Measures as because it is not onely a withdrawing of so much as those Weights and Measures fall-short of their due Proportion but also a clancular one so because such Courses as these are represented as abominable in the Eyes of that God with whom we have to do Witness for the former that of Prov. 20.10 That divers weights and divers Measures are an abomination to the Lord meaning thereby as Moses * Deut. 25.13.14 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights a great and a small Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures a great and a small But thou c. himself hath interpreted it a bigger and a less and as a Learned †Baynus in Prov. 20.10 Man hath farther observ'd a bigger to buy by and a less to sell by By means of which as there is not that equality in our Commerce which that most excellent Rule of Doing as we would be done by enjoyns so there is if not a prejudice to both Parties with whom we deal yet at least to him of whom we purchase the bigger to be sure being greater than the just Standard and consequently taking more from him than either Justice or our own Contract doth allow The same is much more to be said of deceitful Weights and Measures that is to say of those which are less than their due proportion as because they do manifestly withdraw as much from the Buyer as the Weight or Measure which it wants amounts to so because the Scripture doth frequently and earnestly express its detestations of such Practices For beside those Places in the Proverbs which though simply yet roundly affirm that a false Balance is an abomination to the Lord we find God expressing a more than ordinary displeasure against his own People for such like Injustices in their Dealings For Hear this saith God Amos 8.4 O ye that swallow up the needy even to make the poor of the land to fail saying When will the New-moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat making the Ephah small and the Shekel great falsifying the Balances by deceit The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob Surely I will never forget any of their works Agreeable hereunto is that of Micah and cuts off from such Persons all pretences of Purity which yet many of them have the hardiness to lay claim to chap. 6.10 and so on Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant Measure which is abominable Shall I count them pure with the wicked Balances and with the bag of deceitful Weights Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee in making thee desolate because of thy sins Add hereunto 3. Thirdly for the affinity it hath with the former the making use of false Lights or other such like Artifices to disguise the thing they sell they who do so picking the Pockets of those they deal with because taking Money of them for such Commodities as were it not for their Disguises they would not have bought at all or at least not have paid such Rates as they demand as being no way recompenc'd by their Purchases 4. Of the same nature is fourthly though little consider'd by those that practise it The wearying a Man out of his own with unjust Vexations For inasmuch as Theft considered in its due Latitude is nothing else than the taking away of that which is anothers without his will or consent he that shall by any vexation put a Man upon a necessity of parting with that which is really his is as verily a Thief as he who sliely nims any thing out of his House yea though as Ahab was he should be dispos'd to give him a Valuable Consideration for it which yet few such Persons are inclin'd to do The taking of one thing for another being then onely a lawful Contract when it is with the free consent of the Party from whom we take it which is not to be suppos'd there where a Man is compell'd to it by force and violence But so also is 5. Fifthly The exacting or taking of immoderate Vse for Money lent For I say not the same of taking Use in it self howsoever heretofore Men have been otherwise perswaded For beside that there is no more real Injustice in taking Money for the Use of Money than there is in taking it for the Use of a Man's House or Land during the time wherein another enjoys it Money though it perish not in the Use as House and Land does yet for so long time as it is out of the Owners hands perishing to him who might otherwise have made an advantage of it Beside secondly that there appears not any the least shadow of forbidding it in the Books of the New Testament no not in those Places where Avarice and the like Crimes are censured He that shall consult the Law of Moses where Usury is forbidden and by the notion whereof we ought in reason to judge of the nature of it in other places will find no other Usury forbidden than that which is taken of a poor man and whom a Man ought therefore rather to give to than take any thing from as is evident from Exod. 22.25 and Lev. 25.36 For as for that place in Deut. ch 23.19 where it is simply and plainly affirm'd Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother it is in reason being onely a Repetition of the former Laws as that whole Book of Deuteronomy is to be limited by the former and consequently the Poor to be understood He who repeats a thing for the most part contenting himself with a rude and imperfect Account as supposing such an one enough to recall the thing into Mens minds but however leaving no place for doubt but that that which he models his Repetition by especially if more full is to be the Interpreter of his Words To say nothing at all at present though it might be reasonably enough insisted on that our Case is not the same with that of the Jews who were forbidden all Commerce with other Nations which we are not onely no way forbidden but in a manner under a necessity of For such a Commerce being not to be maintain'd without a proportionable Purse which that of professed Merchants cannot be supposed to be there is a kind of necessity toward the carrying of it on that they should borrow of other Men and of equity too because advantaging themselves with their Money to make them a reasonable Compensation for it But as immoderate Vse which what it is the Law of the Place is the best Judge hath no such thing to plead for it self so I doubt not to reckon it among those Thefts which are forbidden by this Commandment That Usury which is above the due proportion being the proper Right of the Borrower and consequently not to be taken by the Lender without infringing of his Property or that I may speak more
calls upon the Colossians that they should teach and admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs Col. 3.16 it is evident from severall Passages in 1 Corinth 14. that it was a great part of their Publick Service Thus when the Apostle vers 15. and so on says I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks he plainly supposeth because speaking all along of their Assemblies that the Blessing and Praising God in a Song was a part of the Publick Service at them In like manner when he saith vers 26. How is it then Brethren when ye come together every one hath a Psalm a Doctrine and a Tongue c. Let all things be done to edifying though he finds fault with the disorderly performance of those several Duties yet he supposeth them to be Duties because prescribing Rules for the right ordering of them From the Times of the Apostles pass we to those that immediately succeeded where we shall find yet more express Testimonies of this being a part of their Lord's-day Service For thus Pliny * Lib. 10. Ep. 97. Adfirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quod essent soliti state die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem giving an Account of what the Christians did upon the Set-day of their Assemblies which as was before shewn could be no other than the Lord's-day tells us from the mouth of some of themselves That it was among other things to say one with another by turns a Song or Hymn to Christ as unto God thereby not onely shewing that to have been a part of their Publick Service but as a Learned †Ham. Pres to Annot. on the Psalms Man hath well observ'd confirming that way of alternate Singing which is still in use in the Church of England Neither is Pliny alone in this Testimony either as to the Singing of Hymns upon that Day or Singing Hymns unto Christ as God For as Tertullian expresly reckons the Singing of Psalms among the Lord's-day Solemnities so Eusebius ‖ Eccl. Hist lib. 5. c. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alledges against those who deny'd the Divinity of our Saviour certain Psalms and Songs written anciently by the Brethren wherein they magnified Christ as God It is true indeed he saith not in that place that they were sung in the Church which may seem to render that Testimony so much the more defective But as it is evident from Tertullian * Apol. c. 39. Post aquam manualem lumina ut quisque de Scripturis sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest provocatur in medium deo canere that Men were invited to sing in their Assemblies as well their own Compositions as those of Scripture so Eusebius elsewhere ‖ Eccl. Hist lib. 7. c. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives us plainly to understand that the Psalms before spoken of were sung in their Assemblies He there charging Paulus Samosaetenus with causing them to cease and Songs in honour of himself to be sung in the Church For how could Paulus Samosatenus cause those Songs to cease unless they had been publickly sung or what likelihood is there if they had not been so that he would have introduc'd Songs concerning himself I will conclude this Particular with that famous Canon of the Council of Laodicea * Can. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where the Canonical Books of Scripture are enumerated For forbidding as it doth the use of such private Psalms in the Church it shews them to have been before in use and much more that the Singing unto God was But of all the Religious Exercises wherewith the Christian Sabbath was to be celebrated there is certainly none which hath more to be said for it than the Administration of the Lord's Supper that real Thanksgiving and Praise of the Almighty for the Blessings of the Creation but more particularly for the Death of our Saviour For as we find it to have been the Attendant of the Publick Assemblies of the Christians both in the Acts and in the First Epistle to the Corinthians so to be so much a part of the Lord's-days Business as to be set to denote the whole St. Luke Acts 20.7 making the end of the Disciples meeting together upon the First day of the Week to be to break Bread that is to say as the Syriack interprets it the Bread of the Eucharist Agreeable hereto is that of Pliny * Ibid. Seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati negarent in the Testimony so often produc'd he there telling us That upon the Set-day spoken of before they oblig'd themselves by a Sacrament not to any wickedness but that they would not commit Thefts 〈◊〉 â—â—ries Adulteries c. Which as hath been before shewn 〈…〉 be understood of any other than the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we know to be an Obligation to that purpose And though it be true that Tertullian makes no mention of it in his Apologetick probably because it was not his purpose to make known the manner of it to the Heathen lest the misunderstanding of it should bring it into contempt yet as in his Book de Coronâ militis ‖ Cap. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore victus omnibus mandatum à Domino etiam antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quà m praefidentium sumimus he mentions it as a part of the Business of those Assemblies before day whereof we have mention in Pliny so Justin Martyr †Vid. Apol. 2. loco prius citato not onely mentions it as a part of the Lord's-day Service but describes the Manner of the Celebration of it From all which put together it is evident I do not say how much we have departed from the Devotion of the Apostles Times and those that succeeded but even from the due Observation of that Day which we pretend to keep as Holy unto the Lord. PART V. An History of the due Observation of the Lord's-day both in Private and Publick Where among other things is shewn the Excellency of our Churches Service and with what Affections it ought to be intended the unsuitableness of Fasting to so joyful a Solemnity and the great inconvenience that must necessarily ensue from the not relaxing of our Intentions In fine The both necessity and benefit of Meditating upon what we have heard and applying it to our own Souls That the Visiting and Comforting of the Sick and Distressed the Reconciling of Parties that are at variance and the begetting or maintaining Friendship by kind and neighbourly Entertainments are no improper Offices of the
perhaps it may be that many of those execrations relate to the enemies of Christ particularly those last mentioned For beside that it is evident enough from the Psalms themselves that they were also designed against Davids enemies the story of the Gospel shews that our blessed Saviour who ought rather to be our pattern prayed even for those very enemies for those that gave him gall to eat and vinegar to drink His own words as S. Luke tells us being Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23.34 In conformity to which example as no doubt we ought to proceed who are so often required to set it before our eyes so if we take a view of his Precepts we shall find them to injoin us the same tenderness wherein he went before us by his example Thus Mat. 5.44 we have his own express command to bless those that curse us his Apostle S. Paul's Rom. 12.14 that we should bless and curse not Lastly thus we find him himself checking his Disciples for having a desire to imitate Elias his zeal in calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans and moreover insinuating to them that the Spirit of a Disciple ought to be far different from that of Elias Luke 9.55 And accordingly saving that Prayer of S. Paul concerning Alexander the Coppersmith The Lord reward him according to his works 2 Tim. 4.14 and that other of S. Peter's concerning Simon Magus That his money might perish with him Act. 8.20 which yet he seems afterwards to recal when he admonishes him to repent and pray to God if perhaps that thought of his heart might be forgiven him saving I say those prayers the former whereof was against one who had greatly withstood S. Paul's preaching the later against him who offer'd the Apostles money for the Holy Ghost I think we shall hardly meet with any of that nature throughout the whole New Testament Which is to me an evident argument that the loving of enemies and praying for them that curse is at least required of us in a greater degree than it was under the Law But not to confine my self to this single vertue when there is appearance enough that the like is required in all I shall desire any man that doubts of it to consider with me these 3. things 1. That the Precepts of Christ are much more clear and explicit than those of Moses 2. That the promises are more clearly proposed and 3. and lastly That God hath eased us of the yoke of the Ceremonial Law Of the first of these as there cannot well be made a doubt by any that shall compare the Law and the Gospel together so neither hath it I think been actually done by any and therefore instead of insisting upon the proof of it I shall make this inference from it that God exacts of us a more perfect conformity than he required of those under the Old Testament For as the publication of a Law makes it obligatory to those to whom that publication is made so consequently the more clear the publication is the greater the obligation must be Of the second particular there can yet less doubt be made even of the promises of the Gospel being more clearly proposed by it it being harder to find that there were any such then than any so clear and express And therefore as the Socinians do now generally deny it so we find the like to have been done by the Sadducees of old wherein though it is true they have erred and that grosly yet some of the texts they alledge do sufficiently