it is most strictly commanded by the word of God what can be said more for the excellency of it Then that it is most highly commended by the Son of God I shall only crave leave to add that our own Church rightly judged of this necessity and excellency and as rightly conformed her practice to her Judgement in taking so great care that we should have an exact Translation of the Holy Scriptures and many eminent Expositions of the same so that no People in the world have greater means of knowing God then we have which is the first work of the Christian Religion to teach us to know God All our fault is we have not Affections and Actions answerable to our knowledge which is the second work of Christian Religion to teach us to love and honour God and if our Church hath as faithfully discharged her Trust in this as in the other we shall have great reason to bless God and not the least reason to dislike our Church For what can she teach us more then Christ and the Christian Religion hath taught her which is to know and to worship God If our Church hath thus been our Mistress to bring us unto Piety then much more ought she to be our Mother to keep us in our Duty So shall we not be ungodly without being Monsters of Christians nor undutifull without being Monsters of Men and much less shall we easily suffer our Undutifulness to be the cause of our Ungodliness for we cannot be Undutifull in kicking and spurning against the true Christian communion wherein we are taught to know and worship God but we must also be ungodly in kicking and spurning against the true Christian Religion which consisteth in that knowledge and worship though much more in the worship then in the knowledge and accordingly we hope it will appear that our own Church which hath been so carefull to teach us to know God hath been much more carefull to teach us to worship him for as in the knowledge of him standeth our eternal life so in the worship of him is indeed the very inchoation and anticipation of eternity SECT IV. Praying a greater part of the Churches Trust then preaching The Church hath God the Fathers Precedent and Precept for making set forms of prayer and shall answer for all the blemishes that may be in publick prayers for want of a set form THE Church teacheth us to know God by Preaching but she teacheth us to worship God by praying And accordingly we cannot but think praying a much greater part of her Trust then preaching because though it be a very great happiness truly to know God yet is it a much greater happiness truly to worship him And if the Church be bound to take care that there be no false doctrine in the Pulpit much more there be no absurd prayers at the Desque For the Sermons men naturally hear as Judges letting their discretion go before their Affection But prayers men naturally hear as Communicants letting their affection go before their discretion so that false worship in praying is much more dangerous and may be much more mischievous then false Doctrine in preaching for it is like an unsuspected infection most probable to spread further to sink deeper and to tarry longer Again false worship in praying doth infinitely more dishonour God then false Doctrine in preaching because it more immediately dishonoreth him that is to say not only in his truth by heresie but also in his very nature and essence by blasphemy For though a man may preach blasphemy as well as pray it yet he that preacheth blasphemy blasphemeth God only to men but he that prayeth blasphemy blasphemeth God to his own face Wherefore the Church must needs take a most special care of prayer if she desire to discharge her trust either in regard of God or Man in regard of God as she is obliged to shew forth his glory in regard of men as she is obliged to promote their salvation And indeed for so doing the Church hath very good Precedent and Precept and Promise Her Precedent is God her Precept and Promise are from God Her Precedent is God who having taught so many heavenly forms of prayer in his holy word did in the very act of teaching them as it were cry out to his Church Vade fac similiter Go then and do likewise For if the Jews examples of sin were registred for our instruction as the Apostle plainly affirmeth 1 Cor. 10 11. then much more Gods example of Righteousness And he that commanded Moses to do all things exactly according to the pattern shewed in the Mount when as yet he shewed him but only the out side and the out-works of the Tabernacle doth much more command his Church exactly to follow his example since he hath been pleased to shew her the very inside and marrow of Religion aad therefore if the Tabernable then surely much more the service of the Tabernacle is to be framed and ordered according to his pattern Thus much for Precedent but for Precept we have much more First in the Old Testament God commanded the children of Israel to bring pure Oyl Olive beaten for the light to cause the lamps to burn continually Lev. 24. 2. This command reacheth us for he that would have well beaten Oyl for his lamp will not be contented with extempore effusions but will have well studied and elaborated expressions for his homage unless we will say he did more regard their Typical then he doth our real worship Again God threatned the children of Israel That if they walked at all adventures with him he would bring plagues upon them according to their sins Lev. 26. 21. For so it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keri for Bekari in Accidente If you walk with me by chance or by accident and so Tremelius renders it Si ambulaveritis mecum temere If ye walk with me rashly or unadvisedly This threat likewise reacheth us and then especially when we most walk with God that is in the exercise of our Religion we must there be sure to do nothing at adventures nothing rashly nothing unadvisedly for unadvisedness in this case is ungodliness and if our prayers be turned into Provocations what shall we have left to make our Atonement But you will say these are rather consequents then arguments I answer if they were so yet they ought to be regarded for God forbiddeth those actions which are sinfull in their consequences and not only in their concomitances but indeed we have choice enough of direct Arguments for so Moses is commanded to speak to Aaron and his sons saying On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gratious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace Numb 6. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coh tebaracu sic benedicatis so ye
