which he doth continually defile with with his intemperances and uncleanness And this truth being granted which is not to be denied and scarce to be disputed it must needs follow that 't is impossible there should be an absolute infallibility of Faith in any man till there be in him an absolute impeccabilitie of life for from the corruption in manners will proceed the corruption in doctrine and from corruption in doctrine corruption in manners so that the doctrine cannot be the form and the duty the matter of Religion since the false doctrine corrupts the duty and the defective duty corrupts or depraves the doctrine and we must allow the substance of Religion to be altogether incorruptible and because there can be in it no corruption 't is evident there is in it no Physical composition Secondly There is in Religion no Logical composition ex subjecto accidente for no part of it but is substantial and essential Faith can no more save without good works then good works can be without faith It seems the man had faith who came running to kneel to our blessed Saviour and to ask him What he should do to inherit eternal life sure a better faith then any of our Solifidians have who neither run nor kneel nor ask yet our Saviours answer is Thou knowest the commandments S. Mark 10. He saith not Thou knowest the faith in Christ and yet without doubt he included it but so it is Christ himself teaching us to go to heaven by obedience doth plainly shew there can be no true faith without it and Bona opera sunt perniciosa ad salutem is a most pernicious blasphemous doctrine though Amsdortius broach'd it out of zeal to the doctrine of Justification by faith in Christ and out of opposition to the merit of condignity in good works for 't is not the right way to build up faith by pulling down obedience since the Apostle himself telleth us that the truth of the Gospel was made known to all nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16. 26. and 't is evident that faith it self is an act of obedience and a duty enjoyned in the first commandment so that we cannot take away faith from obedience but we must take away obedience from the first and great commandment that most requires it which will not be so much as good Judaisme and therefore sure cannot be good Christianity for the Jews did of purpose in their doctrine as it were entangle the commandments one with another to shew that one could not be violated alone and that our obedience was alike due to all therefore did they teach that the preface I am the Lord thy God was directly on the other side answered by the sixth commandment Thou shalt do no murder for he that kills a man destroys the image of God The first commandment it self Thou shalt have no other gods but me was directly answered by the seventh Thou shalt not commit adultery for idolatrie is a spiritual fornication The third for it seems they looked on the second as included in the first Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain was answered by the eighth Thou shalt not steal for he that will be a thief will not stick to forswear himself The fourth Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day was answered by the ninth Thou shalt not bear false witness for he that will not keep the sabbath doth bear false witness of God that he did not rest on the seventh day The fifth Honour thy father and thy mother was answered and as it were seconded by the tenth Thou shalt not covet for he that gives the reins to his concupiscence shall beget a son that shall dishonour and disobey him Salomom Iarchi in Cantic cap. 4. v. 5. Thus did they make one commandment not onely as a second to vindicate and avenge but also as a principle champion to fortifie and strengthen another that we should pay the readier obedience to them all for they did not this to confound our dutie towards God and our duty towards our neighbour but to shew that though these several duties might be distinguished yet they might not be divided nor separated for that no one commandment of the Moral Law was accidental but all alike substantial in that obedience which God doth now require and will hereafter reward so that there is no composition of Subject and Accident in Religion Thirdly and lastly There is in Religion no Metaphysical composition ex actu potentia of act and power for though this Metaphysical composition is in the Angels yet 't is not in Religion 'T is in the Angels for they have not all their essence and perfection together but as it were successively some after other so that in this respect Religion hath a prerogative above the Angels and therefore may not stoop down so low as to worship them for that hath its whole perfection altogether the Old the New Testament differing onely in modo not in re for the same Faith Hope and Charity saved Abraham that still saveth us and hence it is evident that all is either superstition of faction which cannot consist and be maintained without addition to the text the onely rule of Religion though it pretend not to be addition but onely exposition or declaration As for example When Christ hath said Drink ye all of this that the Laity or Clergy not administring are not bound to drink of it may pretend to be a declaration of the Church Ecclesia declarat nullo divino praecepto Laicos aut Clericos non conficientes ad bibendum obligari Concil Trid. Sess. 21. cap. 1. but it is indeed a depravation of the truth by way of addition Again when God hath said Thou sh'alt not worship any graven image for any man to say Thou shalt not worship the graven image of Venus or Bacchus or Jupiter but thou mayst worship the image of Christ and of the saints seems to be a declaration but is indeed a down right depravation by way of addition and yet this is the fleight whereby Baronius endeavours to elude the second commandment and why may not we as well say Thou shalt not kill that is Thou shalt not kill a Romane Catholick but thou mayst kill an heretick Thou shalt not steal that is Thou shalt not assault or invade the property of a brother one of the godly party but thou mayst of one that is a malignant or a reprobate and yet not be guilty of stealing In a word to instance in the fifth commandment which hath been alike trampled upon by the two grand factions of Christendome Honour thy father and thy mother saith God that is If he be not an heretick saith the one side for then he may be excommunicated deposed and killed If he be not a reprobate saith the other side for then he may be dishonoured and disobeyed and destroyed for having no share in grace he hath no right to
