable testimony and assurance of our Adoption in him How nearly it concerns us in our Prayers to say Our Father not Our Brother which art in heaven The conclusion of the Lords Prayer answerable to this beginning and not to be questioned 'T is ill quarreling with that Prayer and much worse discountenancing and deserting it Sect. 9. Whether a man that is not assured of his Adoption in Christ can truly and rightly by vertue of his Baptism only the outward seal of his Adoption say to God Our Father or lawfully and laudibly use the Lords Prayer And that the assurance of our-Adoption is according to the assurance of our conjunction with our Saviour Christ Christ admired in his Passion Hath four Chapters The first Chapter is Christ admired in his Person The second Chapter is Christ admired in his Propitiation The third Chapter is Christ admired in his Satisfaction The fourth Chapter is Christ admired in his Application CAP. 1. Christ admired in his Person Hath three Sections Sect. 1. THat the eye of man cannot be fixed with comfort upon God in himself but only upon God in Christ Sect. 2. In what sense Saint Paul cared not to know Christ in the flesh and yet Christ in the flesh only is comfortably known Sect. 3. True knowledge of and faith in Christ not without true knowledge of and faith in the blessed Trinity That the Protestants Faith The great loveliness of Christ in the flesh as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God and man and the great mysteries of his two natures in one Person CAP. 2. Christ admired in his Propitiation Hath four Sections Sect. 1. THE manner of knowing divine Truths what it ought to be and the great benefit of knowing Christ in his Propitiation He that will read the Scripture to the benefit of his Soul must have Christ crucified in his thoughts Sect. 2. Christ set down in the Scripture as our Propitiation under the Title of the Pass-over and what that signifies to our souls Sect. 3. Christ set down in the Scripture as our Propitiation under the title of the Paschal Lamb and how many excellent Doctrines and Comforts of Christianity are to be learned from that Title Sect. 4. The great vertue of this Propitiation and the great goodness wisdom justice and power of God in finding it for us and giving it to us CAP. 3. Christ admired in his Satisfaction Hath two Sections Sect. 1. THE necessity if Christs satisfaction for that he was the only Sacrifice to expiate sin Sect. 2. The commemoration of Christs sacrifice enjoyned not the Repetition of it And that the ordination of Ministers for administring the Sacraments not of Priests for the offering of Sacrifice is most agreeable with the institution of Christ and the constitution of a true Christian Church CAP. 4. Christ admired in his Application Hath two Sections Sect. 1. CHrist in his propitiation and satisfaction doth not benefit us without a particular Application Sect. 2. The ground of that Application is Christs threefold conjunction with us in his Person in his Nature and in his Office from which proceedeth the Marriage of the soul with Christ Christ adored in his Resurrection Hath two Chapters The first Chapter sheweth That Christ is to be adored chiefly in his Resurrection The second Chapter sheweth That God is to be adored only in Christ CAP. 1. That Christ is to be adored chiefly in his Resurrection Hath eleven Sections Sect. 1. THE Resurrection of Christ the grand cause of joy to Christians but strongly opposed by the Jews whose Commentaries are not to be followed on those Texts which concern our Saviour Christ though even those Texts have not been corrupted by them Sect. 2. The necessity of our Christian Festival called Easter as it is an Anniversary Feast to express the Christians joy for the Resurrection of Christ That thereby the Christians Jubilee or joy in Christ is not confined but enlarged and that by the same reason the Spirit of Prayer is not confined or hindred but rather assisted and helped by set forms of words Sect. 3. The memorials instituted by God are chiefly of his Justice and of his mercy There is one terrible memorial of Gods Justice against those who invaded the Priest-hood but many memorials of his mercy It is a vain fear which possesseth some men as if the Anniversary memorial of Christs Resurrection were not instituted and could not be observed without
silent and gave no answer as if by their silence they had proclaimed that the Word was only in Judea which is not only historical but also rational not only credible for the relation but also for the reason because it was convenient that he who came to break the head of the Serpent should at the time of his coming stop his mouth Wherefore those Oracles that spake from the false and evil Spirit were all silenced at Christs coming as being unfit witnesses to Gods Truth because they were from a false Spirit and to his goodness because they were from an evil Spirit But their mouthes were then most open who spake by the Spirit of God The Angels that had been silent long before then began to sing Babes and sucklings were advanced above men to chant out their Hosanna's to the Son of David when he was made lower then the Angels In a word all tongues and languages of the world accustomed before to speak vanity were then taught to speak the wonderful works of God and Saint Peter gives us the reason of it because God did then pour out his Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2. 