Do not find any desert in man that entitled him to a property in the creature but sure none can be found to entitle him to have a property in the Creator Yet he that saith unto his Saviour as Saint Thomas did My God and my Lord seems to claim a property in him For how can a man assume or apply that unto himself in which he hath no property Wherefore it is necessary that we examine how Christ is made ours that so we may see the ground both of our property and of this application I say then that Christ is ours in a threefold respect because of a threefold conjunction of Christ with us in his nature in his person and in his office First Christ is ours in his nature by a real conjunction having taken our nature upon him and in that respect he is ours as we are men and he hath bestowed on all mankind a greater capacity of his Grace then otherwise they would have had by reason of their corrupt nature for which cause the Evangelical Promises which God maketh to man in Christ are universal as excluding none because Christ hath taken the nature of all but yet conditional as including only those who repent and believe the Gospel for no others make a right use or attain the end of Christs Merits and Mercies Secondly Christ is ours in his person by a voluntary conjunction having taken our sin upon him as our surety or pledge for he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows Isa 53. 4. And in that respect he is ours as we are Christians and hath bestowed on us the knowledge of his grace though very many of us by our own infidelity and impenitency make but a little and a bad use of that knowledge Thirdly Christ is ours in his office by a mystical conjunction such as is between a King and his Subjects both making but one mystical body and in that respect Christ is ours only as we are good Christians and hath bestowed on us the communion or rather the communication of his grace incorporating nay more inspiriting us as his members into himself And this is the happiest conjunction that we can have with Christ whiles we live here on earth To be one with him in the same mystical body or in the same actual communion not only external of his nature or of his person as many are that are little benefited thereby but also to be one with him in the same actual internal Communion of his grace to the inestimable benefit of our souls which are first sanctified and at last saved by this communicating with Christ For all the priviledges and blessings of his Regal of his Prophetical of his Sacerdotal function of his power as King of his instruction as Prophet of his sacrifice or intercession as Priest are made ours by this blessed conjunction according to that comfortable assertion of the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and ye are Christs for the words are not spoken consequutive sed causaliter not by way of consequence but by way of causality and accordingly import this sense All are therefore yours because ye are Christs Ye are Christs and Christ is yours and he being All in All in and through him All is yours but without him All is nothing and you are worse then nothing O then let me so rejoyce for his coming to me in the body as much more to desire and long for his coming to me in the soul That as the Lord of all is joyned with me in one flesh so I may be joyned with him in one Spirit that I may dwell in him and he may dwell in me for ever There is a mutual In-being betwixt Christ and every good Christian saith Saint Bernard even as betwixt Christ and God As the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and therefore Father and Son make but one essentially So Christ is in the good Christian and the good Christian is in Christ and therefore Christ and the good Christian make but one mystically If either the Father were not in the Son or the Son were not in the Father they could not be perfectly one by essential Unity And if either Christ be not in the Christian or the Christian be not in Christ they cannot be one by mystical Unity Sic igitur Anima cui adherere Deo bonum est non ante se existimet ipsi perfecte unitam nisi quum illum in se se in illo manentem persenserit Bern. Serm. 71. super Cant. Therefore let not the soul which is happy only through her union with Christ think her self perfectly united unto him till she perceive that he so dwelleth and abideth in her as that she also dwelleth and abideth in him and desireth so to dwell and abide for ever O happy soul that is thus wedded to her Saviour by a spiritual marriage for man and wife are not more nearly and more indissolubly joyned together by being one flesh then Christ and the Christian soul by being one Spirit Vere Spiritualis sanctique connubii contractus est iste Parum dixi contractus complexus est Complexus plane ubi idem velle nolle idem unum facit spiritum â— duobus This is more then a spiritual contract it is a compleat marriage when the same will being in two persons shall make them both but one Spirit So the same Saint Bernard and so likewise saith Saint Paul He that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6 17. Then let me be joyned to him that I may be one spirit with him and that my spirit may be his rather then mine own For mine own spirit will be death to me because of sin but his spirit will be life to me because of righteousness Rom. 8. 10. In my self I can see nothing but sin and death In my Saviour I see both righteousness and life righteousness to deliver me from sin and life to deliver me from death Therefore I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness Isa 61. 10. A fit Epithalamium to celebrate this spiritual marriage betwixt Christ and the good Christian wherein though the Angels be ready to make up the Chorus yet the devout soul her self alone sings the song There is joy in them but much more in us for this marriage because we have such a wedding garment bestowed on us as expells the fear both of a Divorce and of a Dissolution the first of which may be the second of which must be in all other marriages They may be under a divorce by sin they must be under a dissolution by death But the marriage betwixt Christ and the good Christian if it be once indeed truly consummated is under neither for the blessed Bridegroom of souls bestows both righteousness and salvation upon all those who