to restitution which is an act of justice that it be either twofold or fourfold Therefore the duties themselves are onely commanded in the Gospel but the manner of their performance is not under command And this is the first distinction or difference betwixt the substance and the exercise of Religion that the substance of Religion is all immediately from God but the exercise of Religion in many things depends upon the authority of man Secondly The substance of Religion requires an infallible or a Theological certainty grounded onely upon the word of God but the exercise of Religion is contented with a moral certainty depending upon the testimony of man Which being a proposition of great extent yet of greater consequence shall accordingly be first divided and then explained I say therefore The substance of Religion that is any thing of Faith Hope or Charity requires an infallible or Theological certainty grounded onely upon the word of God Here Dubius in fide infidelis est is a sure rule he that doubts in the faith is an infidel and again Certitudo unius partis tollit probabilitatem alterius is another excellent rule The certainty of one part takes away the probability of the other As the certainty of Christs institution of both kinds in the holy Eucharist takes away the probability of receiving in one kinde after his institution the certainty of praying in faith to God the Father Son and holy Ghost takes away the probability of praying in faith to any but the blessed Trinity But the exercise of Religion is often content onely with a moral certainty nor indeed can we have any other certainty either of times places or persons but meerly moral and humane Here the rule is good Non est opus infallibili certitudine sed sufficit moralis humana quae secum patitur haesitationem suspicionem de contrario In such cases there is no need of a Theological or infallible certainty but it sufficeth that we be guided by a moral or humane certainty which allows of many doubts and suspicions to the contrary as for example that God is to be praised for the nativity of his Son is grounded upon Theological certainty for the angels sang praises to him for it S. Luke 2. But that he is to be praised for it on the twenty fifth day of December is grounded onely upon moral certainty because antiquity hath accounted that for the very day of his nativity And it is no wonder that we can have no better assurance of Christmas day since we can have no better of the Lords day which we are sure is of apostolical imitation if not of apostolical institution for we cannot be otherwise assured that we keep not the second or third or fourth day in stead of the first day of the week but onely from humane testimony and yet he that should have no better assurance of the resurrection of Christ whereon is grounded the duty of the day would scarce deserve to be thought or called a Christian. Time place and person may admit of doubts but faith hope and charity admit of none the reason is these latter are of the pure substance the former belong onely to the exercise of religion Thirdly the substance of religion is unchangeable but the exercise of Religion hath passed under a great and notorious change it was the same faith hope and charity that saved the Jew which now saveth the Christian but the way of exercising all three of them was much different in the Jewish and in the Christian churches Aquinas in his 22 ae q. 2. ar 7. determines this question affirmatively Utrum explicitè credere mysterium incarnationis Christi sit de necessitate salutis apud omnes whether explicitely to beleeve the mystery of the incarnation of Christ be necessary to salvation in regard of all men and he thus demonstratively proves his determination Illud propriè per se pertinet ad objectum fidei per quod homo beatitudinem consequitur via autem hominibus veniendi ad beatitudinem est mysterium incarnationis passionis Christi Dicitur enim Act. 4. Non est aliud nomen datum hominibus in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri ideo mysterium incarnationis Christi aliqualiter oportuit omni tempore esse creditum apud omnes That properly and of it self belongs to the object of faith by which a man obtains eternal blessedness but the way for a man to come to bliss is the mystery of the incarnation and passion of Christ for so it is said Act. 4. 12. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved therefore the mystery of Christs incarnation was to be beleeved in some sort at all times and of all men that were to be saved And he tells us that the Romane histories make mention of a man taken out of his grave in the time of Constantine the great with a plate of gold upon his breast wherein these words were engraven Christus nascetur ex virgine ego credo in cum O Sol sub Irene Constantini temporibus iterum me videbis Christ shall be born of a virgin and I do beleeve in him O Sun in the time of Irene and Constantine thou shalt see me again This he brings as a proof that such of the Gentiles as were saved did beleeve in Christ. The proof perchance may be questionable but the doctrine cannot be so for even Adam in his innocency had an explicite faith in the incarnation of Christ as the onely means to bring him to the consummation ofglory though happily not till after his fall he had an explicite faith in the passion and resurrection of Christ to deliver him from the guilt and punishment of his sins And if the explicite belief of the mystery of Christs incarnation be so necessary to salvation we are little beholding to those men who forbid the commemoration of that mystery and the testification of that belief but however thus we see Omnes sideles usque ab Adamo re quidem ipsâ Christianos fuisse saith Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 1. That the Christian Religion was always the same in substance though not in exercise and the same Religion both of Jew and Christian Ratione objecti formalis non ratione objecti materialis in regard of the formal though not in regard of the material object of faith the same God worshipped by them both if they were true worshippers and with the same acts of faith hope and love to beleeve in him to trust in him and to obey and serve him but yet a far different form and manner of profession of faith and exercise of worship And thus Justin Martyr cleareth the truth of the Christian Religion to Tripho the Jew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We do not think you had one God and we have another nor do we trust in any other God but yours for there is no other even the God of Abraham of
