us by the decree of God and it is unalterably certain that every believer must do good works or his believing will signifie little nay more than so every man must be careful to do good works and more yet he must carefully maintain them that is not do them by fits and interrupted returns but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them to dwell upon them to maintain good works that is to persevere in them But I am yet but in the general be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations 1. No mans sins are pardoned but in the same measure in which they are mortified destroyed and taken away so that if faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie it never can procure our pardon And therefore it is that as soon as ever faith in the Lord Jesus was preached at the same time also they preached repentance from dead works in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first Principles of Christianity nay the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the faith of Christ. And I pray consider can there be any forgivness of sins without repentance But if an Apostle should preach forgiveneâ—s to all that believe and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus a device to get togethâ—r all the wicked people of the world and to make them happy without any change of manners Christ came to other purposes he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word the word of faith was not for it self but was a design of holiness and the very grace of God did appear for this end that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live holily justly and soberly in this present World he came to gather a People together not like Davids army when Saul pursued him but the armies of the Lord a faithful people a chosen generation and what is that The Spirit of God adds a People zealous of good works Now as Christ prov'd his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans palsie because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed so the great act of justification of a sinner the pardoning of his sins is then only effected when the spiritual evil is taken away that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon when God takes away the hardness of the heart the love of sin the accursed habit the evil inclination the sin that doth so easily beset us and when that is gone what remains within us that God can hate Nothing stayes behind but Gods creation the work of his own hands the issues of his holy Spirit The faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it destroyes the whole body of sin and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner whom he doth not also purge and râ—scue from the dominion of sin is to affirm that he justifies the wicked that he calls good evil and evil good that he delights in a wicked person that he makes a wicked man all one with himself that he makes the members of a harlot at the same time also the members of Christ. But all this is impossible and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Faith ingrafts us into Christ by faith we are inserted into the vine but the plant that is ingrafted must also be parturient and fruitful or else it shall be quite cut off from the root and thrown into the everlasting burning And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of faith The just shall live by Faith No man shall live by faith but the just man he indeed is justified by faith but no man else the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter That 's the first great consideration in this affair no man is justified in the least sense of justification that is when it means nothing but the pardon of sins but when his sin is mortified and destroyed 2. No man is actually justified but he that is in some measure sanctified For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know that justification when it is attributed to any cause does not alwayes signifie justification actual Thus when it is said in Scripture We are justified by the death of Christ it is but the same thing as to say Christ dyed for us and he rose again for us too that we might indeed be justified in due time and by just measures and dispositions he dyed for our sins and rosâ— again for our justification that is by his death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power and effected this mercy that if we believe him and obey we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon of grace and of salvation appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified For so saith the Scripture We when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that is then was our Justification wrought on Gods part that is then he intended this mercy to us then he resolved to shew us favour to give us Promises and Laws and Conditions and hopes and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation and when faith layes hold on this Grace and this Justification then we are to do the other part of it that is as God made it potential by the death and resurrection of Christ so we laying hold on these things by Faith and working the Righteousness of Faith that is performing what is required on our parts we I say make it actual and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are mark'd out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dy to sin daily and are so made conformable to his death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of
I shall enter no further upon this inquiry only I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently and inquired Where is your Church of England since you have no Unity for your Ecclesiastick head of Unity your Bishops are gone And if we should be desirous to verify their argument so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy We should too much advantage Popery and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world But blessed be God who hath restored that Government for which our late King of glorious memory gave his blood And that me thinks should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom For my part I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr S. Cyprian Si quis cum Episcopo non sit in Ecclesia non esse He that is not with the Bishop is not in the Church that is he that goes away from him and willingly separates departs from Gods Church and whether he can then be with God is a very material consideration and fit to be thought on by all that think Heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction and the importune desire of rule can countervail However I have in the following papers spoken a few things which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudiced and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal only that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand and are born together only every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can by humility and love by prayer and by Obedience It is at the best very difficult but they who oppose themselves to Government make it harder and uncomfortable But take heed if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking thou wilt be the loser And for us we can only say in the words of the Prophet We will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people But Our comfort is in God for we can do nothing without him but in him we can do all things And therefore We will pray Domine dabis pacem nobis omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis God hath wrought all our works within us and therefore he will give us Peace and give us his Spirit Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith A Consecration Sermon Preached at DVBLIN Luke XII 42. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interrogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshould of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my Text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated only is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here named but we shall find them out by their propeâ— dirâ—ction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshould 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable iâ— is a rule but such a rule as Shepherds have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of these in order â— Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have changed the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The answer yet is easy as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the Text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and were a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the Spirit and they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards Ensign and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that