17. This is the Spirit that still filleth the hearts of good Christians with Thankfulness and their Mouths with Thanksgivings that they may continually more and more rejoyce in this Son of God till they come to enjoy him For as Christ is called panis descendens Joh. 6. 50. not qui descendit the bread decending to shew that he is alwaies descending in his salvation though he descended but once only in his person so our praise and thanksgiving to God for his descent may be called Cantus ascendenâ— the praise that is alwaies ascending according to that of the Psalmist Psal 71. 12. As for me I will patiently abide alway and will praise thee more and more for this praise never comes to its zenith or vertical point till our souls be there where our Saviour now is and from whence we expect him again to our salvation For good Christians can never meditate enough on their Redeemer never joy too much in that meditation They can never be weary of singing Hosanna blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord because in their souls they have tasted the sweetness of that song The Spirit of God making melodie with their hearts whiles they are making melody with their mouths SECT II. God the holy Ghosts love to man in giving him the assurance of his particular redemption without which there can be no joy of his creation It had been good for that man if he had never been born spoken of Judas according to our Saviours own judgement not our apprehension that gloss an abusing of the Text The joy of our Redemption is not to be lost WE cannot but have great joy if we have true joy in our Redeemer and we cannot but have true joy in our redeemer if we rightly weigh and faithfully embrace the mercy of our redemption therefore when the Holy Ghost hath said Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Psal 149. 2. he hath much more said in effect Let Israel rejoyce in him that redeemed him for the Joy is not so truly that he is made as that he is made Israel according to that of Saint Augustine frustra profuit hominem nasci nisi redimi etiam profuisset in vain had man been made partaker of the Creation if he had not also been made partaker of the redemption And agreable to this is our Saviours doctrine concerning Judas who in that he betrayed his redeemer forfeited his share in this redemption It had been good for that man if he had not been born Mat. 26. 24. To seek to make the contrary true by Metaphysical quiddities as a Divine of late hath done is so to be in Metaphysicks as to be out of Divinity for though singly and simply in it self being is better then not being yet a Metaphysical being which only exempts from nothing accompanied with a moral not being that makes worse then nothing is certainly not better but far worse then a bare Metaphysical not being for it is clearly better to be nothing then to be worse then nothing and consequently to be no soul at all then to be a damned soul under an eternal enmity with and eternal separation from that goodness which is the fountain of being and which only doth make our being to be good wherefore it must needs be a dangerous Position that requires such a proof but more dangerous that admits it For to admit this is in effect to say that our Saviour Christ is not a man of his word as he that first broached this desperate doctrine being urged with the authority of our Saviours forementioned words It had been good for that man if he had not been born made his answer that our blessed Saviour did there speak secundum captum vulgi according to the opinion of the common people which is little less then to put a fallacy in the mouth of Truth it self and to fasten such a blasphemy upon the word of Christ as will easily enable us to elude the whole Text and verifie his most wicked words by our more wicked practice who once said in zeal to his Church but not to his Saviour Scripturam esse nasum cereum that the Scripture was a meer nose of wax But we have not so learned Christ and dare not so revile his word least we should so learn him we will therefore rejoyce in him that made us out of nothing to be his creatures because he hath also redeemed us from being worse then nothing when we were his enemies and we will commit the keeping of our souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator because we know him to be also our merciful redeemer For the same son of God who made the world and upheld all things by the word of his Power and consequently was our Creator hath by himself purged our sins and is now sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high there making intercession for us Heb. 1. 2 3. Heb. 7. 25. and consequently is also our Redeemer The joy of our Creation we have lost by losing our Innocency but the Joy of our Redemption is never to be lost unless we lose our Repentance which is so true so great a comfort to a man who is born in sin lives in sin dies in sin that if you deny him this you can afford him no true comfort against his sinfulness SECT III. That this redemption whereof the Holy Ghost assureth us is twofold 1. Privative because we are not under the Law that is not under it as condemning us though we be under the Law as regulating and restraining us 2. Positive because we are under grace and know that we are so the right way to attain that knowledge THat would not be so great a comfort to a good Christian which Saint Paul gives him Rom. 6. 14. for