that as much as in us lies we ought to be affected like God himself and so by a necessary consequence we are to hate those that hate Him because they are such as are hated by Him For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does very naturally import although it is not observ'd in our English Bibles And therefore by this the Prophet David seeks to prove his Affection to God Almighty Do not I hate them O Lord that hate Thee yea I hate them right sore Or as the New Translation hath it yea I hate them with a perfect hatred Why then saith our Apostle Follow Peace even with All men not excepting the Worst of all § 10. We see the Objection is very specious But strike one Text against another as a flint against steel and there will leap from both together both Fire and Light too The Answer to it is to be taken from Rom. 12. 18. and thence forwards unto the end If it is possible as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men He does not peremptorily say live peaceably with all men at all adventure let the Case be what it will But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it is possible and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as in you lies Whereby 't is evidently imply'd that in diverse hard cases it is Impossible it does not lie in our power to be at Peace with all the world All that God requires of us is to imploy our poor utmost in order to it Whilst we hate the Malefactor we must have charity for the Man so as to pity his being sick of habitual Sin and supplicate God for his Amendment Follow Peace we must with Them who fly as fast as we can follow it And to the end we may attain it we must endeavour at least to win them by all good means Such as is the not avenging our selves but giving place unto wrath feeding our Enemies when they are hungry and when they are thirsty giving them Drink For by so doing we shall heap saith the Apostle Coals of Fire upon their Heads Not that this can be spoken of any mischievous kind of charity For it is meant of nothing else but the Fire of Love And Love is fitly compar'd to Fire because it has both a purging and melting Faculty in its Nature The Metaphor is taken from the custom of the Founder who when he cannot melt his Metal by putting Coals of Fire under it does heap some Fire upon it too So we must heap the Fire of Love upon our Enemies Heads not to consume them in their Impenitence but to melt them into Repentance and change of Life At once to purifie the Dross and to mollifie the hardness with which their hearts are affected towards us But if at last our Malacticks are us'd in vain we must then indeed proceed to the severer Methods of Charity which is Charity never the less for being attended with severity A Rod being ordain'd for the Back of Fools who will not be wrought upon at all by the Spirit of Meekness 1 Cor. 4. ult When men are the worse for being pardon'd and even corrupt themselves with Goodness we must not be so over-cruel as to punish them with Impunity For God in great Mercy hath given us Magistrates to be his Ministers of wrath and his Executers of vengeance Nor are they liable unto any more noxious failing than that of bearing the Sword in vain Hereon is founded both the Lawfulness and the Necessity also of War upon some Occasions as being That without which Peace it self cannot be kept The Law of Nature and of Nations That of Moses and of Christ and the best mens Examples permit it to us As it were easie to evince were This a Time or Place for it And what I say of the Civil is just as true of the Spiritual Sword The highest Act of Christian charity that can be shown to the obdurate is to deliver them up to Satan for the Destruction of the Flesh because it is to this wholesom end That their Spirits may be sav'd in the Day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. Thus we see what is meant by Peace with All men how far forth it is extended and how it admits of a Limitation § 11. Another Objection may be rais'd from the Pronoun Which because it is in the Greek not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so may seem to relate rather to Holiness than to Peace As if our Duty towards God were a great Requisite to Salvation but not our Duty towards our Neighbour Whereas in Truth the very discharge of our Duty towards our Neighbour is one of the great and main Duties we owe to God Peace and Holiness are such Twin-Sisters as are not like the Tindaridae or Twins of Leda who after the manner of two Buckets whereof the one is going up and the other down did take their Turns in Heaven and Hell But like the Twins of Hippocrates or the two Friends in Valerius who neither could live nor die asunder He that follows not Peace does fly from Holiness or follows it onely to drive it from him Why then saith our Apostle not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Things nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Peace but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Holiness no man living shall see the Lord § 12. The Answer is that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of an aequivocal signification as being equally of the Masculine and Neuter Gender But some there are in the world of eminent Learning and Reputation who taking it up by