what I fain would have done till by a Second communication of those thoughts though in differing words I had publish'd it also to my Clergy at the Metropolitical Visitation of the most Reverend and Learned Lord Primate of Armagh in my own Diocese But when I found that they also thought it very reasonable and pious and joyn'd in the desire of making it publick I consented perfectly and now only pray to God it may do that Work which I intended I have often thought of those excellent words of Mr. Hooker in his very learned discourse of Justification Such is the untoward constitution of our Nature that we do neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord nor so stedfastly embrace it when it is understood nor so graciously utter it when it is embraced nor so peaceably maintain it when it is uttered but that the best of us are overtaken sometime through blindness sometime through hastiness sometime through impatience sometime through other passions of the mind whereunto God knows we are too subject That I find by true experience the best way of Learning and Peace is that which cures all these evils as far as in this World they are curable and that is the wayes of Holiness which are therefore the best and only way of Truth In Disputations there is no end and but very little advantage but the way of godliness hath in it no Error and no Doubtfulness By this therefore I hop'd best to apply the Counsel of the Wise man Stand thou fast in thy sure Understanding in the way and knowledge of the Lord and have but one manner of word and follow the word of peace and righteousness I have reason to be confident that they who desir'd me to publish this discourse will make use of it and find benefit by it and if any others do so too both they and I shall still more and more give God all thanks and praise and glory Sermons newly Printed and are sold by R. Royston A Sermon preached at the opening of the Parliament in Ireland May 8. 1661. Before the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons A Sermon preached at the Consecration of two Archbishops and ten Bishops in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick in Dublin January 27. 1660. Both by Jeremy Taylor D. D. Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor A Sermon preached at the Consecration of Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford by Jasper Main D. D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary The grand debate resumed in the point of Prayer being an Answer to the Presbyterian papers presented to the most Reverend the Lord Bishops at the Savoy upon the subject by a Member of the Convocation 7 JOHN 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self THe Ancients in their Mythological Learning tell us that when Jupiter espyed the men of the World striving for Truth and pulling her in pieces to secure her to themselves he sent Mercury down amongst them and he with his usuall Arts dressed Error up in the Imagery of Truth and thrust her into the croud and so left them to contend still and though then by Contention men were sure to get but little Truth yet they were as earnest as ever and lost Peace too in their Importune Contentions for the very Image of Truth And this indeed is no wonder but when Truth and Peace are brought into the world together and bound up in the same bundle of life when we are taught a Religion by the Prince of Peace who is the Truth it self to see men Contending for this Truth to the breach of that Peace and when men fall out to see that they should make Christianity their theme that is one of the greatest wonders in the World For Christianity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and gentle Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was brought into the World to soften the asperities of humane nature and to cure the Barbarities of evil men and the Contentions of the passionate The Eagle seeing her breast wounded and espying the Arrow that hurt her to be feathered cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feathered Nation is destroyed by their own feathers That is a Christian fighting and wrangling wiâ—h a Christian and indeed that 's very sad but wrangling about Peace too that Peace it self should be the argument of a War that 's unnaturall and if it were not that there are many who are homines multae religionis nullius penè pietatis Men of much Religion and little Godliness it would not be that there should be so many Quarrells in and concerning that Religion which is wholly made up of Truth and Peace and was sent amongst us to reconcile the hearts of men when they were tempted to uncharitablenesse by any other unhappy argument Disputation cures no vice but kindles a great many and makes Passion evaporate into sin and though men esteem it Learning yeâ— it is the most uselesse Learning in the world When Eudamidas the Son of Archidamas heard old Xenocrates disputing about Wisdom he asked very soberly If the old Man be yet disputing and enquiring concerning Wisdom what time will he have to make use of it Christianity is all for Practice and so much time as is spent in quarrells about it is a diminution to its Interest men inquire so much what it is that they have but little time left to be Christians I remember a saying of Erasmus that when he first read the New Testament with fear and a good mind with a purpose to understand it and obey it he found it very usefull and very pleasant but when afterwards he fell on reading the vast differences of Commentaries then he understood it lesse then he did before then he began not to understand it For indeed the Truths of God are best dressed in the plain Culture and simplicity of the Spirit but the Truths that men commonly teach are like the reflexions of a Multiplying-glasse for one piece of good money you shall have forty that are fantasticall and it is forty to one if your finger hit upon the right Men have wearied themselves in the dark having been amused with false fires and instead of going home have wandered all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in untroden unsafe safe uneasie wayes but have not found out what their Soul desires But therefore since we are so miserable and are in error and have wandered very far we must do as wandring Travellers use to do go back just to that place from whence they wandered and begin upon a new Account Let us go to the Truth it self to Christ and he will tell us an easie way of ending all our Quarrells For we shall find Christianity to be the easiest and the hardest thing in the World it is like a secret in Arithmetick infinitely hard till it be found out
regarded the Prohibition so nakedly and divested of all Antecedents Consequents Similitudes and Proportions that if they stood clear of that hated name which was set down in Moses Tables they gave themselves liberty in many instances of the same kindred alliance If they abstained from murder they thought it very well though they made no scruple of murdering their Brothers fame they would not cut his throat but they would call him Fool or invent lyes in secret and publish his disgrace openly they would not dash out his brains but they would be extremely and unreasonably angry with him they would not steal their brothers money but they would oppress him in crafty and cruel bargains The Commandment forbade them to commit Adultery but because Fornication was not named they made no scruple of that and being commanded to Honour their Father and their Mother they would give them good words and fair observances but because it was not named that they should maintain them in their need they thought they did well enough to pretend Corban and let their Father starve 3. The Scribes and Pharisees placed their Righteousness in Negatives they would not commit what was forbidden but they cared but little for the included positive and the omissions of good Actions did not much trouble them they would not hurt their Brother in a forbidden instance but neither would they do him good according to the intention of the Commandment It was a great Innocence if they did not rob the Poor then they were righteous men but thought themselves not much concerned to acquire that god-like excellency a Philanthropy and love to all mankind Whosoever blasphem'd God was to be put to death but he that did not glorifie God as he ought they were unconcerned for him and let him alone he that spake against Moses was to dy without mercy but against the ambitious and the covetous against the proud man and the unmerciful they made no provisions Virtus est vitium fugere sapientia prima Stultitiâ caruisse They accounted themselves good not for doing good but for doing no evil that was the sum of their Theology 4. They had one thing more as bad as all this They broke Moses Tables into pieces and gathering up the fragments took to themselves what part of Duty they pleased and let the rest alone For it was a Proverb amongst the Jews Qui operam dat praecepto liber est à praecepto that is If he chuses one positive Commandment for his business he may be less careful in any of the rest Indeed they said also Qui multiplicat legem multiplicat vitam he that multiplies the Law increases Life that is if he did attend to more good things it was so much the better but the other was well enough but as for Universal Obedience that was not the measure of their Righteousness for they taught that God would put our good works and bad into the balance and according to the heavier scale give a portion in the world to come so that some evil they would allow to themselves and their Disciples alwayes provided it was less than the good they did They would devour Widows houses and make it up by long Prayers they would love their Nation and hate their Prince offer Sacrifice and curse Caesar in their heart advance Judaism and destroy Humanity Lastly St. Austin summ'd up the difference between the Pharisaical and Evangelical righteousness in two words Brevis differentia inter Legem Evangelium timor amor They serv'd the God of their Fathers in the spirit of Fear and we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus in the spirit of Love and by the spirit of Adoption and as this Slavish