are espoused unto him Such a righteousness as will keep off sin from causing a Divorce He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness such a salvation as will keep off death from causing a dissolution in their marriage He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation Therefore I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for neither shall my sins disturb this joy since I am covered with his righteousness nor shall my death diminish it since I am cloathed with his salvation To him be glory for this righteousness and for this salvation for evermore Amen Christ adored in his Resurrection CAP. I. That Christ is to be adored chiefly in his Resurrection SECT I. The resurrection of Christ the grand cause of joy to Christià ns 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 WHat is the sorrow of the soul for sin we may partly see by every true penitent who cannot but say for his sins as our Saviour once said for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soul is exceeding sorrowful even to the death Mat. 26. 38. But what is the sorrow of the soul for death the wages of sin God make us such true penitents that we may never see for if we are so unfit by reason of our impatience and so unable by râ—â—son of our infirmity to pass over the momentary sorâ—oâ—â— of the earth it must needs fill our souls with astonishment and confusion but once seriously to think of the sorrows the everlasting sorrows of hell Wherefore most welcom to the Christian soul is that joy which delivers it from this sorrow and that is the joy of Christs resurrection whereby we have been delivered from the sting and mischief of the temporal from the pangs horrours of the eternal death Accordingly it hath been observed by Christian Chronologers that our blessed Saviour did rise from the dead on that very same day of the year on which Moses and the children of Israel had almost two thousand years before passed safely through the red Sea And indeed as their deliverance by Moses from the Egyptians was a type of our deliverance by Christ from our spiritual bondage so their joy may well be in our hearts and their Song in our mouths only heightned by a greater measure of thankfulness and of thanksgiving for as much as ours hath of the two been infinitely the greater deliverance Therefore let me say as they did but let me say it with a more thankfull heart and with a more cheerfull voice for greater is my duty though lesser is my ability I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously Exod. 15. 1. Never was so glorious a triumph as this which triumphed over the grave that devours all this worlds triumphs nay over Hell which makes the bare memory of them odious and detestable either that they were gained unjustly or used immoderately or abused intemperately The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my Salvation ver 2. What can my soul say more what should it say less for being delivered from the pangs and horrours of the temporal and eternal death but that the Lord is my Song for being my strength to rescue and to redeem me much more for being my salvation to receive me and to crown me Again Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods who is like unto thee glorious in holiness fearfull in praises doing wonders ver 11. Let me but think of the Son of God dying for my sins and rising from the dead to make me righteous and I must needs say he was glorious in holiness and ought to be fearfull in praises for doing such wonders as to bring glory out of shame holiness out of Sin and life out of death Lastly Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation ver 13. All those Saints that did rise from the dead when our Saviour Christ arose to go along with him into heaven and all those Saints that shall rise hereafter by vertue of his resurrection to follow him thither can say no more then this to express their joy and thankfulness Thou hast led us forth from the grave thou hast redeemed us from death thou hast guided us in thy strength to thy holy habitation there to see and bless and enjoy thee for ever So that those late Hebr. Criticks are too much in love with the glosses of the Jews who oppose them against the Judgement of the whole Catholick Church that they may enervate one of the soundest proofs of the Resurrection that is to be found in all the Old Testament And that proof is Job 19. 25 26 27. I know that my redeemer liveth and that I shall rise out of the earth at the last day and shall be covered again with my skin and shall see God in my flesh Yea and my self shall behold him not with other but with these same eyes Words so expresly spoken of the resurrection that the Church hath thought fit to use them at the burial of the dead as the chiefest comfort and consolation against death yet upon these words thus saith the Learned Mercer Nostri ferè omnes tam veteres quà m recentiores hunc versiculum cum duobus sequentibus ad resurrectionem referunt sâ—d ego cum Hebraeis aliter accipio Quod si de resurrectione futura hic loqueretur Job non erant haud dubie id praetermissuri Hebraei qui ipsi resurrectionem credunt At ne unum quidem ex sex aut septem Hebraeorum commentariis invenies qui eò referat Almost all Christian writers ancient and modern do expound these three verses of the Resurrection but I with the Jews do expound them otherwise For if Job had here spoken of the resurrection to come doubtless the Hebrew doctors would not have pretermitted it in their Commentaries since they also believed this Doctrine but in six or seven of their Expositors there is not one that expounds these words of the resurrection This reason is unsound in it self and therefore unsatisfactory in its Proof For the Jewish expositors labour after nothing more then not to see Christ in the Old Testament And their Doctors knowing that the Christians did believe and profess the Resurrection of the dead by vertue of Christs resurrection had rather leave the doctrine of the resurrection out of their glosses then allow it to be by vertue of our blessed Saviour whom their fathers had crucified and whom themselves not only hated but also accursed and blasphemed every day Thus Saint Mathew tells us plainly that the Jews gave the Souldiers mony to say that our Saviours disciples came by night and stole him away And they that were so willing to put a lye in other mens mouths were as