concern the substance of Religion so the fourth wholly concerns the exercise of it and as the first Commandment teacheth us the duties of faith hope and charity towards God to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all our heart with all our minde with all our soul and with all our strength and the second and third to worship him to give him thanks to call upon him to honour his holy name and his word so the fourth commandment setteth us a time and other circumstances for the exercise of these duties teaching us to serve him truly in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life for it is a gross mistake of some who make the fourth commandment a limitation or a restriction of the first as if he that required our love with all our heart to shew that we ought sooner to be without our heart then without his love did require the publick profession of that love onely one day in seven no we must know and profess the contrary for it is impossible that the greater should be limited by the lesser and our Saviour himself hath told us that Thou shalt love the Lord is the first and great commandment Saint Mat. 20. 38. Wherefore all the rest which have their greatness from this cannot add any greatness to it much less can they take away any greatness from it and consequently the fourth commandment must needs lose its greatness if it be brought to oppose this that is to say to confine this love of God by restraining the exercise of Religion to the Sabbath as if Religion were made for the Sabbath and not rather the Sabbath made for Religion they who look upon Sunday as the onely Sabbath do in effect say That Religion was made for the Sabbath they who look upon other Festivals as Sabbaths also do in effect say That the Sabbath was made for Religion and without doubt they are of the surer side which is the drift we should aim at in all controverted points who say Days were made for duties and not duties for days for these men do say That the substance of Religion is above the exercise of Religion which God himself hath taught us in the very method of the commandments putting the greatest in the first place and that the exercise of Religion was ordained and appointed to preserve and maintain the substance of Religion but by no means to restrain or hinder the same Therefore it is safest explaining the fourth commandment not by way of limitation or restriction as if it limited and restrained the three former to it self which those men do seem to be guilty of who put down all other Christian Festivals as unlawfull and superstitious but by way of specification or application as shewing the necessity of exercising that Religion which is taught and commanded in the three former and not leaving it in our power to omit or neglect that exercise This being laid for a sure ground that we have Gods absolute command not onely for the substance but also for the exercise of Religion it must needs follow that they who regard not the exercise of Religion cannot regard the substance of it and consequently whosoever is unsetled in the exercise of Religion whether it be in the profession or in the practise thereof cannot be thought well grounded in the knowledge and love of God For Divinity is a science that teacheth man to live to God and therefore he that most lives to God is the best Divine the best scholar may be he that hath best ordered his study but the best Divine is he that best ordereth his life and this Divinity St. Paul requireth alike of all Christians who profess to believe in Christ that they have a life answerable to their faith a conversation answerable to their profession Rom. 6. 9. Knowing this that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more there 's the principle of faith and verse 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord there 's the duty of life He is the best Divine he hath the most Christian Logick that most makes such collections for Divinity treats onely of the spiritual life whereby man lives in to him by whom he lives And as the natural life hath two acts the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby it gives life the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby it gives motion so hath also the spiritual life two acts The first consists in the knowledge and love of God the second in the profession of that knowledge and in the practise of that love Of these two acts consisted Abrahams Religion of these two parts consisted his Divinity even of Faith in God as saith S. Paul and of Works according to that Faith as saith S. Iames and if we hope to get into Abrahams bosome we must first get into his study This was Davids Divinitie Psal. 37. 3. Trust in the Lord there 's the knowledge and love of God for no man will trust him whom he doth not know and much less him whom he doth not love and do good there 's the profession according to that knowledge and practise according to that love and we must be men after Davids heart if we desire to be men after Gods own heart In a word This was the Divinity Christ left unto his Church S. Matth. 28. 19 20. First teaching all nations to know God then teaching them to observe his commands and we cannot be good Christians unless we be members of Christs Church and if we be good Christians our faith will make us live in Christ and our conversation will be according to our faith which was the admirable prayer of the ancient Church upon Ascension-eve and I cannot better conclude this discourse then with a prayer nor have I learned to reject a good prayer because I finde it in the Mass-Book no more then I may learn not to say Eli Eli that is my God my God with my blessed Saviour because some out of ignorance others out of malice will say This man calleth for Elias S. Matth. 27. 46. Praesta quaesumus omnipotens Pater ut nostrae mentis intentio quò Unigenitus Filius tuus Dominus noster ingressus est semper intendat quò side pergit conversatione perveniat Grant Lord we beseech thee that whither our Saviour is ascended we may also with heart and minde thither ascend and whither we ascend by our faith there we mayalso dwell by our conversation even in Heaven Amen CHAP. 5. The assurance we have of the substance of Religion in that it is spiritual and resembles God the authour of it in his incommunicable properties of Simplicitie and Infinitie as also in his Immutabilitie and Eternitie which are the two consectaries of Infinitie also in his Omnipotency All-sufficiencie and Omnisciencie which are the three consectaries of his Eternitie THat Religion is of a divine