principle of theirs was the cause of all their former Imperfections so it finally and chiefly express'd it self in these two particulars 1. They would do all that they thought they lawfully could do 2. They would do nothing but what was expresly commanded This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and their Disciples the Jews which because our B. Saviour reproves not only as imperfect then but as criminal now calling us on to a new Righteousness the Righteousness of God to the Law of the Spirit of Life to the Kingdom of God and the proper Righteousness thereof it concerns us in the next place to look after the measures of this ever remembring that it is infinitely necessary that we should do so and men do not generally know or not consider what it is to be a Christian they understand not what the Christian Law forbiddeth or commandeth But as for this in my Text it is indeed our great measure but it is not a question of good and better but of Good and Evil Life and Death Salvation and Damnation for unless our Righteousness be weighed by new weights we shall be found too light when God comes to weigh the actions of all the world and unless we be more righteous than they we shall in no wise that is upon no other terms in the world enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now concerning this we shall do very much amiss if we take our measures by the manners and practises of the many who call themselves Christians for there are as Nazianzen expresses it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old and the new Pharisees I wish it were no worse amongst us and that all Christians were indeed Righteous as they were est aliquid prodire tenus it would not be just nothing But I am sure that to bid defiance to the Laws of Christ to laugh at Religion to make a merriment at the debauchery and damnation of our Brother is a state of evil worse than that of the Scribes and Pharisees and yet even among such men how impatient would they be and how unreasonable would they think you to be if you should tell them that there is no present hopes or possibility that in this state they are in they can be saved Omnes videmur nobis esse belluli Et festivi Saperdae cum simus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the world is too full of Christians whose Righteousness is very little and their Iniquities very great and now adays a Christian is a man that comes to Church on Sundays and on the week following will do shameful things Passim corvos sequitur testâque lutoque Securus quo pes ferat at que ex tempore vivit being according to the Jewish proverbial reproof as so many Mephibosheths discipuli sapientum qui incessu pudefaciunt praeceptorem suum their Master teaches them to go uprightly but they still show their lame leg and shame their Master as if a man might be a Christian and yet be the vilest person in the world doing such things for which the Laws of men have provided smart and shame and the Laws of God have threatned the intolerable pains of an unsufferable and never ending damnation Example here cannot be our rule
being in Gods favâ—ur upon the only account of being of such an opinion and that when we are once in we can never be out We are taught to believe that the events of things do not depend upon our crucifying our evil and corrupt affections but upon eternal and unalterable Counsels that the promises are not the rewards of obedience but graces pertaining only to a few praedestinates and yet men are Saints for all that and that the Laws of God are of the race of the Giants not to be observed by any grace or by any industry this is the Catechism of the ignorant and the prophane but without all peradventure the contrary propositions are the way to make the world better but certainly they that believe these things do not believe it necessary that we should eschew all evil and no wonder then if when men upon these accounts slacken their industry and their care they find sin still prevailing still dwelling within them and still unconquerable by so slight and disheartned labours For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every fool and every ignorant person is a child still and it is no wonder that he who talks foolishly should do childishly and weakly 3. To our weak and corrupted nature and our foolish discourses men do dayly superinduce evil habits and customs of sinning Consuetudo mala tanquam hamus infixus animae said the Father an evil custom is a hook in the soul and draws it whither the Devil pleases When it comes to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Peter's word is a heart exercised with covetous practices then it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is weak and unable to do the good it fain would or to avoid the evil which in a good fit it pretends to hate This is so known I shall not insist upon it but adde this only that wherever a habit is contracted it is all one what the instance be it is as easie as delicious as unalterable in vertue as in vice for what helps nature brings to a vitious habit the same and much more the Spirit of God by his power and by his comforts can do in a vertuous and then we are well again You see by this who are and why they are in this evil condition The evil natures and the evil principles and the evil manners of the world these are the causes of our imperfect willings and weaker actings in the things of God and as long as men stay here sin will be unavoidable For even meat it self is loathsom to a sick stomack and it is impossible for him that is heart-sick to eat the most wholsom diet and yet he that shall say eating is impossible will be best confuted by seeing all the healthful men in the world eat heartily every day 2. But what then Cannot sin be avoided Cannot a Christian mortifie the deeds of the body Cannot Christ redeem us and cleanse us from all our sins Cannot the works of the Devil be destroyed That 's the next particular to be inquired of Whether or no it be not necessary and therefore very possible for a servant of God to pass from this evil state of things and not only hate evil but avoid it also He that saith he hath not sinned is a lyar but what then Because a Man hath sinned it does not follow he must do so always Hast thou sinned do so no more said the wise Bensirach and so said Christ to the poor Paralytick Go and sin no more They were excellent words spoken by a holy Prophet Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned For God shall burn coals of fire upon his head that saith before the Lord God and his glory I have not sinned Well! that case is confessed All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God But is there no remedy for this Must it always be so and sin for ever must have the upper hand and for ever baffle our resolutions and all our fierce and earnest promises of amendment God forbid there was a time then to come and blessed be God it hath been long come Yet a little while saith that Prophet and iniquity shall be taken out of the earth and righteousness shall reign among you For that 's in the day of Christs kingdom the manifestation of the Gospel when Christ reigns in our hearts by his Spirit Dagon and the Ark cannot stand together we cannot serve Christ and Belial And as in the state of nature no good thing dwells within us so when Christ rules in us no evil thing can abide For every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up and cast away into the fires of consumption or purification But how shall this come to pass since we all find our selves so infinitely weak and foolish I shall tell you It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven said Christ. It is impossible to nature it is impossible to them that are given to vanity it is impossible for them that delight in the evil snare But Christ adds With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible What we cannot do for our selves God can do for us and with us What Nature cannot do the Grace of God can So that the thing may be done not indeed by our selves but gratia Dei mecum saith S. Paul God and man together can do it But if it can be done any way that God hath put into our powers the consequent is this No mans good will shall be taken in exchange for the real and actual mortification of his sins He that sins and would fain not sin but sin is present with him whether he will or no let him take heed for the same is the Law of sin and the Law of death saith the Apostle and that mans heart is not right with God For it is impossible men should pray for deliverance and not be heard that they should labour and not be prosperous unless they pray amiss and labour falsely Let no man therefore please himself with talking of great things with perpetual conversation in pious discourses or with ineffective desires of serving God He that does not practise as well as he talks and do what he desires and what he ought to do confesses himself to sin greatly against his conscience and it is a prodigious folly to think that he is a good man because though he does sin yet it was against his mind to do so A mans conscience can never condemn him if that be his excuse to say that his conscience checkt him and that will be but a sad apology at the day of Judgement Some men talk like Angels and pray with great fervor and meditate with deep recesses and speak to God with loving affections and words of union and adhere to him in silent devotion and when they go abroad are as passionate as ever peevish as a