shearers so opened he not his mouth Act. 8. 34. Yet the Israelites did all so generally know the meaning of this phrase that Saint John the Baptist used no other title to proclaim the Messias but this Behold the lamb of God John 1. 29. which was so well understood that two of his own Disciples presently left him and followed Jesus ver 36 37. And Saint Philip acknowledgeth the person typified and foretold to agree exactly with the Type and prediction when he saith ver 45. we have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write as if he had said All that the Law and Prophets had promised was now fulfilled Grace in the conjunction mercy in the propitiation and truth in the prediction All met together in Christ our Passeover therefore Jubilemus let us keep our Jubile or in Saints Pauls language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us keep our holyday or yet farther if you please let us keep this Holyday that is the feast of the Passover called by the Council of Antioch c 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy feast of the soul-saving Passeover For Aerius his objection against keeping of Easter from this very text saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we ought not to keep the the Passover for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us though it overthrow the Jewish Passeover which was a type of Christ yet it rather establisheth a Christian Passeover which is a memorial of him unless we will say that Christ was therefore our Passeover and sacrificed for us of purpose that we should for get him and his sacrifice For as we may not now retain any types of Christ because that were in effect to deny that he is come in the flesh so we may not let go the memorials of Christ because that in effect is to be unthankfull for his coming And our Saviour himself by saying do this in remembrance of me hath shewed that he will look upon those Festivals which should be appointed for memorials of him as upon so many religious and Christian like Institutions since he that hath prescribed to do this hath also prescribed or rather presupposed a set and solemn time of doing it For though the Christians joy in Christ is not to be limited or confined to a day yet that is no reason why a day should not be limited and confined to that joy Let spiritual joyes be eternal in themselves but for that very cause let our time be subservient to their eternity that they may likewise be so to us For God appointing a set time for a spiritual duty hath not thereby debased the duty but exalted the time even as our blessed Saviour appointing a set form of prayer hath not thereby confined the spirit of prayer but rather enlarged it And the Holy-Ghost having given us so many set formes of prayer and praise in the Psalmes and the rest of the ible Bhath not therefore taught the duty of prayer to be the less spiritual but hath taught us to be the less carnal that we should not in pouring out our souls to God rely upon our own phansies or inventions but upon his holy dictates and directions For there is the same reason both of hic and of nunc in matters of Divinity the same reason of these words and of this time God having consecrated words to his service as belonging to the substance of it and having consecrated times places and persons only as accidents and circumstances belonging to the solemnity thereof And therefore it is strange to see those men who are most zealous for the set times and Dayes of serving God every week to be so impetuous against the set forms of serving him as thinking the set time to help devotion but the set form to hinder it whereas it is evident that setting a time to the spirit must needs be a confinement of him as well as setting of words And to say to the Spirit of prayer Pray now is as great an intrusion and encrochement upon him as to say to him Pray this But in truth nither are confinements to Gods spirit and both alike are intended for the enlargements of our spirits Set times and Set words that we pray in the greater assurance of faith knowing we cannot be willworshippers whiles we conform our selves to his will whom we worship SECT III. The memorials instituted by God are chiefly of his justice and of his mercy There is but one terrible memorial of Gods justice against those who invaded the Priesthood but many memorials of his mercy and that it is a vain fear which possesseth some men as if the anniversary memorial of Christs Resurrection was not instituted and cannot be observed without willworship or superstition that the general equity of the Levitical Law as far as it was not Typical is still in force concerning the Solemnities of Religion and that approves Anniversary as well as weekly Festivals AMong all Gods Attributes none are so remarkeable in our lives and deaths as his mercy and his Justice His mercy in our preservation his justice in our destruction And accordingly God himself requires us most especially to take notice of the great effects of his justice and of his mercy Hence is it that we find him instituting few or no memorials of his wisdom or of his Power but very many of his Justice and of his Mercy though not so many of his justice as of his mercy we find but one memorial of his Iustice more particularly recommended to the care of his Church and that is against those men who had said to Moses and to Aaron to their Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Numb 16. 3. These men because they had invaded the Priests office in burning incense had their censers nailed upon the altar of incense and the Text saith to be a memorial unto the children of Israel that no stranger which is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord that he be not as Corah and his Company ver 40. Te miror Antoni quorum facta imitare eorum exitus non perhorrescere said the Orator most pathetically I much wonder that since you do follow their sins you do not fear their punishment And how can any Christian Minister say less since it is evident that the Gospel in this case still retains the sentence and consequently revives the severity of the Law For so saith the Apostle No man taketh this honour unto himself that is not called of God as was Aaron Heb. 5. 4. as if he had said no man rightly taketh the office of a Priest upon him but he that is externally and publickly called of God as was Aaron so as all the Congregation may take notice of his calling And if he do take Aarons office that is not called as Aaron was he hath great reason to