prove that there is a clearer manifestation of them than before Witness that known affirmation of S. Paul 2 Tim. 1.10 where speaking of the Gospel he tells us that it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by it In fine the same S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 3. that there was a veil upon Moses writings as well as there sometime was upon his face but that that veil is done away in Christ and we may now with open face behold the Glory of the Lord and that Glory which he hath laid up for us Now if the promises of the Gospel as well as the Precepts thereof were more clear than those of Moses the motives to obedience as well as the rule of it our conformity thereto is in reason to be proportionably greater than that to which the Jews were tyed To all which if we add that God hath now eased us of the yoke of the Ceremonial Law which the Jews though they were not able to bear yet were forced to stand under so no doubt can remain of a stricter obligation upon us to those most excellent Precepts of the Moral gratitude it self requiring that we who are eased of a heavy yoke should the more quietly submit our necks to a light and gracious one Now though what hath been said doth sufficiently evidence that Christ came not to destroy but fulfil the Law and the Prophets in the most proper notion of the word yet because it hath been thought by some that the granting of that would inferr the Law of Moses to have been imperfect before I put a period to this discourse I will free my doctrine from that imputation and so much the rather because the charge of imperfection would in fine fall upon the Author of it In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is that it is no crime at all to affirm it to have been imperfect if compared with the doctrine of our Saviour that which is less perfect being sometimes as seasonable as at other times a more perfect one But 2. I say that Law is not presently â—o be thought imperfect which doth not enjoyn the highest pitch of vertue It is enough if it be suited to the ability and temper of those for the regulation of whom it was devised And therefore as one made answer when it was demanded of him whether he had given such Laws as were absolutely the best that he had given the best Laws he could find out for those who were to be governed by them so shall I say concerning the Laws of God by Moses If they were the very best that people was capable of to whom they were given if they were the best for that time and State they were as perfect as any Law need to be because wanting nothing that was required But doth any thing that I have said charge the Law of Moses with not being the best that people was capable of nay have I not already shown that in regard to the hardness of their hearts God was fain to remit something in the matter of divorce For whereas at the first God tyed man and wife by a bond which nothing but Adultery could dissolve for the hardness of the Jews hearts as our Saviour tells us he was forced to remit of that severity and suffer
not that by this means the faith of Christ is manifestly discarded and they deny that in their opinions and assertions which in words they profess to believe For if my faith shall not carry me any farther than my own judgment doth it is a sign that is the thing that moveth me and that I walk rather by sight or to speak more properly by an over-weening conceit than by the conduct of a solid faith Either therefore let men bid defiance to Christianity as that honest Heathen did because they would believe nothing but what they could understand or let them give up their belief to the doctrines of it I do not say irrationally but without any immediate assent of their reason to the doctrines themselves For though the forementioned doctrines have not sufficient evidence to make them known yet they have reason enough to make them be believed it being the highest reason in the world to believe God especially concerning his own nature as who neither can deceive nor be deceived 3. Having thus given you an account of the extent of faith in God and moreover shewn how congruous or rather how essential it is to the oeconomy of the Gospel it remains only that I explain how we own God for ours by it For the evidencing whereof the first thing I shall alledge is our owning the truth of God by it For inasmuch as we neither do nor can give up our belief but where we are in some measure assured of the veracity of him whom we believe by believing whatsoever God affirms we apparently acknowledge him to be true and as it were set our seal to it But this is especially visible when we give up our assent to things unlikely and such which it may be have a greater appearance of falshood than truth because then there is nothing in the thing it self to engage our assent but on the contrary very much to stagger or supplant it Which notwithstanding therefore if our belief be firm and unshaken it is a sign that it hath a just apprehension of the veracity of the Almighty and receives it with an assent commensurate to its greatness so far as humane nature is able to proportion it Now though this be the only direct acknowledgment of the divine Majesty which the believing what he affirms presents him withall yet because what he affirms doth sometime require other Attributes to establish it hence it comes to pass that indirectly and by consequence we acknowledge those Attributes also For thus we acknowledge Gods power when like Abraham and the Virgin Mary we believe God in such things as are above the power of nature to produce such as are the making a barren woman to conceive by one who was equally unapt or a Virgin to conceive and bring forth a Son In like manner when we believe God assuring us that notwithstanding our many errours he will for the sake of his Son both pardon and accept us because that cannot have place without an excess of mercy in him that promiseth it we do by our belief give a testimony to that mercy of his upon which our pardon and acceptance doth depend Such are the wayes whereby our Vnderstanding gives proof of our owning the Lord for our God and therefore if we would have ours thought to do so we our selves must take the same course and not only endeavour to have a right apprehension of God but have him often in our thoughts and stedfastly believe whatsoever he affirms PART III. What it is to owne God in our Wills and in the proper or Elicite acts thereof This performed either by making Gods Glory the ultimate end of all our actions and acquiescing in it when obtained or making his will ours both in our Actions and Sufferings The former whereof imports our chusing to act agreeably to his will our making that will of his the ground of our choice and our delighting in it The latter our submitting to and embracing whatsoever he is pleased to lay upon us All the other powers of Soul and Body in some measure under the Empire of the Will for which cause it cannot be thought to discharge its own duty unless it incline them to own God for their God A discourse in the close concerning Trust in God wherein is shewn in what faculties it is seated what the nature thereof is and how we own God for our God by it BY what ways and after what manner we are to owne God in our Vnderstandings you have seen already let us in the next place enquire 2. What is due unto him from our Wills and how they ought to be constituted to owne him as our God For the resolution whereof we are to consider of the diverse acts of the Will which are either 1. Elicite or 2. Imperate that is to say such as proceed immediately from the Will or such as proceed immediately from some other power but are excited by the command of it The Elicite acts of the Will are again double according to the different objects about which they are employed For 1. Either they respect the end and are called volition or fruition or 2. The means as election and consent Now concerning each of these I shall enquire how they ought to be constituted so as that we may thereby owne the Lord for our God This only would be premised in the general