Propositions a negative and an affirmative The negative is this 1. By Faith only a man is not justified The affirmative 2. By works also a man is justified When I have briefly discoursed of these I shall only adde such practical considerations as shall make the Doctrines useful and tangible and material 1. By faith only a man is not justified By faith only here is meant faith without Obedience For what do we think of those that detain the faith in Unrighteousness they have faith they could not else keep it in so ill a Cabinet but yet the Apostle reckons them amongst the Reprobates for the abominable the Reprobates and the disobedient are all one and therefore such persons for all their faith shall have no part with faithful Abraham for none are his Children but they that do the works of Abraham Abraham's faith without Abraham's works is nothing for of him that hath faith and hath not works S. James askes Can Faith save him Meaning that it is impossible For what think we of those that did miracles in Christs name and in his name cast out Devils Have not they Faith Yes omnem fidem all faith that is alone for they could remove Mountains but yet to many of them Christ will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Nay at last what think we of the Devils themselves have not they faith yes and this faith is not fides miraculorum neither but it is an Operative faith it works a little for it makes them tremble and it may be that is more than thy faith does to thee and yet dost thou hope to be saved by a faith that does less to thee than the Devils faith does to him That 's impossible For Faith without works is dead saith S. James It is manus arida saith S. Austin it is a wither'd hand and that which is dead cannot work the lâ—fe of grace in us much less obtain eternal life for us In short a man may have faith and yet do the works of unrighteousness he may have faith and be a Devil and then what can such a faith do to him or for him It can do him no good in the present constitution of affairs S. Paul from whose mistaken words much noise hath been made in this question is clear in this particular Nothing in Christ Jesus can avail but Faith working by Charity that is as he expounds himself once and again nothing but a new creature nothing but keeping the Commandments of God If faith be defin'd to be any thing that does not change our natures and make us to be a new Creation unto God if keeping the Commandments be not in the definition of faith it avails nothing at all Therefore deceive not your selves they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord that is not every one that confesses Christ and believes in him calling Christ Master and Lord shall be sav'd but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven These things are so plain that they need no Commentary so evident that they cannot be denyied and to these I add but this one truth that faith alone without a good life is so far from justifying a sinner that it is one of the greatest aggravations of his condemnation in the whole World For no man can be so greatly damned as he that hath faith for unless he knows his masters will that is by faith be convinced and assents to the revelations of the will of God he can be beaten but with few stripes but he that believes hath no excuse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by the sentence of his own heart and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many stripes the greater condemnation shall be his portion Natural reason is a light to the Conscience but faith is a greater and therefore if it be not followed it damns deeper than the Hell of the Infidels and uninstructed And so I have done with the Negative Proposition of my Text a man is not justified by faith alone that is by faith which hath not in it Charity and Obedience 2. If faith alone will not do it what will The affirmative part of the Text answers not faith alone but works must be an ingredient a man is justified by works and that is now to be explicated and prov'd It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justifie if when a man is justified he is never the nearer to be sav'd Now that without Obedience no man can go to Heaven is so evident in holy Scripture that he that denyes it hath no faith There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked and I will not justifie a sinner saith God unless faith purges away our sins it can never justifie Let a man believe all the revelations of God if that belief ends in its sâ—lf and goes no further it is like physick taken to purge the stomach if it do not work it is so far from bringing health that it self is a new sickness Faith is a great purger and purifier of the soul purifying your hearts by Faith faith the Apostle It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul but if it does not work it corrupts in the stomach it makes us to rely upon weak Propositions and trifling confidences it is but a dreaming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Phantastick dream and introduces Pride or superstition swelling thoughts and presumptions of the Divine favour But what saith the Apostle Follow Peace with all men and holiness without which no man can see God Mark that If faith does not make you charitable and holy talk no more of justification by it for you shall never see the glorious face of God Faith indeed is a title and relation to Christ it is a naming of his names but what then Why than saith the Apostle Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity For let any man consider can the Faith of Christ and the hatred of God stand together Can any man be justified that does not love God Or can any man love God and sin at the same time And does not he love sin that falls under its temptation and obeyes it in the lusts thereof and delights in the vanity and makes excuses for it and returns to it with passion and abides with pleasure This will not do it such a man cannot be justified for all his believing But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way This is a true saying and I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine he arms it with a double Preface the saying is true and it is to be constantly affirmed that is it is not only true but necessary it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled because it is bound upon
Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supreme regiment of souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII And then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII And yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem is by S. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and S. Paul Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bishop faith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in Lands that is not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their children and Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas id est Episcopi quos illa genuit patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith S. Austin the children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bishops and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution but on matter of fact passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and practice of the whole Catholick Church For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Antient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative We can sayes he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches to be their Successors unto us leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna S. Clement Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and divers others by the Apostles faith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John and to be short that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by S. Cyprian and S. Hierom S. Ambrose and S. Austin by Euthymius and Pacianus by S. Gregory and S. John Damascen by Clarius à Muscula and S. Sixtus by Anacletus and S. Isidore by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is he Bps. were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this order for they are noted by three Apostles S. Paul S. Peter and S. Jude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of dignities and what government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of S. Jude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of men no man within the first 300. years after Christ opposed Episcopacy But when Constantine received the Church into his arms he found it universally governed by Bishops and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and ruled and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting succession from the Apostles of our Lord have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with these fountains of our Saviour If ever Lirinensis's rule could be used in any question it is in this Quod semper quod ubique quod ab omibus That Bishops are the successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship and that they did alwayes rule the Family was taught and acknowledged alwayes and every where and by all men that were of the Church of God and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this question we shall find our faith to fail in many other articles of