execution of justice yet is it from the affection of charity not the affectation of tyranny for the Church desires it not for her own sake but for their sakes who indeed want it and are in danger of perishing eternally for the want of it men that either have sinned notoriously or at least are inclined so to sin whilst they use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh Gal. 5. 13. or for a cloak of maliciousness 1 Pet. 2. 16. and 't is most evident that such men ought to be punished out of justice but are punished clearly out of charity for they are therefore put to open penance and punished in this world that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord and that others admonished by their example might be the more afraid to offend But the less the Church can now exact this penance of us the more ought we to exact it of our selves and the rather because every notorious offender wrongs three together his God his neighbour and himself his God by his disobedience his neighbour by his disturbance himself by his distemper so that it matters not which he most condemns in himself whether his injustice or his irreligion since the same two integral parts of justice are also the two integral parts of Religion viz. to flee evil and to do good as Religion challengeth all the soul both in its intellective part to embrace God as the first Truth in its affective part to cleave to God as the last good so also doth justice challenge all the soul it challengeth the understanding to know which is the right way it challengeth the will to follow it Justitia quoad legem regulantem est in ratione seu intellectu sed quoad imperium quo opera regulantur secundùm legem est in voluntate saith Aquinas Justice as it propounds or prescribes the rule is seated in the reason or in the understanding but as it commands our obedience to the rule prescribed so it is seated in the affection or in the will whence it comes to pass that few are the number of the just as also of the religious because none can be either truly just or religious but he alone whose whole soul is sanctified but he alone who is rectified both in his reason and in his affection both in his understanding and in his will and it is no less then the work of a whole age both for Gods grace and for mans industry to rectifie either and hence it is that God is specially called the God of the just ex speciali curâ cultu from the special care he hath of them to protect them here and to reward them hereafter and from the special worship or service he hath from them none doing him service but the religious and none being religious but the just But whence then so much injustice among Christians even too much for the heathen that know not God to practise and for the infidels that beleeve not God to profess I answer merely from the want of Religion in which want they are too too often the greatest sharers who are or might be the onely possessours for Pagans can have but a negative want of godliness such as they could not compass not having the true light of God to shew it but Christians have moreover a privative want of godliness such as they might and should have compassed had they not bid defiance to that light which shewed it which makes the Spirit of God pronounce a severe sentence against them from the mouth of S. Peter saying It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness or the way of justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the way of Religion then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them they are in a very bad condition who know not the way of righteousness but they are in a far worse who do know it but will not follow it they are under a fearfull doom who never turned to the holy commandment but their judgement will be intolerable who have wilfully turned from it and it is to be feared that God will ere long take from some Christians their Religion if he do not speedily give them more justice for he will not long endure that men should speculatively honour his Name but practically blaspheme it wherefore it is to be supposed that he will either make such Christians as regard not justice more just in their actions or less religious in their protestations that he will make them either afraid to violate the commands of Christ or ashamed to pretend to the profession of Christianity The next attribute we are now to consider in God is his Grace whereby he freely gives what is wanting to his creature for Grace is the participation of the divine nature and therefore above the condition of every man that hath it and much more above his deserts unless we will needs say that men may deserve to partake of the divine nature because they have corrupted and abused their own and this grace as it is in God is the actual communication of his goodness whereby he diffuseth himself to the sons of men as they are capable to receive him and never leaves to derive into them heavenly influencies till he hath instated them in the eternal bliss of heaven which goodness of God is more particularly revealed unto us in that covenant of Grace which God freely and favourably made with us when we were his enemies and therefore will certainly fulfill now we are his friends Ero Deus tuus seminis tui I will be thy God and thy seeds after thee for which promise there was no reason but his own undeserved grace though now his promise be a good reason of his performance and yet still his grace will approve it self to be free grace though we acknowledge that his promise hath made him a debter and where there is a debt there may seem to be matter of justice not of grace for we may not limit this universal proposition Promissum cadit in debitum A promise becomes a debt by distinguishing upon him that makes the promise and saying 'T is to be understood of the promises of men but not of God Promissio creaturarum non Dei as saith Paraeus in Ursinum pag. 158. for in truth Gods promise is more truly and universally a debt then the promise of any creature whatsoever because his promise is always of that which is really good for us and therefore undoubtedly claimable by us whereas the creature may promise what is not really good and consequently what we may not care to claim as for example All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me was a large promise but yet could not be made a debt because it could not be made worth the claiming whereas Gods promise to Abraham but onely of one small corner of those