unto me saith Christ not go from me there 's the temper of charity to invite and embrace not to repell and reject others for I am meek and lowly in heart there 's the temper of humility lowly in heart and cannot be of that pride as to forget my self meek in heart and cannot be of that presumption as to disdain and reproach my brother where you find not this temper there you may not seek for Christ where you do find the contrary distemper in the forenamed works of the flesh there you are sure not to find the Spirit of Christ and therefore must come with your libera nos Domine though you care not to have the Letanie and say Good Lord deliver me from such professors and from such a profession of the Christian Religion where I can neither find the temper nor the Spirit of Christ SECT IV. Vnsetledness in Religion shews we have not learned it from our heavenly Master or from Gods Exapostole The Holy Ghost being given us from the Father by the Son sheweth there is no salvation to them who believe not the Trinity The mixture of Praises with Prayers in the Psalms was the Abba Father of the Old Testament and proceeded from joy in the Holy Ghost which is a Joy both unsequestrable and unspeakable The Sacrifices and Hymns answerable to that joy IT is very easie for a man to depart and fall away from God but not so easie to return and to cleave unto him No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him saith our blessed Saviour John 6. 44. The Father draws us before we go unto his Son and he draws us with loving-kindness Jer. 31. 3. with bands of love Hos 11. 4. that is by the power of the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of love The Father draws by his Spirit to his Son He that believes not the Trinity cannot hope to be thus drawn and he that is not thus drawn cannot hope to come unto God which is plainly shewed by the Apostle when he saith God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 4. 6. The Greek word is very observable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for here 's another Exapostle even God the Holy Ghost as in the fourth verse we had before one Exapostle God the Son There it was God sent forth his Son here it is God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son that is He sent such a Messenger as was not only an Apostle one sent from God but also an Exapostle One sent out of God There was one Exapostle to plant the Christian Religion in the world God sent forth his Son and there is another Exapostle to plant it in our hearts God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts the same word is used in both places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God made use of Exapostles as well as of Apostles for the planting of the true Religion Messengers sent from God would not have served the turn to make men believe the truth much less to love and practise it unless there had been also Messengers sent out of God Therefore God sent forth his Son and the Spirit of his Son that he might settle and stablish our hearts in the Christian faith So that if we be unsettled in our Religion and carried away with every blast of vain Doctrine as being not firmly established in the truth of the holy Gospel it is a plain case we have not inclined our ears and much less our hearts to those two Messengers who came immediately out of God even his own Son and his own Spirit and therefore it is no wonder if we slightly esteem of all Gods other Messengers God the Father hath sent out God the Son And God the Father and Son hath sent out God the Holy Ghost The salvation of one is the work of three the salvation of one sinful soul is the work of all three persons of the blessed Trinity The Father sending the Son the Father and Son sending the Holy Ghost which of these three persons can we lose or let go and not withall lose or let go our own Salvation which of these three needs not work as God a work of All-mighty power of All seeing wisdom of All-sufficient and All-saving goodness to turn us from our evil waies that we may be sanctified and to keep us in the waies of righteousness that we may be saved God the Son sent out of the Father into your flesh and God the Holy Ghost sent out of the Father and the Son into your hearts His Son and your flesh his Spirit and your hearts both certainly most miraculous conjunctions the one the cause of the other For his Spirit and your hearts could never have met in man had not his Son your flesh met together in God And this produceth yet another miraculous conjunction a conjunction of Prayer and of praise both together in the same mouth and from the same heart and at the same time that a righteous man cannot be so over-burdened with sorrow in himself as not to be relieved and refreshed with joy in his Saviour Thus Hannah was was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore but she found that joy and comfort in her prayer that the Text saith She went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad So that in effect she was so of a sorrowful Spirit as also of a joyful Spirit and as her sorrow afforded matter of Prayer so her joy afforded matter of Praise Her own spirit made her sorrowful but Gods Spirit made her joyful And this was indeed the Abba Father of those in the Old Testament who had but dark promises of a Saviour yet did with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation Isa 12. 3. who had scarce any knowledge or revelation of the person yet were very well acquainted with the joyes of the Holy Ghost Hence it is that most of the Psalms as they are exceeding devout prayers wherein Gods own Spirit teacheth us to pray and helpeth our infirmities in praying so they are also most thankful praises wherein the same spirit teacheth us to rejoyce in God for hearing our prayers They are not only prayers but they are also praises concerning the same deliverance whether it be corporal or spiritual whether it be from bodily or from Ghostly enemies as for example The 30. Psalm is a prayer to be delivered from sickness and death and damnation as that noble Champion of Christ both for his Church and for his Truth and for his Authority hath piously and judiciously stated it in his Book of Collects upon the Psalms which should never be out of the hands of good Christians till it be fully imprinted in their hearts I say the 30. Psalm is a Prayer to be delivered from sickness and death and damnation three such sad considerations as were enough to make