which we yet are very confident For the observation of the Lords day the consecration of the holy Eucharist by Priests the baptizing Infants the communicating of women and the very Canon of the Scripture it self rely but upon the same probation and therefore the denying of Articles thus proved is a way I do not say to bring in all Sects and Heresies that 's but little but a plain path and inlet to Atheism and Irreligion for by this means it will not only be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture but the Scripture it self and all the Records of Religion will become useless and of no efficacy or perswasion I am entered into a sea of matter but I will break it off abruptly and sum up this inquiry with the words of the Councel of Chalcedon which is one of the four Generals by our laws made the measures of judging Heresies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is sacriledge to bring back a Bishop to the degree and order of a Presbyter It is indeed a rifling the order and intangling the gifts and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour and a robbing them of those spiritual eminencies with which the spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of Bishops And I shall say one thing more which indeed is a great truth that the diminution of Episcopacy was first introduced by Popery and the Popes of Rome by communicating to Abbots and other mere Priests special graces to exercise some essential Offices of Episcopacy hath made this sacred order to be cheap and apt to be invaded But then add this If Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the gifts and powers of the Apostolical order what shall we think of them that snatch them away and pretend to wear them whether the Apostles and their Successors will or no This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bely the Holy Ghost that is the least of it it is rapine and sacrilege besides the heresy and schism and the spiritually For the government Episcopal as it was exemplified in the Synagogue and practised by the same measures in the Temple so it was transcribed by the eternal Son of God who translated it into a Gospel Ordinance it was sanctifyed by the Holy Spirit who named some of the persons and gave to them all power and graces from above It was subjected in the Apostles first and by them transmitted to a distinct Order of Ecclesiasticks it was received into all Churches configned in the Records of the holy Scriptures preached by the universal voice of all the Christian World delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practise and derived to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession I have done with the hardest part of the Text by finding out the persons intrusted the Stewards of Christs Family which though Christ only intimated in this place yet he plainly enough manifested in others The Apostles and their Successors the Bishops are the men intrusted with this great charge God grant they may all discharge it well And so I pass from the Officers to a consideration of the Office it self in the next words Whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshould to give them their meat in due season 2. The Office it self is the Stewardship that is Episcopacy the Office of the Bishop The name signifies an Office of the Ruler indefinitely but the word was chosen and by the Church appropriated to those whom it now signifies both because the word it self is a monition of duty and also because the faithful were used to it in the dayes of Moses and the Prophets The word is in the prophecy of the Church I will give to thee Princes in peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishops in righteousness upon which place S. Hierom sayes Principes Ecclesiae vocat futuros Episcopos The spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian Bishops principes or chief Rulers and this was no new thing For the chief of the Priests who were set over the rest are called Bishops by all the Hellenist Jews Thus Joel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop over the Priests and the son of Bani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop and Visitor over the Levites and we find at the purging of the Land from idolatry the High Priest placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops over the House of God Nay it was the appellative of the High Priest himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest to whom is committed the care of Lamps and the daily Sacrifice and the holy unction Now this word the Church retained choosing the same Name to her superiour Ministers because of the likeness of the Ecclesiastical Government between the Old and New Testament For Christ made no change but what was necessary Baptism was a rite among the Jews and the Lords Supper was but the post-coenium of the Hebrews changed into a mystery from a type to a more real exhibition and the Lords Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the Prophets and Holy men before Christ who prayed by the same spirit and the censures Ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals and the whole Religion was but the Law of Moses drawn out of its vail into clarity and manifestation and to conclude in order to the present affair the Government which Christ left was the same as he found it for what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are in the Church it is affirmed by S. Hierom more then once and the use he makes of it is this Esto subjectus Pontificituo quasi animae parentem suscipe Obey your Bishop and reeeive him as the nursing Father of your Soul But above all this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our blessed Lord himself For he is called in Scripture the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls But our inquiry is not after the Name but the Office and the dignity and duty of it Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimis ac divina potestas so S. Cyprian calls it a High and a Divine power from God of Governing the Church rem magnam preciosaem in conspectu Domini so S. Cyril a great and a pretious thing in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Isidor Pelusiot the utmost limit of what is desireable amongst men But the account upon which it is so desireable is the same also that makes it formidable They who have tryed it and did it conscientiously have found the burden so great as to make them stoop with care and labor and they who do it ignorantly or carelesly will find it will break their bones For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of S Cyprian He is a
Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood the Ruler of the people the Shepherd of the Flock the Governour of the Church the Minister of Christ and the Priest of God These are great titles and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture which calls them Salt of the Earth Lights upon a candlestick Stars and Angels Fathers of our Faith Embassadors of God Dispensers of the Misteries of God the Apostles of the Churches and the Glory of Christ but then they are great burdens too for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intrusted with the Lords people that 's a great charge but there is a worse matter that follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls they are the words of S. Paul and transcribed into the 40th Canon of the Apostles and the 24th Canon of the Councel of Antioch And now I hope the envy is taken off for the honour does not pay for the burden and we can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity as it is a Rule but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty that as the load of it is almost insufferable so the event of it is very formidable if we take not great care For this Stewardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principality and a Ministry So it was in Christ he is Lord of all and yet he was the Servant of all so it was in the Apostles it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lot was to be Apostles and yet to serve and minister and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the 70. use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosbeth which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the interlineary translation by Exactores Bishops are only Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers requiring overseeing them that they do their duty and therefore here the case is so and the burden so great and the dignity so allayed that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger It is indeed a Rule but it is paternal it is a Government but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is neither a power to constrain nor a commission to get wealth for it must be without necessity and not for filthy lucre sake but it is a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Luke as of him that ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Mark as of him that is servant of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. John such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller or if you please take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself that He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule possibly you may have it but all that rule under him are Servants to them that are ruled and therefore you get nothing by it but a great labour and a busy imployment a careful life and a necessity or making severe accounts But all this is nothing but the general measures I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom for because we must be followers of them as they were of Christ the recounting what they