countenance any in sin and in impenitency and yet even this severe Bishop in his greatest strictness for Church discipline though he would not allow the Martyrs and Confessours to be too importunate for the over speedy reconciliation of notorious offenders in which he had also the approbation of the Clergy of Rome yet if an offender had been overhastily reconciled he would not by any means make void that act of mercy thus we read that when the Bishop Therapius had given the peace of the Church to Victor the Presbyter for the Bishops were in those dayes the governours in chief if not in whole of the Ecclesiastical Communion before he had made publick satisfaction for his offence though S. Cyprian and his collegues were much troubled that he had so hastily received him into the Communion of the Church nullâ infirmitate urgente when as no dangerous sickness of his had called for a dispensation of the Canon yet they would not revoke that act of grace that had been done by Therapius but let Victor still enjoy the benefit of it thereby shewing that the true Religion though it stand much upon the exactness of Justice yet is much more delighted in the exercise of Mercy the words of S. Cyprian and his fellow Collegues met together in a Synod meerly about Church-discipline are very remarkable Sed librato apud nos diu consilio satis fuit objurgare Therapium collegam nostrum quod temerè hoc fecerit instruxisse ne quid tale de caetero faciat pacem tamen quomodocunque a sacerdote Dei semel datam non putavimus au-ferendam Cyp. Ep. 59. cum Pam. after we had taken long and full advice about this business we thought it enough to reprove Therapius our Collegue that he had done this rashly and require him to do so no more but the peace which had been given by a Priest intrusted of God to give it though given after never so ill a manner we did not think fit to take away again and therefore declare that Victor shall still enjoy the communion of the Church But what do I speak of Mercy above Justice in the true Religion when she would not call for Justice at all were it not that she might shew Mercy for thus she proceeds to deliver a sinner to Satan that she may keep him from hell as faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 5. to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus true Religion would not exercise that Justice which is for the destruction of the flesh were it not to make way for that Mercy which is for the salvation of the spirit therein resembling God himself who thrusts men away from him meerly out of the necessity of Justice but embraceth and receiveth them from his incessant desire and delight of shewing mercy CHAP. VIII The assurance we have of Religion in that it maketh us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his Name and of the ten proper Names of God collected by S. Hierome HE that is willing to expostulate with God can never be unwilling to offend him for it is impossible that man should ever be dashed out of countenance by the consideration of any sin who is resolved to justifie and maintain all his sins such a man is more fit for the School of the Peripateticks then for the School of the Prophets because he is made rather for disputation then for devotion and truly this is the chiefest reason that we can alledge for the continuance of all those grand miscarriages that are in the practise of Religion whether by way of superstition or of profaneness that men wedded to their own corrupt practises are in a manner resolved to expostulate with God rather then to comply with him 't is such a Clergy humour as this which the Prophet Malachi complaineth of Mal. 1. 6. saying unto you O Priests that despise my Name and ye say wherein have we despised thy Name they would needs be disputing when they should have been repenting for all this while they did neither honour God as a Father not fear him as a Master for so saith the Text a son honoureth his father and a servant his master if then I be a father where is mine honour if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of hosts unto you O Priests that despise my Name It is a foul shame for any to despise Gods Name but most especially for those who are most bound to glorifie it that is for his Priests who are peculiarly consecrated to serve God and therefore ought to be more particularly devoted to his service no man may securely contemn Religion but he least who is entrusted to teach it for what he is entrusted to teach he is much more commanded to practise and truly this is the proper work of Religion which the Prophet here cals for to glorifie the Name of God that is to honour God as a Father and to fear him as a Master for without this honour and this fear we cannot take God for God but it is the work of Religion to make man take God for God and how can that be but by acknowledging and professing his Verity Omnipotency Goodness and Excellency so that the work of Religion most especially consists in Faith Hope Charity and Reverence or holy Fear for by Faith we acknowledge Gods eternal truth or Verity by Hope his Omnipotency by Love his allsufficient Goodness and by Fear or reverence his Soveraign Majesty or supertranscendent excellency Thus he that beleeveth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he acknowledgeth him to be the first Truth or chiefest Verity he that hopeth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he relyeth on his Omnipotency he that loveth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the chiefest good being wholly satisfied with his allsufficiency and lastly he that feareth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the Soveraign Majesty or for the greatest excellency wherefore God is truly to be honoured as a Father by Faith Hope and Charity and to be honoured as a Master by Fear and Reverence and the true Religion reacheth us to honour God both as a Father and as a Master as a Father by beleeving in him for shall not a Son beleeve his Father though all others beleeve him no further then for his honesty yet his own Son is bound to beleeve him also for his authority again to honour him as a Father by hoping and expecting a blessing from him and more particularly our inheritance for as faith looks to the promise so hope looks to the thing promised and we can never look upon God too much and much less can we look for too much from him For if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more