in with dissemblers I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked and he thus makes good that saying For thy loving kindness is ever before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth Psalm 26. His communion with God kept him from the corruptions of those unrighteous men he could not avoid and kept him in the communion of those righteous men he could not enjoy Though his conversation might be in Gath or Ascalon yet his communion was in Jerusalem when the Ark was there as it is said ver 8. Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth Therefore make sure of thy communion with God by faith and repentance and holiness of life and doubt not of thy communion with his Catholick Church though thou live amongst Infidels or amongst such Christians as are fallen into Infidelity and so having denyed the faith are worse then those who never embraced it For no private man is entrusted with the external communion of his own Church nor shall he be called to an account for the sins of it if he partake not in those sins but he is intrusted with the internal communion of his own soul and for that he must look to give a strict account to the maker and lover and Judge of souls But this admonition which only concerns private men may not be extended to whole national Churches which have power given them of God to rectifie what is amiss among themselves either in Doctrine or worship or Sacraments and are accountable to God for not rectifying it so that if there be any notorious defect in either much more in all of these they that are not bound to obey other men have no pretence of excuse if they obey not God in ordering themselves exactly according to his known and undoubted word And this is evident by Saint Pauls Epistles to particular Churches and Saint Johns orders to the seven several Churches of Asia to all which were sent distinct instructions and reproofs which sheweth that every one of them was bound to follow those instructions they had received from God without expecting new orders from some general Superintendent over them all and was justly reproved for not following them And this is the Judgement of the Catholick Church in the first Council of Nice in the sixth Canon which will have the priviledges and dignities and authorities of all Churches inviolably preserved for so much is comprized in these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Judgemen is again repeated and reinforced in the first Council of Constantinople Can. 2. which forbids the confounding of Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and leaves every several proviâ—ce by a Synod in it self to administer and order its own â—…s The same is again more fully repeated and reinforced in the first Council of Ephesus Can. 8. which will have particular Churches keep their own rights and priviledges lest they should unawares lose the liberty purchased for them by the blood of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Council of Chalcedon Can. 19 enjoyns provincial Synods twice a year to rectifie and dispose all emergencies whatsoever in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So we find this is the judgement of the Catholick Church in the four first general Councils and therefore all the world is not able to prove this practice of our Church to be Anticatholick For I willingly pass by other Churches in the case with whom I am not bound to keep external communion and plead only for this Church where of God in mercy hath made me a happy member though an unworthy Minister For if Saint Paul would not judge those men that were without much less may any of us judge those Churches that are within And truly it is enough for our satisfaction and too much for our desert that though other Churches pretend more some to the purity others to the practice of Religion yet generally they have performed less Though some rigid Zelots press nothing so much as a circumcision of all rites and ceremonies other Pharisaical professors can boast of the yoke which they have put upon the neck of their Disciples which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear yet we cannot find any sufficient reason why we should not answer them both in Saint Peters words we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Act. 15. 11. For we have this reason of our belief because the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly and clearly set forth in the Doctrine of this our Church t is our shame and sin not our Churches if it be not also in our practice and Saint Paul hath taught us that this is the doctrine which most constituteth and therefore most edifieth a Christian Church For thus much do those words import to the Colossians And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable aâ—d unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard Col. 1. 21 22 2â— T is the Churches part to preach unto us the hope of the Gospel or the Doctrine of our being reconciled to God in Christ where this Doctrine is rightly published accepted and maintained there is without doubt a true Christian Church there is communion with Christ and if he will present us holy unblameable unreproveable in his sight for continuing in this faith grounded and setled we can have little cause but no excuse for leaving that Church whereinis the profession of this faith for as every particular Christian Church may lawfully preserve its own liberty against the incroachment of other Chuuches so it must necessarily preserve its authority against the insolencies of its own people The case is notorious concerning Vzziah when he went into the Temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the Altar of incense that Azariah with the Priests withstood him saying it pertaineth not to thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense Go out of the sanctuary for thou hast trespassed neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God 2 Chron. 27. 17 18. And great is the approbation which the Spirit of God giveth to this Azariah for so doing saying He it is that hath executed the Priests office in the Temple 1 Chron. 6. 10. As if none had been high Priest but he who so couragiously maintained the authority of the Priest-hood and this is R. Davids gloss upon the words He was not the first Priest of Solomons Temple for that was Zadok nor was he the only high Priest for there were many others both before and after him but our Rabbies say because