did worthily in their generations will not only demonstrate how useful how profitable how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church but it will at the same time teach us our duty by what services we are to benefit the Church in what works we are to be imployed and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bishops not only because the Apostles who were Bishops were the first Preachers of the Gospel and Planters of Churches but because the Apostolical men whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion were by all Antiquity affirmed to have been Diocesan Bishops in so much that as S. Epiphanius witnesses there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ many Churchâ—s who had in them no other Clergy but a Bishop and his Deacons and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater But the Bishops names are known they are recorded in the book of Life and their praise is in the Gospel such were Timothy and Titus Clemens and Linus Marcus and Dionysius Onesimus and Caius Epaphroditus and S. James our Lords Brother Evodius and Simeon all which if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith and any truth in their stories and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch Livy and Tacitus think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance and that all the brave men the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches and had Dioceses for their Charges The consequent of this consideration is this It Bishops were those upon whose Ministry Christ founded and built his Church let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars the Stewards of Christs Family must be wise that Christ requires and if the order be necessary to the Church wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ shall by their unskilfulness be but Babes themselves understanding not the secrets of Religion the mysteries of Godliness the perfections of the Evangelical law all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life A Bishop must be exercised in Godliness a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls not satisfied with an ordinary skill in making homilies to the people and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases but ready to answer in all secret inquiries and able to convince the gainsayers and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect If the first Bishops laid the foundation their Successors must not only preserve whatsoever is fundamental but build up the Church in a most holy Faith taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation and that no hay or rotten wood be built upon it and above all things that a most Holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith So the Apostles laid the foundation and built the walls of the Church and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven For let us talk and dispute eternally we shall never compose the controversies in Religion and
establish truth upon unalterable foundations as long as men handle the word of God deceitfully that is with designs and little artifices and secular partialities and they will for ever do so as long as they are proud or covetous It is not the difficulty of our questions or the subtilty of our adversaries that makes disputes interminable but we shall never cure the itch of disputing or establish Unity unless we apply our selves to humility and contempt of riches If we will be contending let us contend like the Olive and the Vine who shall produce best and most fruit not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noise in a wind And all other methods are a beginning at a wrong end And as for the people the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of faith and government is by reducing them to live good lives When the children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness and filthy lusts they quickly fell into abominable idolatries and S. Paul sayes that men make shipwrack of their Faith by putting away a good conscience for the mystery of Faith is best preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pure conscience saith the same Apostle secure but that and we shall quickly end our disputes and have an obedient and conformable people but else never 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches and gave them being so they preserve them in being For withour Sacraments there is no Church or it will be starved and dy and without Bishops there can be no Priests and consequently no Sacraments and that must needs be a supreme order from whence ordination it self proceeds For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no record of ordination but an Apostolical hand was in it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the chief one of the superior and Ruling Clergy and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church the Bishop alwayes had that power it was never denyed to him and it was never imputed to Presbyters and S. Hierom himself when out of his anger against John Bishop of Jerusalem he endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop though in very many places he spake otherwise yet even then also and in that heat he excepted Ordination acknowledging that to be the Bishops peculiar And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy do as Julian did they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock and take away their Shepherds and dispark their pastures and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries and put the people to hard shifts and turn the chanels of Salvation quite another way and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty whether she be alive or dead and the people destitute of the life of their Souls and their daily bread and their spiritual comforts and holy blessings The consequent of this is If Sacraments depend upon Bishops then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials sanctified with a holy ministry and ministred by holy persons For although it be true that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon he worthiness of him that ministers yet it is as true that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed The Minister hath an influence into the effect and does very much towards it and if there be a failure there it is a defect in one of the concurring causes and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing S. Hierom presses this severely Impiè faciunt c. They do wickedly who affirm that the holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words alone and solemn prayer of the consecrator and not also by his life and holiness and therefore S. Cyprian affirms that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people but for others Sacrificia eorum panis luctus saith the Prophet Hosea their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow whoever eats thereof shall be defiled This discourse is not mine but S. Cyprians and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically but in the case of duty and caution yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands it is of it self a pure nourishment but if it passes through an unclean vessel it looses much of its excellency 3. The like also is to be said concerning prayer For the Episcopal order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood that is to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing We will give our selves continually to prayer said the Apostles that was the one half of their imployment and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer and in diverting Gods judgments and procuring blessings to the people for in all times the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech and Melchisedeck blessed Abraham and Aaron blessed the people and without all controversy saith the Apostle the lâ—ss is blessed of the Greater But then we know that God heareth not sinners and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a Righteous man that shall prevail And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock which he is appointed to bless and pray for How shall he reconcile the penitents who is himself at enmity with God How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his prayer who does perpetually grieve him and quench his holy fires and drive him quite away How shall he that hath not tasted of the spirit by contemplation stir up others to earnest desires of Celestial things Or what good shall the people receive when the Bishop layes upon their head a covetous or a cruel an unjust or an impure hand But therefore that I may use the words of S. Hierom. Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur mundi totius Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus c. Since it is intended that from the Bishop grace should be diffused amongst all the people there is not in the world a greater indecency then a holy office ministred by an unholy person and no greater injury to the people then that of the blessings which God sends to them by the ministries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward And therefore it was an excellent prayer which to this very purpose was by the son of Sirach made in behalf of the High Priests the sons of Aaron God give you wisdom in your heart to