that to owne God in our Wills is to conform them unto his that is to say to that which he Wills in himself or is the result of his Will concerning us For as the greatest testimony we can give of our subjection to another is the conforming our Wills to his the Will being of all the faculties the most free from the command of others and the most difficult to be brought to a compliance with them so nothing less than the greatest testimony of our subjection can be supposed to be due to God to whom we have so many reasons to submit our selves and particularly because our Wills are no less his than any other faculty All therefore that will be requisite for us to do will be to resume each of the acts before remembred and to shew both what Gods own volitions are and what he wills concerning us 1. I begin with the first of these even that of Volition whereby we will that which is the end which in the present case can be no other than the Glory of God and accordingly is the first thing we are taught to ask of God in the prayer of our Saviour For as God who is the supremest good cannot be thought to have any higher end than that of shewing forth his own glory whence it is that the Wise man affirms he hath made all things for himself Pro. 16.4 So being as was before observed to conform our Wills to that of God we are accordingly to make that glory of his the ultimate end of all our actions and be carried towards it with the utmost of our desires
prayeth more particularly that their whole spirit and soul and body might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ I conclude therefore and I think too with much greater force than the Psalmist does O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker For not onely is he our Maker as that holy Man suggests but our Redeemer and Sanctifier and that too of those very Bodies whose Reverence he requires 2. Of such outward Notes or Signs of Respect as terminate in the Body I have spoken hitherto and shewn our Obligation to them It remains only that we consider those to which though the Body is instrumental yet pass from thence to other things Such as is 1. The Building of Temples or Places of Worship to him whom we own for our God For though as St. Paul speaks God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing yet as the Custom of the World with the Approbation of God himself hath in all times led Men to erect such publick Places to him so it was no more than decency and a respect to the Divine Majesty prompted them to the doing of For though under the Gospel especially any Place be proper for Divine Worship because by the Tenor of it we are oblig'd to have a greater regard to the Thing it self than to the Circumstances thereof yet inasmuch as a Set place was requisite to the performance of it that so all the Worshippers of the Divine Majesty might know whither to resort inasmuch as it was but suitable to the Greatness of God that that Place which was appointed for his Publick Worship should be set apart from all common Uses lastly inasmuch as the appropriating of that Place to it was apt to imprint a Reverence of the Divine Majesty in those that resorted thither for these Reasons I say it seemed but requisite that he should have a Temple erected to him apart from the Places of more Common Uses And accordingly as before the Law they had their Altars and under the Law the Tabernacle that famous Temple at Jerusalem with Synagogues in their several Towns and Villages so it will be no hard matter to discern the like Places of Divine Worship in the first beginnings of Christianity As is evident from that known Passage of St. Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.22 What have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not For not onely speaking before of their coming together into one place but opposing the Church of God not to other Assemblies but to their own Houses and Places of abode he plainly sheweth his meaning to be not of the Assemblies themselves but of the Places wherein they conven'd And accordingly as Mr. Mede hath shewn * Churches that is Appropriate Places for Christian Worship that there were such Places in the following Ages and before the Emperours were Christians so he hath return'd a very satisfactory Answer to what is objected out of some ancient Writers concerning the Christians not having any Temples to wit That they meant Temples in the Heathen sense that is to say wherein the Deity was enclos'd as the Heathens to whom they thus answer'd suppos'd their own to be However it be there is reason enough in Nature for setting apart a certain Place for the Solemn Worship of God And accordingly when the Church had rest from Persecutions such Places were every where erected to him and the Christians declared their owning of the Lord for their God by it All that I shall add concerning this Head is that of Sir Edwin Sandys in his most excellent Piece entituled Europae Speculum That though the Ornaments of such places ought to be rather grave than pompous yet it could never sink into his heart that the Allowance for furnishing them out should be measur'd by the scant Rule of meer Necessity a proportion so low that Nature it self hath gone beyond it even in the most ignoble Creatures or that God had enrich'd this lower World with such wonderful variety of things beautiful and glorious that they might serve onely to the pampering of mortal Man in his Pride and that to the Service of the High Creator Lord and Giver the outward Glory of whose higher Palace may appear by the very Lamps which we see so far off burning so gloriously in it onely the simpler baser cheaper less noble less beautiful and less glorious things should be employ'd especially seeing even as in Princes Courts so in the Service of God also this outward State and Glory being well dispos'd doth engender quicken encrease and nourish the inward Reverence and respectful Devotion which is due unto so Sovereign a Majesty which those whom the use thereof cannot perswade would easily by the want of it be forc'd to confess Neither will it suffice to say as perhaps it may be by some Persons That that Cost might with much more advantage be employ'd upon the Poor those Living Temples of the Holy Ghost for though it be not to be deny'd that those ought more especially to be considered yet as it would be inquir'd Whether for the purposes of Charity a deduction might not be made from the Ornaments of our own Houses if our Estates cannot reach to the supplying of them both so also Whether the House of God ought not in this case to have the precedence of our own especially when God himself did sometime ask Whether it were time for the Israelites to dwell in cieled houses when his lay waste Hag. 1.4 2. But beside the Dedicating of Temples to his Honour whom we are commanded to own for our God it is no less requisite to that purpose that Solemn Times be set apart for the Publick Worship of God and that when they are so they should be as Religiously observ'd For as it may seem but a just Tribute to allot him a Portion of our Time from whom we have the Grant of the Whole so being so set apart it is but reasonable it should be appropriated to his Service and not as it too often is profaned by our own he that honoureth any Person naturally paying a Regard to whatsoever hath a relation to him But because this will fall in more seasonably when we come to entreat of the Fourth Commandment I will quit the prosecution of it at present and descend to a 3. Third Note of Respect which is the setting apart a sort of Men to wait at his Altar and perform the Publick Exercises of Religion nothing making any Person or Thing more cheap and vile than laying open the Offices that relate to it to the will of every Man that shall have the hardiness to invade them And accordingly as before the Law the Elder of the Family was