true Christian communion that man may be edified and brought to the knowledge and enjoyment of his Redeemer And all those Texts in the Old and New Testament which concern the publick worship of God are so many interpretations of the twofold end of this commandment as for example in the Old Testament Psalm 95 which was made to be used in publick assemblies according to Aben Ezra's gloss commandeth singing to the Lord and worshipping of him there 's the exercise of Religion q. d. Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day and commandeth us to sing and worship there 's the establishment of communion q. d. Thou and thy son and thy daughter c. and gives this reason of those commands The Lord our maker q. d. For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth So again Psalm 100. O be joyful in the Lord serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song there 's the Religion All ye lands or as it is in the Hebrew all the earth there 's the communion It is he that hath made us and not we our selves there 's the reason of both from our Creation For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting c. there 's that reason further enlarged to us Christians from our redemption who are taught that God by his son both made the worlds and also purged our sins Heb. 1. 2 3. So again in the New Testament Mat. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together there 's the communion In my name there 's the Religion I am in the midst of them there 's the reason of both so Heb. 10. 22 23. Let us draw neer with a true heart let us hold fast the profession of our faith there 's the exercise of Religion for he is faithful that promised there 's the reason of that exercise And ver 24 25. Let us consider one another not forsaking the assembling of our selves together there 's the establishment of communion To provoke unto love and to good works there 's the reason of that establishment If we be sure of Christs name we cannot be too zealous of our gathering together if we be sure of the Religion we cannot be too zealous of the Communion but if we be not sure of the name which cannot well be without a set and known Liturgie every good Christian must be contented to say with Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord and mouâ—n that he cannot say with David I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord for it is more agreeable with the end of the fourth Commandment that men have the right Religion in their own houses without a publick visible communion then that they have a publick visible communion in Gods house without the right Religion They must first say Let us hold fast the profession of our faith and after that Let us consider one another not forsaking the assembling of our selves together For if the Assemblies have forsaken the faith it can be no sin to forsake the Assemblies since the end of the Commandment is without doubt above the letter of it the substance of worship above the adjunct of it or to speak in one word since Christian Religion doth challenge precedency before and preeminency above Christian communion So then without question the end of the Commandment is the first thing to be considered for if the end be rightly understood the letter will not easily be mistaken for the letter of the Law is subservient to the end of it and therefore may not have so scanty an interpretation as will not reach the end And such is that interpretation of the fourth Commandment which would have the letter mean no more then it mentions that is the bare circumstance of time and leaves men at liberty to do what they please with the other adjuncts of publick worship to wit the persons by whom and the places in which it is to be performed and regards not the end or reason of the command at all This was the fault which our blessed Saviour did find with the Scribes and Pharisees interpretations of the Law that they interpreted it not in its full extent or latitude and this made him so often in one Chapter use these words Ye have heard it hath been said of old But I say unto you c. not opposing his authority against the authority of God who gave the Law but against the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees who misinterpreted it As for example God had said thou shalt not kill they intepreted this Law only of the act of murder our Saviour interprets it also of the intent or occasion of it of hatred in the heart and of calumny in the tongue Again God had said thou shalt not commit adultery this the Scribes and Pharisees restrained to the act of fornication or adultery but our Saviour tells us plainly that God meant otherwise and forbad not only the act but also the inclination thereto lusting nay the occasion thereof looking on a woman to lust after her Mat. 5. 28. The like interpretation have some of late given of the fourth Commandment as if the day were all that God required whereas questionless he requireth also the other adjuncts of publick worship as much as the day and he requireth the worship it self much more For publick worship must first be publick in its substance then in its adjuncts first in its substance by having such prayers as are of publick concernment to all good Christians according to the pattern given us in the Mount that is to say in Gods most holy word wherein we find the Spirit of God himself the first author of Liturgie or of common prayer having taught us such prayers whose matter and form is common alike to all good men and taught them not only for our direction but also for our use as plainly appears by the Hebrew inscription on the ninty second Psalm A Psalm for the Sabbath because saith Jarchi and Ezra both they were to say that Psalm on the Sabbath And Musculus saith the same after them concinendus in Ecclesia die Sabbathi this Psalm was to be sung in the assemblies on the Sabbath Nay the Psalmist saith as much being nothing else but an invitation to praise the name of God for all his works most especially for the wonderful dispensations of his power in pulling down his enemies and of his mercy in relieving and upholding his servants So again Psalm 102. hath this inscription A prayer for the afflicted when he is over-whelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord which plainly sheweth that the Psalms were made to be used not only as publick but also as private devotions and consequently that set forms do not confine the Spirit of prayer because the Holy Ghost commandeth the use of this Psalm to the afflicted not for the hinderance but for the furtherance of his devotion not only as a prayer