the wrong handle have unhappily fastened upon a wrong signification and so have set up Holiness to the prejudice of Peace Meerly for want of consideration That the Relative Which in this place is the Neuter Gender and hath not any single word for its Antecedent but the whole Clause going before It is not in a divided sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Holiness but in sensu composito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which Following of Peace and Holiness united Whereby we are given to understand That there cannot be such a Thing as a Godly Rebel or Holy Boutifeu because the Subject excludes the Adjunct To say that such or such a Man is a most conscionable Schismatick or a religious exciter unto Sedition whilst he fights away his Conscience to win its Liberty and sacrifices Peaces to pretended Holiness is to affirm both Parts of a Contradiction He that is of an unpeaceable must needs be of an unholy Spirit For as Peace without Holiness is but Adherence unto a Faction so Holiness without Peace is but Hypocrisie They that are so superstitious as to strain at Gnats such as the Authorized Rites of Cross and Surpliss whilst they are also so prophane as to swallow Camels such as are the crying Sins of Schism and Sacrilege cannot well be call'd Followers but onely Persecuters of Peace
made S. John exhort Christians to Try the Spirits alledging This for his reason that many false Prophets are gone out into the World Is God's permitting them to be prosperous or to sin on with great Impunity any Argument that he approves them No 't is the weakest way of reasoning which our Adversaries of Rome have delighted in For besides that we find them confuted often by their Afflictions God permits what he abominates his own Dishonour How patiently did he permit the Disobedience of the First Adam and Crucifixion of the Second All the Villanies in the world do come to pass by God's Permission however contrary they are to his Rules and Precepts And if prosperous Impiety does therefore cease to be Impiety because 't is prosperous and permitted that is not hinder'd by force and violence inconsistent with a free and a moral Agent Then the great Sultan and the great Cham and the great Mogul as well as the great Bishop of Rome are by an equally-sound Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven And then the Argument of Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians who for 300 years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny Lastly if Permission were still a Mark of Approbation Then Dionysius or Diagoras had argued logically well when having robb'd the Delphick Temple immediately after escap'd a Shipwreck he gave it out that the Gods had approv'd his Sacrilege Not at all that he believ'd but laught at Providence § 11. What now can be said farther in the behalf of our Pretenders to the same Spirit 's Illumination which clear'd the Heads of the Apostles and warm'd their Hearts Can it be said they live strict and religious lives though lives of Schism and Disobedience to humane Laws and Lawgivers expresly said in Holy Scripture to be the Ordinances of God But admit it were True which yet is so false that it implies a Contradiction 'twere not prevailing For the Heretick Montanus grew so proud of his Strictness of his Demure Course of life in point of Abstinence and Sobriety and suffering Hardships as to believe himself in Time to be The Paraclete downright not a Godly man onely but even The Holy Spirit of God In which case 't is very evident that even his strictness was his Disease and that the Spirit which overrul'd him was from his Spleen The Heathen Brachmans also of India were so temperate and chast and so addicted to Self-denials in order to their gaining upon the opinions of the People with whom they liv'd that they seemed in all appearance to use This World as not abusing it exactly so as S. Paul exhorts the followers of Christ Such an externally-strict Person was the Papalins S. Francis who yet discover'd his Humility and passive Meekness as I have read many years since apud Authorem nescio Quem as Cicero speaks in the like case to have partly been a Cloak and partly an Instrument of his Pride For being ask'd why he rejoyced amidst the hardships of his Imprisonment Because said he the whole world will even adore and canonize me among their Saints Hereby we see the strict Necessity of the last Rule I mention'd for the right using of the Great Rule by w ch the Spirits are to be Tried For Lastly by neglecting to Try the Spirits of Pretenders whether or no they be of God and to try them impartially by every part of That Touchstone I lately gave How very many have we known of our poor Separatists in England acted as they have been by the late Emissaries of Rome so strangely shallow and over-credulous as readily to imagin that every Schismatick is a Saint who is not a Sabbath-breaker or Swearer not a Drunkard or an Adulterer and is so or so qualified in point of Judgement or to speak more exactly in point of Party and of Opinion It must therefore be well consider'd and carried constantly in mind by such as These that of the two 't is less intolerable to be a Swearer than a Rebel a Drunkard than a Thief a common Thief than a Sacrilegious one