Priest as well as Prince as under the Law the Tribe of Levi was in their stead set apart for that Office so our Saviour to observe the same Method chose the Twelve out of his Disciples and Commission'd them and them onely to go and teach all Nations and baptize them into his most excellent Religion adding in the close of it That he would be with them to the end of the world Which being not to be understood of them in their own Persons because they are long since fallen asleep it remains we understand it of Persons Commissionated by them and so on to the present Age For all power as our Saviour affirms being given unto him and he Delegating the Ministerial one to those his Apostles whatsoever Power of that nature can be pretended to must derive it self from them unless in case of extreme necessity or an immediate Commission from Heaven And accordingly as the Apostles ordain'd Elders in every City and transferr'd that their Power upon others so the Chain of Succession hath been maintain'd by the same means without any considerable interruption till of late some have dared to invade it Which is so much the more to be wondred at because as no man among the Jews took that honour to himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron so the Author to the Hebrews who tells us so much adds Cap. 5.4 5. That even Christ glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Again 4. Fourthly As to own the Lord for our God it is requisite to set apart some Men to Minister before the Lord in the Congregation so is it much more when set apart to respect them highly for their Work sake and minister to them of the good things we enjoy For as next to the immediate dishonour of the Divine Majesty there cannot be a greater affront to him than to throw contempt upon those Persons whom he hath taken so nearly to himself so God-himself calls the defrauding them of their Maintenance the robbing of himself and moreover represents it as a Crime which even the Heathen did abhor as you may see Mal. 3.8 Neither let any Man say That this is to be understood onely of the Jewish Priests whose Maintenance as well as Function was immediately appointed by himself For as there is no doubt the Evangelical Priesthood is much dearer to him than the Legal and therefore what was said concerning the former to be à fortiori applicable to the latter so St. Paul tells us in his first Epistle to the Corinthians That like as they which waited at the Altar were by the command of God to be partakers with the Altar 1 Cor. 9.14 even so hath the Lord ordain'd that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 5. Lastly which may comprehend many of the former Acknowledgments and hath therefore this place assign'd it Toward the owning the Lord for our God it is requisite we should own him by the Liberality of our Hand or as the Book of Proverbs expresseth it Honour him with our Substance in token of having receiv'd it from him For this being grounded upon a natural Reason and beside that not onely an usual Testimony of Respect to Kings but a Respect that was sometime paid our Saviour by the Wise-men that came to worship him it may seem but reasonable to think that we are under the same Obligation especially when we find also the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament to have been tender'd as an Acknowledgment of God's Sovereignty over the World as well as of the Redemption of it by his Son The onely Question that can be made is To whom these Offerings do belong now Sacrifices are banish'd out of the Church But as that will not be difficult for him to resolve who shall reflect upon the fore-going Discourse so if we cannot find any other we have the Poor always at hand to whom whatsoever is this way done our Saviour tells us is as done unto himself and therefore also in some measure to the Divine Majesty Such is the having the Lord for our God as is here enjoyn'd such the Tribute that is due to him from our Souls and Bodies and Substance And happy they that shall so own him because they are assur'd of a reciprocal Acknowledgment and they shall be own'd as his People who have this Sovereign Lord for their God PART VII That we ought to own the God of Israel both as the True God and ours which is the Second Capital Precept and how that is to be performed The like inquir'd concerning the Third even The having no other Gods beside him Which is shewn to exclude first the substituting of any other in his room where the Heathens worshipping of the Host of Heaven Dead Men Beasts or Inanimate Creatures is noted and censured Secondly The receiving other Gods into Copartnership with him where the Papists Practice in Worshipping Saints and Angels is considered and reproved THAT we ought to have the One True God for our God hath been the Design of several Discourses to shew together with the Ways and Means by which we are to acknowledge him My proposed Method now leadeth me to evince II. That we are to look upon the God of Israel as such and to pay him the Acknowledgments before remembred But so that we are to go no further for a proof the Preamble to the Ten Commandments shews he who requireth us to have no other gods before him declaring himself in that Preamble to be that Lord which brought them out of the Land of Egypt The onely thing whereof there can be any doubt is What Grounds there are so to own the God of the Israelites and how those Acknowledgments ought to be circumstantiated to refer them unto him Neither the one nor the other whereof will be hard for him to resolve who doth but attentively consider them For as the Scriptures of the Old Testament furnish us with Arguments enough to believe the God of Israel to be the True witness those stupendious Miracles it declareth him to have effected and those holy and equitable Laws which he promulg'd so it is easie to see we shall then refer all our Acknowledgments to him when we pay them in obedience to those Scriptures by which he hath declar'd himself to the World For this will shew us not to worship an unknown and uncertain Deity as we find the Athenians and many other Heathens did but him who manifested himself to the Israelites in Egypt by many Signs and Wonders as afterwards by bringing them out with an high hand and by those Wonders which he shew'd upon Mount Sinai And having said thus much concerning the owning the One True God and the God of Israel I shall now proceed to III. The third and last thing contained in this Commandment even The not having any other gods
God's Designation and Appointment where is shewn first That they neither do nor can pretend to any Immediate Appointment as those of the Jews might but onely a mediate one And secondly That that Appointment is mark'd out to us by the Dispensations of his Providence which are moreover shewn to be a sufficient Testimony of it Evidence of that Appointment in such Princes as arrive at their Authority by the ordinary Course of Things or such as arrive at it by extraordinary Means and particularly by Fraud and Violence By what Means these last become legitimate Powers and particularly by what Means the Roman Emperours came to be so Of the sorts of Honour which are to be paid to Princes which are shewn as before in Parents to be 1. An Inward Esteem of them and 2. An Outward Declaration of it This latter evidenc'd in the Declaration that is made by the Gesture and by the Tongue where moreover is shewn at large the Sinfulness of speaking evil of Princes even where there want not real Failings in them IT being evident from the general Explication of this Commandment that Kings and all that are in Authority are included in the Name of Fathers and it being no less evident from St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.17 that the Honour of Kings is a part of Christianity for the fuller Explication of this Commandment I will allot them a place in my Discourse and therein inquire 1. What the Grounds of Honouring Kings or Princes are 2. What Honours are to be exhibited to them 3. Answer the Objections that are commonly made for the denial of those Honours and particularly that of Submission to their Censures 4. After which I will descend in the fourth place to consider of the Honour of Inferiour Magistrates and shew upon what Grounds and after what Manner and Measure that Honour is to be paid 5. And lastly Speak