faith hope and charity that is now truly Christian was so from the beginning and will be so unto the end these were before Abraham they were with him they still remain after him many Christian professions were of yesterday and may not be tomorrow because they depend on men who at first contradict others and at last themselves but the Christian Religion hath truly deserved that motto of Semper cadem that it was is and will be always the same Men may give rules which one day may be like old Almanacks out of date but the rule of righteousness which is of Gods giving is the same for ever therefore the wise man would have us so to fear the Lord as not to meddle with them that are given to change Prov. 24. 21. for to be given to change shews us rather to fear men then to fear the Lord since they are but he is not so given the changers here spoken of saith Ralbag were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as would change the very commandment the very Law it self if it were possible and that 's no wonder for he that resolves not to obey the Law must needs desire to change it because that standing still in force doth still require him to obey and accordingly must check his disobedience so then he that is willing to change himself may probably pass from worse to better but he that is willing to change his rule must necessarily pass from bad to worse and still recede more and more from Religion for that cannot but say with its Authour I AM but he makes it his business to say I AM NOT. The seventh Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adonai quem nos Dominum generaliter appellamus saith S. Hierome which we generally interpret Lord and this Name is mentioned Gen. 18. 30. 32. in Abrahams supplication for Sodom O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak other Lords are often angry when we intercede for our brethren but this Lord is most pleased with such intercessions and will cause our prayers to return with a blessing either upon their heads if they be so righteous as to be capable of it or at least into our own bosomes if we heartily pray for the pardon of their unrighteousness Thus Abrahams prayer though it did not prevail to save Sodom yet it did prevail to save Lot his kinsman that was in it for so saith the Text Gen. 19. 29. It came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembred Abraham surely for his Prayer in the Chapter before and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overoverthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt his prayer was effectual for the inhabitants of that wicked place in tanto in part for it saved some and would have been so in toto in whole to have saved all had they been capable of salvation but what it wanted of efficacity in one way it had in another for the effectual servent prayer of a righteous man cannot but avail much if not to heal those for whom he prays yet sure to heal himself S. Jam. 5. 16. but this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basis the foot or base of a pillar that sustaineth the building qui basis instar sustentat mundum he who is the supporter of the whole world thus Exod. 23. 17. where the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Chaldee Paraphrast saith Dominus seculi which shews that the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adonai is given to God for this reason quia Dominus mundi because he is the Lord of the world he is so the foot or basis to sustain it as that he is also the head to govern it O happy man that is called to be a servant to such a master who is the Lord Josh. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adonai the Lord because he is the Lord of all the earth why should he fear this and slatter that great man to the betraying of his trust the dishonouring of his Lord the wounding of his conscience and the endangering of his soul Is not this indeed to set up Baal which signifies a lord against the true God to set up a false lord against the true Lord the Lord of all the earth Let my soul be zealous for the ark of the Covenant of the Lord the Lord of all the earth and if Jordan part not to let me go through on dry ground into the Land of Canaan but that I be forced to cry with the Psalmist Save me O Lord for the waters are come in even unto my soul Psa. 69. 1. for this indeed is a time for Jordan to overflow all his banks yet this is my comfort these same waters shall be to clense me not to drown me to wash me not to destroy me for he whose Ark I am commanded to bear the Lord whom I serve sitteth upon the water flouds and ruleth the raging of the Sea and the noise of its waves and the madness of his people though more outragious then they all and he will over-rule all those to his own glory and the sallvation of all those who cast not off their alegiance to him but are true and faithfull to his kingdom and zealous and painfull in his service The eighth Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jah Quod in Deo tantùm ponitur in Allelujah extremâ quoque syllabâ sonat saith the same Father these two letters that make up the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jah are never joyned together but onely when they make up the Name of God or when they make up his Praise for whereas the Jews do reckon numbers by letters they put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is nine and six together to make up fifteen rather then venture upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which would make ten and five because these two letters joyned together do make up this Name of God this I take to be S. Hieromes meaning when he saith of Jah quod in Deo tantum ponitur that it is onely to be found in God to wit in his Name and in the Song that praiseth him which is Hallelu-jah the Song of the Saints and Angels in heaven Rev. 19. 1. I heard a voice of much people in heaven saying Allelujah O let me sing this Song here whilst it is my duty that I may come to sing it hereafter when it shall be my reward and I am the rather encouraged to sing this Song because it hath in it this comfortable Name Jah which hath its derivation from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse and doth in effect proclaim that doctrine which is set down in Wisd. 1. 13 14. vers for God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of