imperio gemimus cum funus adultae Virginis occurrit vel terrâ clauditur infans Et minor igne rogi If you do but see a Maiden carried to her grave a little before her intended marriage or an Infant dye before the birth of Reason Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear Alas your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families wnich though they sadly have deserved yet Mercy is not delighted with the spectacle and therefore God places a watry cloud in the eye that when the light of heaven shines upon it it may produce a rain-bow to be a Sacrament and a memorial that God and the sons of God do not love to see a man perish God never rejoyces in the death of him that dies and we also esteem it undecent to have Musick at a Funeral And as Religion teaches us to pity a condemned Criminal so Mercy intercedes for the most benign interpretation of the Laws You must indeed be as just as the Laws and you must be as merciful as your Religion and you have no way to tye these together but to follow the pattern in the Mount doe as God does who in judgement remembers mercy To conclude If every one in this Honourable Assembly would joyn together to promote Christian Religion in it's true notion that is Peace and Holiness the Love of God and the Love of our Brother Christianity in all its proper usefulness and would not indure in the Nation any thing against the laws of the Holy Jesus if they were all zealous for the doctrines of Righteousness and impatient of Sin in your selves and in the people it is not to be imagined what a happy Nation we should be But if ye divide into parties and keep up useless differences of names or interests if ye do not joyn in the bands of Peace that is the King and the Church Religion and the good of the Nation you can never hope to see a blessing to be the end of your labours Remember the words of Solomon Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people but when Righteousness is advanced in the hearts and lives of the Nation who shall dare to reprove your Faith who can find fault with your Religion God of his mercy grant that in all your Consultations the Word of God may be your measure the Spirit of God may be your guide and the glory of God may be your end He of his mercy grant that Moderation may be your limit and Peace may be within your walls as long as you are there and in all the Land for ever after But remember that since the honour and service of his Majesty and the peace and prosperity of the Church the perpetuity of our fundamental Laws publick Justice and the honour of all legal Authority the advancement of Trade and the wealth of the Nation is your design remember I pray what warranty you have to expect all this no less then the words of our Blessed Saviour but it is upon these terms Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Amen FINIS A CATALOGUE of some Books written by JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivy-lane London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundaies of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ the third Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the daies of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. newly reprinted 7. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. new 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches especially the Greek together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation in a large octavo newly published 9. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. in two volumes 10. The doctrine and Practice of Repentance describing the necessities of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience 11. The Worthy Communicant in octavo sold at the Bell in S. Pauls Churchyard Via Intelligentiae A SERMOM Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Usefull Published at their desire By the R. R. Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Downe c. and Vicechancellour of that UNIVERSITY Ad majorem Dei gloriam LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1662. TO THE READER PEACE is so great a Blessing and Disputations and Questions in Religion are so little friends to Peace that I have thought no mans time can be better spent then in propositions and promotions of Peace and consequently in finding expedients and putting periods to all contentious Learning I have already in a discourse before the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament prov'd that Obedience is the best medium of Peace and true Religion and Lawes are the only common term and certain rule and measure of it Vocatâ ad concionem multitudine quae coalescere in populum Unius corporis nullâ re praeterquam legibus poterat said Livy Obedience to Man is the externall instrument and the best in the World To which I now add that Obedience to God is the best internall instrument and I have prov'd it in this discourse Peace and Holiness are twin-Sisters after which because every man is bound to follow and he that does not shall never see God I concluded that the office of a Bishop is in nothing so signally to be exhibited as in declaring by what means these great duties and blessings are to be acquir'd This way I have here describ'd is an old way for it was Christs way and therefore it is truth and life but it hath been so little regarded and so seldom taught that when I first spake my thoughts of it in the following words before the Little but Excellent University of Dublin they consented to it so perfectly and so piously entertain'd it that they were pleas'd with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the World and to consigne it to them as a perpetual memorial of their duty and of my regards to them and care over them in my Station I was very desirous to serve and please them in all their worthy desires but had found so much reason to distrust my own abilities that I could not resolve to do
by the principles of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion and let men pretend to as much learning as they please they must begin again at Christs Crosse they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires before they can be good Scholars in Christs School or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion or profit in spirituall understanding It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion Truth enters into the heart of Man when it is empty and cleane and still but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storme you can never heare the voyce of the Charmer though he charm very wisely and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytic Arme. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be as Plato sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason not invested with Passion to him that is otherwise things are but in the dark his notion is obscure and his sight troubled and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools yet we seldom or never heare of a very passionate wise man I have now done with the First part of my undertaking and proved to you that our evill life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in the Religion of the things of God You see what hinders us from becoming good Divines But all this while we are but in the preparation to the Mysteries of Godlinesse When we have thrown off all affections to sin when we have stript our selves from all fond adherencies to the things of the world and have broken the chains and dominion of our Passions then we may say with David Ecce paratum est Cormeum Deus My heart is ready O God my heart is ready then we may say Speak Lord for thy servant heareth but we are not yet instructed It remaines therefore that we enquire what is that immediate principle or meanes by which we shall certainly and infallibly be led into all truth and be taught the mind of God and understand all his secrets and this is worth our knowledge I cannot say that this will end your labours and put a period to your studies and make your learning easie it may possibly increase your labour but it will make it profitable it will not end your Studies but it will direct them it will not make humane Learning easie but will make it wise unto salvation and conduct it into true notices and wayes of wisdom I am now to describe to you the right way of knowledge Qui facit voluntatem Patris mei saith Christ that 's the way do Gods will and you shall understand Gods Word And it was an excellent saying of St. Peter Add to your faith Vertue c. If these things be in you and abound ye shall not be unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in this case it is not enough that all our hinderances of knowledge are removed for that is but the opening of the covering of the Book of God but when it is opened it is written with a hand that every eye cannot read Though the windowes of the East be open yet every eye cannot behold the glories of the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plotinus the eye that is not made Solar cannot see the Sun the eye must be fitted to the splendor and is not the wit of the man but the spirit of the man not so much his head as his heart that learnes the Divine Philosophy 1. Now in this inquiry I must take one thing for a praecognitum that every good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is taught of God and indeed unless he teach us we shall make but ill Scholars our selves and worse guides to others Nemo potest Deum scire nisi à Deo doceatur said St. Jrenaeus lib. 6. c. 14. If God teaches us then all is well but if we do not learn wisdom at his feet from whence should we have it it can come from no other spring And therefore it naturally follows that by how much