a Word or two of their Duty 1. Honour as was before shewn being nothing else than an Acknowledgment of his Excellencies whom we honour to know what the ground of the Honour of Princes is we must enquire what those Excellencies are by which they stand commended to the world In order whereunto I know not what shorter course to take than by having recourse to the 13. Chapter to the Romans where this matter is both largely and perspicuously handled For exhorting both once and again that every Soul should be subject to them and that too not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake the Apostle assigns for the reason of that subjection that they are men of Power or Authority that they are invested with that Authority by God that they are appointed by him over those that are under their subjection that they are Gods Ministers and Vicegerents in the governance of them that they have both Authority and Command to reward and encourage the good and to draw out the Sword of Justice against Evil doers from all which put together it is evident that the ground for which a Prince is to be honoured is that he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent here on Earth and of his designation and appointment For the further evidencing the former whereof as in which it concerns us to be well satisfied in regard of some evil Opinions that have been lately opposed to it the first thing that I shall alledge is Gods giving them his own August name For thus Exod. 22.28 after he had said Thou shalt not revile the Gods to let us know what Gods he means he subjoins in the next words nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy people But so we find them elsewhere more apparently stil'd Psal 82.6 For as his words there are express I have said ye are Gods so it is apparent from the whole Psalm that they are Princes to whom he thus speaketh such to whom it belongs to judge the causes that are brought before them to do justice to the afflicted and needy by defending and delivering them and ridding them out of the hand of the wicked Which Offices though they may and for the most part are communicated to Inferiour Magistrates and particularly to those that have the name of Judges yet as they are originally in the Prince by whom they are so communicated and executed in his Name and by his Authority so that they are a part of his natural Power Solomon shews 1 Kings 3.7.9 he upon Gods making him King in the stead of David his Father begging of him that he would give him an understanding heart to judge his people and to discern between good and bad And accordingly as we find Solomon himself in consequence of the Royal Authority giving judgment between the two Harlots that contended for the Living Child vers 27 28. of the forequoted Chapter so that the Kings of England heretofore sat personally in judgment is notorious from Story and the Bench whereon they sat for that very reason stiled to this day The Vpper or Kings Bench. But beside that Princes have the name of God which is no contemptible indication of their being his Substitutes and Vicegerents we find moreover that God judgeth among them yea that their Throne is no other than Gods For thus what is in 1 Kings 2.12 Then Solomon sat upon the Throne of David his Father is elsewhere expressed Then Solomon sat upon the Throne of the Lord as King instead of David his Father 1 Chro. 29.23 And which comes yet more home to our purpose what was said by Jehosaphat to the Judges he had appointed that they judged not for man but for the Lord 2 Chron. 19.6 for what greater proof can we desire of Princes being Gods Substitutes and Vicegerents than the bearing of his name and sitting in his Throne and that they who judge for and under them judge not for Man but for the Lord Neither will it avail to say that how true soever this may have been of the Kings of Judah which had sometime the Title of a Theocraty yet the like cannot be affirmed of other Princes For as it is apparent enough that they were not such at the time of their Kings God himself having told Samuel that when they went about to desire a King they rejected him from being King over them and the Word of God that they both desired and had a King after the manner of other Nations So what is in the Old Testament affirm'd of the Jewish Kings St. Paul sticks not to affirm of the powers that then were where he calls them the Ministers of God But from hence it will follow whatever hath been pretended to the contrary that Princes do not derive the power they have from the people For if they be Gods Ministers it is his Authority by which they shine neither have they any other Fountain of their Power than that * Irenae l. 5. c. 24. Cujus enim jussu homines nascuntur hujus jussu reges constituuntur Tertul. Apol. c. 30. Inde est imperator unde h
Jews and if not in what That it appertains not to us in the same manner and measure is evident first from hence that it particularly refers to the Land of Canaan the Promise being not onely of a long and happy Life but of a long and happy Life in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee which we know to have been the Land of Canaan Whence it is that the Septuagint which oftentimes act the part rather of Paraphrasts than strict Translators add to the Name of Land the Title of Good which we know from Deut. 8.7 to have been the peculiar Elogie of the Land of Canaan Now forasmuch as the Land of Canaan was particularly promis'd to the Jews forasmuch as it doth not appear that it was ever intended for Christians nor was capable of containing the thousandth part of those who have or do give obedience to this Commandment it follows that so far at least we have no concernment in the Promise and must therefore look out for other ways of the completion of it But so St. Paul gives us plainly enough to understand in the place before quoted out of the Ephesians that Apostle though he represent the Promise yet * Ephes 6.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leaving out that Clause of it which the Lord thy God giveth thee But neither is it less evident but that abstracting from the Land of Canaan the Jews to whom it was first made had a far greater Title to it if it be strictly and literally understood partly because those earthly Promises which were made unto the Jews were not clogg'd with those Exceptions which we find those of the New Testament to be and partly because they are represented by the Writers of it and particularly by St. Paul as the Shadows of those things to come which the Gospel exhibited Which reason alone if well considered will be found to make a great difference between the Times of the Law and the Gospel For the Substance being come it was but reasonable to think the Shadow was to disappear or at least not so to prevail as it did before the appearing of it All therefore that remains to inquire is in what manner and measure this and other such Promises are to be constru'd to appertain to us and what kind of Completion we are to expect Where first no doubt can be made that this and other such like Promises appertain to us in the Mystery or Substance For the Gospel proposing to exhibit that of which the Law was a Type or Shadow those Temporal Promises which the Law propos'd must consequently be suppos'd to be fulfill'd in the Mystery or Substance to all those which are under its Oeconomy Which by the way will not onely confirm the truth of those Promises belonging to us but moreover take off from those discontents we are apt to conceive upon the difference there often is between us and the Jews as to Temporal Promises The former because the main Intendment of all Symbolical things is the Mystery which is represented under them the latter because exhibiting a more substantial Good though less apparent than that which the Law doth For what just ground of complaint can there be if the Gospel though it provide not alike for our Temporal welfare yet provides much more for our Spiritual one and exhibits the Substance of that of which the other had but the Shadow Which said nothing remains to do but to point