by a gracious dependance on Gods truth and faithfulness and expecting in his good time a comfortable issue of his promises Such waiters whose God is the Lord Jehovah in whom they trust on whom they depend and whom they constantly obey not departing from his precepts when he seems to have forsaken them in their greatest distresses such men are the prime the onely Christians who have in their soul the seal of Gods grace to assure them of their future happiness O thou whose Name is the great Jehovah and rulest all things in heaven and earth send down from heaven the habitation of thy glory thine Holy Spirit into our hearts and so possess our souls with an awful fear of thy Majesty and a filial love of thee for thy goodness and mercy that we abhorring all things that may displease thee and obeying thy precepts may in the end of our days obtain the end of our hopes and the fruit of thy promises which is the salvation of our souls and eternal bliss through the merits of our blessed Redeemer our Lord Christ Jesus The tenth and last Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 schaddai by which God often stiled himself when he spake unto the Patriarchs to uphold their spirits and sustain their faith in the midst of their troubles Gen. 17. 1. the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the same words he bespake Jacob Gen. 35.11 hence it was that they also when they were to speak or make mention of God often used that Name or word Thus Isaac when he blessed Jacob Gen. 28.3 said the God whose Name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bless thee and make thee to encrease and multiply so Jacob said to Joseph the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me As for the notion or meaning of the Name Galatinus l. 2. c. 17. out of R. Moses the Egyptian and Algazel determines it that it is a compounded term and made up of these two parts or particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in composition the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies sufficient and sufficiency so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the whole latitude or acception of it denotes the alsufficiency of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui in se à se sufficientiam abundantiam omnimodam habet it a ut nullius ope indigeat i. e. who in himself and from himself hath a sufficiency and abundance of all good things and needs not the help of any creature There is in God a fallness of power whereby he can do what he will his will being the onely rule and bound of his power therefore the Septuagint do often render this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Job 8.3 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth or worketh all things so in our English Translation doth the Almighty pervert justice As there is in many a man an empty fullness when bladder-like his soul is blown up with windy fancies of having what he hath not or of more knowledge then he truly hath so in God there is a fullness without any the least defect or degree of emptiness in God and Christ who is God and man in one person there is as the Schools speak Plenitudo repletiva and diffusiva or plenitudo abundantiae and redundantiae and abounding fullness because no good thing no gift nor grace is wanting in him and a redounding fullness because what gifts or graces soever be in us they are all derived to our souls from him the ever-living and overflowing fountain and spring of them from whom they slow into our souls per Spiritum tanquam per canalem through the spirit as it were a conduit-pipe without any loss of them in him or without any the least diminution and of his fullness have we all received Joh. 1. 16. a fullness without any want argues a great perfection quod plenè habetur perfectè totalitèr habetur Aquin Now if men through the door of faith opened by Gods blessed Spirit did see the fullness the excellency and alsufficiency of God it would so fill them with admiration joy and content that having a communion with God by his sanctifying spirit they would care for nothing else they considering what the Lord is and beholding his glorious face in the glass of his Attributes viz. his Wisedom Power and Justice c. upon this consideration they would say with the Prophet David The Lord is on our side or with us we will not therefore fear what man can do unto us Psa 118. 6. the Lord is ours therefore we can lack nothing that is good for us and if the Lord be thine then his Power is thine to sustain thee under any cross to redeem thee from troubles to help thee in distress to succour thee in the greatest needs and to support thy weakness in the performance of any duties his Wisedom too is thine thou hast an interest in it it is thy portion so that if thou desirest to be instructed in the knowledge of his word to understand those hidden mysteries which are contained in it if thou openest thy mouth to him in prayer he will open thine eyes that thou shalt see mirabilia leg is the wondrous things of his Law Psa. 119. 18. and be also wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. his Justice likewise is thine to vindicate thee when thou art injured if thou committest thy cause unto him and to clear thine innocency when thou art falsly traduced by the malevolent and to deliver thee out of the hands of the oppressour so for his Truth and Holiness the former is thine to make good his promises of blessings in this life and of happiness in that to come if by faith and full affiance thou dependest on him so the latter i. e. his Holiness is thine to sanctifie thy corrupt nature and to free thee as from the guilt so from the power of sin This is the portion of all the Sons and servants of God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God al-sufficient who can and will do for us more then either we desire or deserve if we wholly rest and rely upon his goodness Happy is the man who is in such a case in so blessed a condition as to have a close union and near communion with the great God of heaven or to speak in the Prophet Davids phrase who hath the Lord for his God Psa. 144. 15. whose alsufficiency they atterly deny who worship any other God as did the Gentiles who multiplied Deities and sacrificed to more then one such are Polutheists who divide the glory of Gods excellencies amongst those petty Numens even as they are no other then practical Athiests and truly worship none who through infidelity question Gods alsufficiency for if he be God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