and a less horrid thing to be corporally vile than to be spiritually proud of one's own Perfections We must beware of all the former as we ever hope to fly from the wrath to come but more especially of the latter as being much the more Luciferian Sins Sins which can never attend men to Heaven having brought down the Angels of Heaven to Hell Drunkenness and Whoredom however damning are Sins the Devil cannot commit but Envy and Malice and Schism and Sacrilege Hypocrisie and Rebellion and intoxicating Pride are peculiar to him they are the Devil's Sins so properly that they are properly call'd Devilish in Men or Christians whereever found And as These of all Sins are much the most Diabolical so they are the most damning of any other for ought I can collect from the words of Christ Matth. 23. 14. and by the words of S. Peter 2 Pet. 2. 9 10. If they who hate our Congregations and way of Worship because they judge the Holy Ghost to have forsaken our Meetings and to dwell onely in theirs or because we do not easily shut the Door against Sinners till by Authority authoriz'd though they are under the Reputation either of Drunkenness or Whoredom or any other the like Scandalous and Deadly Sin but not under the Sentence of legal Excommunication till when we cannot lawfully shut them out from our Communion I say if the Censurers of our Patience and Longanimity towards such would but turn their Eyes inwards or duely reflect upon themselves and compare those Sins which the Devil never commits with those several other Sins which are proper to him If they would not onely observe but also remember and consider and religiously lay to heart the terrible Emphasis and force S. Peter puts on the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying of Them who despise Government that they are chiefly or most especially reserved by the Lord unto the day of Judgement to be punished and the most formidable Importance of That Greater Damnation which our Saviour has denounced against those Hypocrites who for a Pretence do make long Prayers I say again if our dissenting separating Brethren in love and pity to whose Souls we pray preach for their Conformity would have the Patience and the Humility to chew enough on these things They would think with more Charity of our Communion and with less Arrogance of their own They would not separate from us Then unless for contrary Inducements than now do move them They would separate from us Then in an humble opinion of their own Vileness saying from the heart with the meek Centurion Lord we are not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under our Roof and are by consequence unworthy to have admittance under Thine They would not separate from us Then unless in the Spirit of S. Peter afraid
every weight and the sin that so easily besets us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us 3. And yet withall we must remember Vespasian's Motto which deserves to be ingraven in all our Rings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make haste slowly that is to make no more haste than may consist with good speed Because the way we are to walk in is not sleep onely but slippery Therefore look to your footing and mark your steps as you walk along for the footing of a David had well-nigh slipt Nor is the way onely slippery but narrow too Nay our Saviour saith farther though 't is not express'd in our English Bibles 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way incumber'd as well as narrow 'T is very difficult to find it and very easie to tread aside And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see how ye walk So it is in the Greek though somewhat otherwise in the English 4. And then in the next place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see how circumspectly ye do it as it is in the translation or see how exactly as it is in the original The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of an higher signification than our ordinary Bible doth here express It imports a Providence and a Caution which being joyn'd with Circumspection make up the Integral Parts of a Christian Prudence Now we must walk so exactly in all these respects with so much Providence and Caution and Circumspection as not to turn an hair's breadth to the right hand or to the left We must not be Latitudinarians in point of Practice but must rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk with such regular and upright Feet as to abstain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in either notion of the word not onely from all the kinds but all the Appearances of evil 5. Not at all like those Hypocrites who are indulgent to the Evil and onely abstain from the bare Appearance not like Him in the Epigram who put himself to Death for fear of Dying not like the Pharisees of the Times who think it their Duty to rebell for fear of a little Disobedience and greedily swallow the greatest Camels for nothing else but their avoiding the smallest Gnats This is a foolish Circumspection to be so shy of a Ceremony as to run headlong into a Schism and for fear of Superstition to swallow practical Atheism For are not they the greatest Atheists who to use S. Paul's words of the antient Gnosticks profess to know God but in their works