in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Mat. 7. See here how Gifted men may be Hypocrites not only gifted for Praying Many will say unto me Lord Lord which repetition shews a familiarity they thought they had contracted with him by their frequent addresses in Prayer but also gifted for Preaching Have we not prophesied in thy name Nay gifted for casting out Devils out of others though not out of themselves And in thy name have cast out Devils And yet to these gifted men will our blessed Saviour return this answer I never knew you whence we may justly infer they never truly knew him Depart from me ye that work iniquity whence we may as justly infer that they did never really come near him by piety but only seemingly by hypocrisie God forbid but we should firmly believe and willingly confess that the Spirit and the Gift of Prayer though separated in Hypocrites are often joyned together in good Christians for in truth the gift of Prayer is not perfect and compleat so as to be worth the looking after without the Spirit of it For then only is the gift of Prayer compleat when not only natural abilities are improved by study or industry and personal abilities are acquired by art or exercise which two alone do properly constitute the very essence of the Gift of Prayer But also the heart is sanctified by Grace which properly belongs only to the Spirit of Prayer so that in truth the Gift of prayer which makes all the noise is perfected only by the Spirit of Prayer which saith nothing or speaketh so softly that none can hear its voice but he that searcheth the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit Rom. 8. 27. The word of the mind Verbum mentis may be without the word of the mouth Verbum oris So Hannah continued praying before the Lord and yet she spake in her heart only her lips moved but her voice was not heard 1 Sam. 1. 13 14. So Moses cryed unto the Lord when yet he did not speak nor so much as move his lips Exod. 14. 15 Again the word of the mouth may be without the word of the mind for they must needs make many words who make many prayers and yet they could not be said to utter one prayer from their hearts to whom God did say When ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Isa 1. 15. For when the Text hath set this down as a proper compellation of God O thou that hearest prayer Psal 65. 2. it is most evident that from his saying he would not hear we may safely conclude they did not Pray though they did make never so many prayers But we will suppose such a gifted man as hath the compleat gift of prayer that is the Spirit and the Gift of Prayer both together yet even such a man is not thereby qualified to be the mouth of others in publick Assemblies because publick prayer is to have a publick Person to perform it And none can be a publick Person in Gods service but whom God himself hath made so by some notorious and undoubted Commission such as others are bound to acknowledge and therefore bound not to usurp For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain but they most take his name in vain who speak in his name without his allowance They are most properly said to take his name because he hath not given it and to take it in vain because they take it rather to serve themselves then to serve him 'T is all one for strange Persons to offer themselves before the Lord instead of the sons of Aaron and for the sons of Aaron to offer strange fire before the Lord instead of that from his own Altar for of both alike it may be said which he commanded them not Numb 10. 1. and for both alike it hath been said And they dyed before the Lord Ver. 2. and again This is it that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified Ver. 3. If he be not sanctified in them that come nigh him he is not like to be glorified before all the people If the Priests be unsanctified the Lord will be unglorified for his Majesty will be contemned as if it were lawful for any that are not sanctified to come nigh him Therefore his Priests were first sanctified to the Priesthood then sanctified by it They were first sanctified by being called then sanctified by their calling And so ought their successors to be till the worlds end for it is an universal negative which denies as well for all times as for all persons No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Heb. 5. 4. Now Aaron was called not only internally to satisfie himself but also externally to satisfie all the Congregation that he was called of God For God is the God of order not of confusion and consequently forbids those men to officiate as his Ministers though of never so great abilities whom he hath not outwardly called to the Ministry For he will have order not confusion in his Church whereas if any one might officiate in the Ministry upon any pretence whatsoever without Gods outward call others might as well as he and so we must needs have an irremediable confusion both in the Ministers and in their ministrations Dares any man to be a Princes Ambassador though most able to do him service without his appointment But the Ministers are Gods Ambassadors 2 Cor. 5. 20. There needs no variety of arguments in this case for till earthly Potentates shall declare it to be no rebellion against themselves for men to turn uncommissioned souldiers under pretence of fighting their battles they must acknowledge it to be grand rebellion against the King of heaven for men to turn uncommissioned Ministers under pretence of doing him service For Saint Paul having said The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds 2 Cor. 10. 4. hath in effect told us that the Minister is Gods souldier and therefore is sure of his Commission But let us further examine this gift of Prayer in relation to the publick worship of God and as we find no just reason to admit them to the work of the Ministry who are not Ministers because they have that gift so we shall find no just reason to reject those that are true Ministers as insufficient or unfit for the work of the Ministry because they have it not nor to allow such Ministers who have it to reject the set forms established and approved by the Church