not in but upon the Temple or Church of God non in Templo Dei sed in Templum Dei sedet tanquam ipse sit Templum Dei quod est Ecclesia as saith S. August l. 20. de Civ Dei c. 19. where also he expounds this Anti-Christ not of one single person but of a whole body of men or a mixt multitude and I pray why may not Anti-Christ reign rather in an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Government of the many-headed then in any other kinde of Government since this alone is a Government not of Christs making Surely no one character of Anti-Christ but will more exactly befit this then any other Government and if we will suppose which is very probable that those Parables which do shew what Anti-Christ was in the Jew may also teach what he shall be in the Gentile then persecution of those who are sent unto the people much more of those who are set over them by Christ murder committed upon their persons and rapine upon their inheritance must be his chiefest qualities See S. Luk. 10 11 12 13 14. verses where we haue a perfect embleme of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when servants rule their Masters Subjects their King which is the pestilent spawn of that viperous doctrine Dominion is founded in the people and without all question 't is more immediately Anti-Christian to oppose Kingship then to oppose Kings since this may be onely against the persons who are men but that must be also against the authority which is Gods whence they are called his Kings his Anointed 2 Sam. 22. 51. or rather Christs authority for himself saith Mat. 28. 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and is from him derived unto Kings whence 1 Tim. 6. 15. he is called the onely Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for Kings are of Christs not of the peoples making the Text shews where Christ hath given his power to Kings but not where he hath given it to the people and consequently for them to assume it without his gift and against his command must needs be Anti-Christian so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are in effect all one to sight against Monarchy is to sight against God who alone originally and against Christ who alone autoritatively is the onely Monarch but to return again to the Church doth not this appeal to the people let in the Rabble over all that 's called God and over all that 's called Christ the Anointedof God and over all that 's called Christian the service of God credenda speranda facienda must we not beleeve and pray and live as the rout will have us or have no outward profession of our faith no publick exercise of our prayers and no communion or Fellowship of our life see what strange calves this rebellious Jeroboam this striver for the people for so doth his Name import hath already set up in this our Bethel the house of God Prayer thrown out of its proper dwelling the publick worship of the Lord forbidden on the Lords own day and in the Lords own house and all because the people will have it so for 't is not the publick circumstances of time and place can make a publick worship when the persons that perform it are not publick because they are no Ministers and the substance of the worship performed is not publick but meerly private both for the matter because the supposed Minister prays onely for his own party and according to his own humour for the form because the people nay most times himself do not know his prayer Is not this truly to prophane the Sabbath in stead of sanctifying it to cry up the day but to beat down the duty of it as if Religion were more in days then in duties more in accidents then in substances more in circumstances which are but shadows then in realities I cannot perswade my self but our late throwing away the publick worship of God exercised in such an excellent Book of prayer as was publick both in its form for known unto and admired of all Christians and in its matter for of such Petitions onely as equally concerned all and introducing a meer priuate worship instead of it if I may call that a worship of God which hath so little reverence towards his Majesty and so few evidences of his authority was the most sacrilegious profanation that ever any Christian people hath yet been guilty of people I say not nation for neither with us is this Apostasie yet become National and God forbid it ever should and yet the reason of all this and much more then this is onely that which formerly was the plea of Comedians not of Divines populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas that they might please the people at least with some new invention since they were displeased for some base worldly ends with their old Religion and it makes many a Christian heart tremble to think that we are very near a Babylonian Captivity and the truth of God is breathing its last gasp amongst us because we are come to that desperate condition of the Jews and are as ready as they were to endungeon our Jeremies that tell us of it described by the Prophet Jer. 5. 30 31. a wonderfull and horrible thing is committed in the land the Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so and what will you do in the end thereof there is a generation of false Prophets in the land and the Priests that bear rule by their means applaud their prophesying for so the 70 render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and my people love to have it so i. e. to have false Prophets in stead of Priests hoping thereby to save their tithes and what will you do in the end thereof as yet this horrible thing is beautifull in your eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Ezra but what will you do in the end when you shall know it will be bitter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is now a Naomi that is pleasant but it will then be Marah that is bitter and will say unto your souls Why call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord hath testified against me Ruth 1. 20 21. but I must leave this argument to some better head and more authentick hand I undertake to speak onely the heart of the true English Protestant who bids me tell you that Divinity alone makes him of the true Church which had its being before his Church not with it and much less from it Divinity of the new stamp if it may be called Divinity which hath man not God for its authour must needs on both sides turn faith into faction and Religion into Rebellion that man and the same reason holds in Christian Churches as in Christian men since a Church is but a Congregation of men I say that man