deny him And They deny him in their works who quite disown him in his Word where it calls for Compliance in All things lawfull with his Vicegerents For sure the same Spirit that saith Obey God rather than Man doth also say Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake The same Spirit that saith Call no man Master upon Earth and Be ye not the Servants of men doth also say Servants obey your Masters in all things that the Name of God be not blasphemed nor onely with Eye-service as men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ. Again the same Spirit that saith Thou shalt have no God but me doth also say Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves c. for the Powers that are are ordain'd of God and He that resists receives Damnation From all which it follows that for a Professor of Christianity to disobey the Laws of men under pretense rather than fear of disobeying the Laws of God when this is one of God's chiefest Laws That we obey the Laws of men shews such a spirit of Contradiction as 't is not Charity to indure We must be circumspect of our ways as well as of our walking For a Circumspect Walker in the ways of Corah who dares not do as God bids him for fear of Sin and shews a Zeal to serve God by his Disobedience who craves for Liberty of Conscience to break the Bonds of Society which are the Laws of the Nation wherein we live that is to say in the Consequence for a Liberty of Conscience to cut mens Throats and because the Meek shall inherit the Earth does think it a part of his Humility to set his foot upon Crowns and Scepters such a Circumspect Walker is the greatest Monster to be imagin'd He may profess to know God as the Gnosticks did but in his works he denies him like any Gnostick And as a practical Atheist is still the worst so such a Boutefeux is the worst of all practical Atheists 'T was by so foolish a Circumspection and too easie a Connivence at all such Folly that so many of our days have been so evil and stand in need of a Redemption And therefore for the future See that ye walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise redeeming the Time because the days are evil 6. The words are seasonable and fit in a threefold respect In respect of the Counsel which our Apostle here gives in respect of the Occasion on which he gives it and in respect of the Reason wherewith he does inforce it on those that read him The subject matter of the Counsell is Christian Prudence The Counsell is given upon Occasion of great and manifold Temptations whereby a Christian is ensnared on every side The principal Reason why it is press'd is the present Corruption of the Time A Time wherein there is requir'd the Wisedom and Wariness of the Serpent whereby to preserve the Inoffensiveness and Integrity of the Dove 7. Now though Prudence is a thing which does consist of three parts to wit of Providence Caution and Circumspection which though commonly confounded are very different in themselves yet in the Tenor of my Discourse I shall keep to the stile of our English Bibles and so far comply with the popular usage of the word which is apparently Synecdochical as to name Circumspection in stead of Prudence 8. And first because our Inadvertency appears to be the very Root from which the whole Stock of Sin with all its Fruit and its Branches doth seem to grow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See how ye walk circumspectly 9. Next because there is such a thing as an Inconsiderate Circumspection for want of a necessary regard both to the manner and method and measure of it See therefore that ye walk circumspectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as Fools but as wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk in wisedom Colos 4. 5. And as your Speech so your Behaviour is to be season'd also with Salt v. 6. Ye must behave your selves exactly betwixt your Scylla and your Charybdis Corruption of Soul upon the one side and Destruction of Body on the other But still the first and chiefest heed is to be taken of the former that the better part may be in safety whatever Disasters befall the worse 10. And then in the last place because the worse the Times are by so much the better and the more circumspect men
and this we may gather from the Context to be before a Destruction of Church and State For Imposture and Deceit will be Then most rife and therefore the Prudence of a Christian will be Then most needfull The first Observable of the Three I have insisted upon at large on another Text whereon I shew'd the strict necessity of circumspect Walking in the Generall in respect of evil Things and all that have Tendency unto evil It now remains that I proceed to the second Observable I propos'd and so to consider Circumspection or Christian Prudence as relating in Particular to the Deceitfulness of Persons Nor can it be severely imputed to me if still I continue to deal in Caveats For § 4. If ever there were an Errour to be commended out of a Pulpit it is the right-handed Errour of too much Caution And if ever there can be any This is certainly the Time when no abundance of Caution can be too much When perhaps the very greatest a man can use may prove the very least he shall stand in need of At least I take This to be a satisfactory reason why having spoken enough already of Christian Prudence in Thesi I am led by the love of Method to consider it also in Hypothesi as it stands in relation to this or that Station and State of Men. For as Charity is the greatest of Christian Vertues so in a secular Consideration 't is the most dangerous and ensnaring and the most difficult to be managed of all our Duties because it has This peculiar to it that it thinketh no evill but beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13. 