nearer we are to God by so much better we are like to be instructed But this being supposed as being most evident we can easily proceed by wonderfull degrees and steps of progression in the Oeconomy of this Divine Philosophy For 2. There is in every righteous man a new vital principle the Spirit of Grace is the spirit of Wisdome and teaches us by secret inspirations by proper arguments by actuall perswasions by personall applications by effects and energies and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vitall operations so is the Spirit of God the life of that life and the cause of all actions and productions Spirituall And the consequence of this is what St. Iohn tells us of Ye have received the Unction from above and that anoynting teacheth you all things All things of some one kind that is certainly all things that pertain to life and Godlinesse all that by which a man is wise and happy We see this by common experience Unlesse the soul have a new life put into it unlesse there be a vital principle within unlesse the spirit of life be the Informer of the spirit of the man the Word of God will be as dead in the operation as the body in its powers and possibilities Sol Homo generant hominem saith our Philosophy A Man alone does not beget a man but a Man and the Sun for without the influence of the Celestiall bodyes all natural actions are ineffective and so it is in the operations of the Soul Which principle divers Fanatics both amongst us and in the Church of Rome misunderstanding look for new Revelations and expect to be conducted by ecstasy and will not pray but in a transfiguration and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations and separate themselves from the conversation of men by affectations by new measures and singularities and destroy order and despise Government and live upon illiterate phantasmes and ignorant discourses These men do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they bely the holy Ghost For the Spirit of God makes men wise it is an evil Spirit that makes them Fools The Spirit of God makes us Wise unto Salvation it does not spend its holy influences in disguises and convulsions of the understanding Gods spirit does not destroy Reason but heightens it he never disorders the beauties of Government but is a God of Order it is the spirit of Humility and teaches no Pride he is to be found in Churches and Pulpits upon Altars and in the Doctors Chaires not in Conventicles and mutinous corners of a house he goes in company with his own
the sinner Let the business of your Sermons be to preach holy Life Obedience Peace Love among neighbours hearty love to live as the old Christians did and the new should to do hurt to no man to do good to every man For in these things the honour of God consists and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Press those Grâ—ces most that do most good and make the least noise such as giving privately and forgiving publickly and prescribe the grace of Charity by all the measures of it which are given by the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. For this grace is not finished by good words nor yet by good works but it is a great building and many materials go to the structure of it It is worth your study for it is the fulfilling of the Commandements Because it is impossible that Charity should live unless the lust of the tongue be mortified let every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Lawes cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgement Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious oppressors of Widows and Orphanes and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his commandements Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgement thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his Judge Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the worâ—s of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidencies that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdome by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave usefull and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more fame in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it
Morning and Evening and in great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited it must be read in Churches that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease The Minister is to instruct the people that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child lest importune and unnecessary delay occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus before it be born again admitted to the Promises of the Gospel and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam Let every Minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical communion at the least three times in the year at the great Festivals but the devouter sort and they who have leisure are to be invited to a frequent Communion and let it be given and received with great reverence Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office in the Rubricks the Canons the Articles and the Homilies of the Church that he may do his duty readily discreetly gravely and by the publick measures of the Laws To which also it is very usefull that it be added that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches let him read good Books such as are approved by publick authority such which are useful wise and holy not the scriblings of unlearned parties but of men learned pious obedient and disinterested and amongst these such especially which describe duty and good life which minister to Faith and Charity to Piety and Devotion Cases of Conscience and solid expositions of Scripture Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his peoples duty such as may enable him to speak well and to do well but to meddle not with controversies but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life Be careful in all the publick adminstrations of your parish that the poor be provided for Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example Let a collection be made every Lords day and upon all solemn meetings and at every Communion and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred ever remembring that at the day of Judgement nothing shall publickly be proclaimed but the reward of alms and mercy Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every virtue and remedies and arguments against every vice let him teach his people to make acts of virtue not onely by external exercise but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice assistance and information FINIS Heb. 7.19 Gal. 3.3 Gal. 6.12.13 Philip. 3.34 Sed Belzebulis callida Commenta Christus destruit Hos. 2.14 De legibus l. scire Prov. 28.14 S. Hier. in comment Isai. 8. Isidor l. 13. Orig. cap. 13. Commen in 12. Isai. l. 6. in Ezek. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legat. pro Christianis Rom. 8.13 Gal. 5.16 Rom. 8.7 1 Joh. 3.9 Matth. 7.18 Heb. 12.1 1 Joh. 3.8 3 Joh. 4.4 Mark 9.23 Ille laudatur qui ut caeperint statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram * Rom. 3.28.4.5.5.1.10.10 Gal. 2.16 James 2.21 1 Cor. 13 2 Tuscul. 1. James 2.14 Gal. 5.6 Gal. 6.15 1 Cor. 7.19 Isa. 57.21 Exod. 23.7 Heb. 12.14 Titus 3.8 Heb. 6.1 1 John 3.8 Eph. 5.25 Tit. 2.11 John 15.2 Rom. 5. v. 8.10 Rom. 8.28 Rom. 4.25 Ecclus. 31. Rom. 8.10 Plaut Captiv Rom. 8.29 Rom. 2.6 7 8. John 6.28.29 2 Pet. 1.5 2 Thes. 3.2 1 Tim. 5.8 Heb. 11. Ecclus. 32.24 Panar lib. 1. edit Basil. p. 8. l. 46. 2 Tim. 2.16 Instit. l. 5. c. 9. Mark 11.24 Tit. 1.16 2 Thes. 2.12 Lib. 3. Ep. 69. Jerem. 9.1 Esa. 26.12 2 Thes. 3.1 * Cap. 24.25 Epist. 73. ad Jubaj 1 Tim. 6.14 * Rom. 12.6 Ephe. 4 11. 1 Cor. 12.28 * Acts 1.25 1 Tim. 5.19 1 Tit. 11. 2 Titus 15. Cap. 2. V. 2. Gal. 1.19 * 2 Cor. 8.23 Philip. 2.25 Psalm 45.16 in 1 Cor. 12. in Psal. 44. Epist. 1. Simpronianum Epist. 65. ad Rogat Quaest. V. N.T.q. 197. Isai. 60.17 Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens Ep. ad Cor. Neh. 11.10 2 Kin. 11.18 Numb 4.16 Epist. 2. ad Nepot Epistol ad Evagrium Heb. 13.17 Acts. 1.25 Isai. 60.17 1 Pet. 5.1 5. Luke 22.27 Mark 10.43 John 13.13 Lib. 3. Tit. 1. 1 Tim. 1.19 2 Tim. 3.9 in Cap. 2. Zeph. Lib. 1. Ep. 4. Dial. adv Lucifer Eccl. 45.26 24. C. Concil Antioch 1 Cor. 4.1 2 3. Jer. 3.15 Heb. 13.7 Zech. 11.7 Cap. 11. Prov. 6.3 4. D. Bernard ad Henr. Episc Senensem 2 Tim. 2. Jer. 13.20 21. Nullum malum majus aut infeliciter feracius quam inobedientia Seneca 1 Tim. 2 1◠Prov. 16.10 L. 8. cod de veteri jure enucleando Petrus Cellensis lib. de Conscientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 12. ◠7 8. Seneca * Rom. 16.17 Seneca Prov. 24.34 Ecclus. 5.10 Vulg. edit Lat. Psal. 111. ver 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad Philagrium 2 Pet. 1. 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Cor. 2.14 Dan. 12.10 Eph. 5.14 Prov. 10.31 32. John 14.21 Rom. 1.25 26. Eccl. 2.26 John 14.26 Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfecte amatur Aug. lib. 83. qu. de gratia Christi Ecclus. 21.11 Lib. de Consummat saeculi inter opera Ephrem Syri Synes hym 6 1 Thes. 4.16 John 5.28 Dracuntius de opere Dei Luk. 14.14 * Rev. 20.6 1 Thes. 4.16 Rom. 5.10 Isa. 26.20 Numb 1.46.3.39 Seld. Hist. of Tithes c. 2. See Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tract 25. in St. Matth. Pindar De scriptor Eccles. Epist. 30. Synes ep 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Rom. 16.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