out the Mystery or Substance of those Earthly Promises which were by God in this Commandment made to the Honourers of their Parents But such is first Heaven in respect of that Land which was to be the Seat of their Life who among the Jews were due Observers of this Commandment the Author to the Hebrews not onely stiling it a better and a heavenly Country in respect of the Land of Promise but affirming moreover that Abraham and Sarah look'd through that Land of Promise to the Heavenly Country and set up their Rest in it and in that City which God hath there prepar'd which shews that this Heavenly Country was figur'd in the Land of Promise and consequently to be bestow'd upon all such under the Gospel who should shew themselves faithful Observers of this Commandment The Mystery will be yet more easie to be discovered as to the residue of that Promise which is here made to the Religious Honourers of their Parents For as in order to that nothing more can be necessary than to instance in such Evangelical Blessings as bear a perfect resemblance to the promis'd ones an Antitype being nothing else either in the Literal or Christian sense than that which bears the same Signatures with its Type so it will be no hard matter to point out such of the Evangelical Blessings as do exactly accord with those which the Law promised For as that Heavenly Country which the Gospel promiseth hath not onely the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Patria but our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Citizenship affirmed to be there Phil. 3.20 because as is elsewhere affirm'd that New Birth which we have is from thence and our Original is not Earthly but Heavenly so correspondently to that long and happy Life which the Law proposeth we have the promise of a Life which doth infinitely surpass it in both because devoid of any thing which may interrupt our Happiness and beside that not onely simply long but of such a duration as shall never have an end From the Blessings typified by Earthly Promises pass we to those Earthly ones themselves and inquire whether or no and how far they appertain to us Christians For the resolution of the former whereof we shall not be long to seek because so distinctly stated by St. Paul he expresly affirming 1 Tim. 4.8 That Godliness hath the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come The onely thing of difficulty is in what measure they belong to us which accordingly I come now to resolve In order whereunto the first thing I shall offer is That however the Jews might expect a perfect Completion of them upon the performance of their Duty yet the like is not to be expected by us as being propos'd with an exception of Persecution Our Saviour where he makes the largest Promise of things of that nature yet forgetting not to add that Allay to it 'T is in Mark 10.29 30. And Jesus answered and said Verily I say unto you there is no man that hath lest house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life From which place as it is manifest that a Christian may be sometime oblig'd to part with all Earthly Blessings so that though he may hope to retrive them with
Reason of his Fact onely the tediousness of the Journey to Jerusalem and moreover representing his Calves as the gods that brought them out of the land of Egypt which was a known Periphrasis of the God of Israel And accordingly though Jehu who was one of his Successors departed not from the sin of Jeroboam as the Scripture observes of him 2 Kings 10.29 yet is his zeal in the destruction of Baal's Priests stil'd by himself a zeal for the Lord ver 16. and which is of much more consideration he himself intimated by the Scripture to have walked in the law of the Lord God of Israel save onely in the matter of the calves ver 31. of the same Which could in no wise be affirm'd if he and those of his Sect had renounc'd the God of Israel and worshipp'd either the Calves themselves or some Foreign Deity in them To all which if we add That Ahab is said to have offended more heinously than all that went before him because serving Baal and worshipping him 1 Kings 16.31 so we shall not in the least doubt but that the setting up of the Calf was intended onely to worship the True God in it For wherein had the great aggravation of Ahab's sin been if they that were before him had worshipp'd either the Calf it self or some of the Heathen Gods in it The onely thing remaining to be shewn is That their Worship of the Calves was Idolatry which will be no very hard Task to evince For though their Worship is no where expresly stil'd so yet are they call'd Idols which is enough to make the Worship of them Idolatry But so that they are that of Hosea is an abundant Testimony chap. 13.4 For having premis'd the Israelites making them molten images of their silver and idols according to their own understanding all of them the work of the craftsmen to let us know what Idols he means he subjoyns They say of them Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves Forasmuch therefore as the Calves were no other than Idols forasmuch as one Egg cannot be more like unto another than the Calves of Jeroboam were to that of Aaron it must needs be because they were such and the Worshipping that of Aaron reputed Idolatry that that of Jeroboam's was so also and consequently that it is Idolatry to worship even the True God in an Image Two things there are which are commonly alledg'd against the foregoing Arguments to prove the Idolatry of the Israelites not to have had the True God for its Object 1. That what they sacrific'd to their Idols they are said to sacrifice to devils and not to God And 2. That the Prophets are frequent in inculcating That the Gods they worshipp'd were gold and silver that they could neither see nor hear nor understand which may seem to import their looking upon the Images themselves as Gods And indeed if onely one of these things had been objected possibly it might have serv'd in some measure to shroud an evil Cause but urging them both they do but help to destroy it because urging such things as taken in the strictness of the Letter are inconsistent with each other For if the Israelites worshipp'd Evil Spirits in all their Images then did they not worship the Images themselves and if they held the Images themselves for Gods then did they not worship Evil Spirits in them The onely thing remaining to be said is That some Images they look'd upon as Gods themselves and others as Representations of Evil Spirits both of which being granted will contribute little to the proving any thing against us For nothing hinders all this while but they might look upon some Images and particularly upon the Calves as Representations of the God of Israel But let us a little more particularly consider both the one and the other Allegation and see how little force there is in either It is alledg'd out of Deuteronomy chap. 32.17 That they sacrific'd unto devils and not to God But doth it follow from thence that they did so in sacrificing to Aaron's Calf when there is not onely no particular mention of it but it is also sufficiently known that they worshipp'd many of the Heathen Deities besides But be it that the Calf of Aaron were there included as well as their other Idols Yet will it follow from thence that they directly and intentionally worshipp'd an Evil Spirit in them For may not a Man serve the Devil unless after the Custom of the Indians he fall down and worship him But how then could the Widows that forsook the Faith be said to be turned after Satan for onely breaking that Faith they had plighted unto God Beside when the Devil is consessedly the Author and Promoter of all false Worship what impropriety is there in affirming those who comply with his Suggestions in it to sacrifice rather to him than to God whom they design to honour Otherwise what shall we say to reconcile what the Scripture in several places affirmeth concerning the Idols of the Heathen to wit That what the Gentiles sacrifice to Idols they sacrifice to Devils and not to God for so St. Paul tells us and again That the gods of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands as the Psalmist It being impossible that both should be true in the Letter and therefore a Qualification to be admitted The onely thing therefore to be accounted for is the Scriptures so often inculcating That their Idols were but Silver and Gold that they could not either see or hear or understand which may seem to import that the Hebrews look'd upon the Images themselves as Gods But neither will this serve their turn or enervate the Conclusion before laid down because it is certain 1. They worshipp'd the Host of Heaven and erected Images to them It is no less certain 2. That the Heathen who are in like manner charg'd with the same sottish Worship look'd upon not their Images but several Dead Men as Gods whom they represented by them From both which put together it is manifest That when we find both the one and the other faulted for making Gold and Silver their Gods as those Gold and Silver Gods again decry'd for not being able to see or hear or understand we are to understand thereby that they dealt foolishly not in looking upon their Images as Gods for this few or none were so sottish as to believe but for thinking such Representations as those to be either proper Representations of the Divine Nature or fit Passports of his Worship which could neither see nor hear nor understand What remains then especially since God hath both licenc'd and commanded us so to do but that we go immediately to himself but that we fall down and kneel not before his Image but before the Lord our Maker or if we will needs worship him in an Image but that we worship him in his Son who is the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person So doing we shall be so far from dishonouring the Great God of Heaven that we shall on the other side do him actual Honour in it because he is not onely the perfect Image of the Father but of the same Divine Nature with himself Having thus shewn from the Scriptures the unlawfulness of worshipping the True God by an Image and that too as well from those of the New Testament as of the Old I should now according as the Superstitions of the Church of Rome lead me proceed to consider the Worship of the Images of Christ as also of the Images of his Saints Onely to shew the Worship of God by an Image to be as much a breach of the Law of Nature as of that of Scripture and the better to plain my way to that which follows I shall subjoyn a Reason drawn from Natures Law concerning the Worship of God by an Image It is commonly suggested by the Papists when they know not what else to say That though they pass their Worship through the Image yet they terminate it not there and do what they do to the Image not for it self but in Honour of him whose Image it is I will not now say because I have said it often enough already That such Images of God are unlawful in themselves and a dishonour to the Divine Majesty which they are intended to represent From whence it will follow not onely that they ought not to have any Respect whatsoever for his sake whom they represent but that for his sake they ought to be rejected and condemn'd That which I shall insist upon is That * See Dr. Taylor 's Ductor Dubit ubi supra the Worship which is given to the Image is either different from and so less than it or the same numerical Worship with that of him it represents If the Worshipper gives a different and consequently a less Worship he doth not worship God in the Image but his Worship such as it is is terminated in the Image and then cometh not into this Inquiry as being no more than loving a Picture for Lesbia 's sake or valuing a Pendant for her sake that gave it me and must be estimated according to its excess or temper and according to the Will of the Person it relates to For as if the Person I respect should signifie her dislike of that which I set a value upon and particularly of some Picture wherein it may be she hath little right done her as I say in that case I should shew but little respect to her by prizing that which she professeth to dislike so must they be thought to shew little regard of God who set any value upon his Image both because all Images do but dishonour his most excellent Nature and because he hath declar'd his own detestation of them But if by the Image a Man means to worship God as the Papists both profess and practise and pass his Worship through that to what it represents then he gives to both the same Worship and consequently is guilty of Idolatry because giving that Worship to an Image of God which is truly and properly Divine Neither will it suffice to say as I find it is by the Papists That what is done to the Image is for the sake of him it represents and consequently doth still set God above them according to that known Maxim in Logick Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud est magis tale For first of all still it will remain for certain that Divine Worship is given to the Image which is downright Idolatry and expresly forbidden by the Almighty where he saith That he will not give his honour to another neither his praise to graven images I say secondly That though by giving worship to the Image for the sake of him it represents they may seem to set him above the Image yet they do he challengeth to himself alone to that which is confessedly but an Image of him I say thirdly That when it is affirm'd Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud est magis tale it is to be suppos'd to hold onely where there is a magis minus which is not in the present Case the Divine Nature and consequently the Divine Worship which is but a just esteem of it and expression of that esteem admitting of no Degrees for if it be less than the Highest it is not Divine Either therefore let them say or rather shew by their Practice that they give not Divine Honour to an Image or let them confess withal that they are guilty of downright Idolatry which is that we are endeavouring to prove For as for their assigning their doing of it to be for the sake of him it represents it makes nothing at all for the clearing of them For as he who thus answers confesseth he gives Divine Honour to an Image and onely tells us in what manner he doth it so either that Manner doth destroy the Thing and then it is not Divine Worship that is given or it doth not destroy the Thing and then for all the distinctions it is idolatry Lastly If as they say there be but one Motion of the Soul to the Image and that of which it is one it must consequently be granted That more cannot be given to the one than the other by it because one Act cannot be susceptible of both and therefore also either that God must have less Honour than he should or the Image have the same Divine Honour with the Almighty But concerning this matter as I think I shall not need to add more to prove the Worshipping of God by an Image to be Idolatry so if any desire further satisfaction I shall refer them to Dr. Taylor 's Cases of Conscience where this Question is so fully and accurately handled that no Man unprejudic'd can go away in the least unsatisfied To go on now according to our proposed Method to entreat of the Worship of other Images and first of all because he stands between both or rather is both God and Man of the Images of Christ Concerning which I shall no way doubt to affirm 1. That such Images may be lawfully enough made because he assum'd a Nature into the Unity of the Divine Person which is capable of being depicted or engrav'd 2. I shall not stick to grant secondly That an Image of Christ especially as hanging upon the Cross may serve to excite in us a just apprehension of his bitter Sufferings and by that means of his immense Love who stoop'd so low as to undergo them Nor yet 3. But that they may be so far regarded for his sake whom they represent as not onely not to be defac'd where they are not abus'd by Idolatry but have a place where they are admitted among our choicest things of that nature All these things I say no sober Man ever did or can deny to be free from offending against this Law of God or any other The onely