5 7. I will not say it is the weakness or fault of Charity to be Credulous But yet exposing its owners to many Risques and Inconveniences it stands in need of great Prudence to keep it safe The Disciples therefore did very wisely in being afraid and suspicious of Paul himself till Barnabas gave him a Testimonial that by his preaching boldly at Damascus and by his disputing against the Graecians he prov'd himself an unfeigned Convert as if the repentance of an Enemy were never to be trusted untill 't is try'd nor any other Triall could be sufficient but That of bringing forth fruits meet for repentance Our Blessed Saviour himself would not entrust himself with some who believed in him because he knew their Belief was such as would not bear any stress in a time of Triall Seeing the Miracles which he did they believ'd in his Name but he knew that they were not Temptation-proof that they would not hold out at his Crucifixion How much more might his Apostles be distrustfull of Believers who knew them not And yet so unguarded was their Simplicity I mean the Simplicity of the heart not of the head or the understanding as opposed onely to knavery and not to knowledge that they made their own Innocence the usual measure of other mens Hence it was that their Master did call them Sheep because they knew not till he had told them that they were going out as Sheep in the midst of Wolves And the more he had observ'd they were unapt to be suspicious by so much the rather did he exhort them to use the wisedom of the Serpent whereby to set a constant Guard upon the Innocence of the Dove For as Wisedom is devillish without Simplicity so This without Wisedom is never safe It is the property of the one not to do any Injury and the benefit of the other is not to suffer it Indeed as Fear is oppos'd to Fortitude it is a childish unmanlike Passion still betraying those succours which reason offereth Again as Fear is oppos'd to Faith it is an heathenish and carnal Passion That that made so many Compliers in the evil days pass'd with the Spirit which Then was working in the prosperous Children of Disobedience But as Fear is oppos'd to Folly I mean Imprudence and want of Heed it is at once a very generous and Christian Thing There being no true Faith no nor any true Fortitude which has not a mixture of such a Fear As Fear is opposite to Reliance and Trust in God it is indeed a great Duty to laugh at Danger But as 't is opposite to Rashness and a defect of Circumspection it is as much a man's duty to provide against danger by timely fear For the same Spirit that saith by the Royal Priest Fear not them that can kill the body does also say by the Royal Preacher Happy is the man that feareth always All which being compared with the Importance of my Text and the evill of those days which in the Context are spoken of being duly compar'd with these I speak in for in truth the whole Chapter which lies before us may very well serve for an English Mirroir wherein our Modern Deceivers may partly see how they look I think I may say without impertinence to the most prudent Congregation what our Saviour esteemed needfull not onely pertinent to his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See or take heed and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed ye be not deceived and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed that no man deceive you § 5. That thus the Emphasis is to be put I am confirm'd in my opinion from other words of our Lord to his 12 Apostles when being about to send them abroad to an inhospitable world he did not speak in this manner which yet he might very well have done Beware of those foolish and hurtfull Lusts which drown the Soul in misery and perdition Nor did he choose to say Thus which he might very well have done too Beware of the Inticements of worldly Greatness of Riches and Pleasure and Reputation He did not say with S. Paul Beware of Dogs Not yet with S. Peter Beware of Devils But as a greater Mischief than either Beware of Men. Matth. 10. 17. For as Deceitfulness and Fraud and all the dire effects thereof do give us a very true Character of the Greater World so Man being a little world is a little world of Deceits too The falsest Crocodile in Aegypt is not Hypocrite enough to become his Embleme The reason is because the best things debaucht are the most transcendent evils Those Angels that fell from as high as Heaven could not therefore fall less than as low as Hell And so Angelical was the Nature of Man undeprav'd by injoying a Rectitude both of Intellect and Will that he admitted not of a middle betwixt a Devil and a Saint So that Man's being the worst on this side Hell as well as the best of God's Creatures on this side Heaven does help to adjust and reconcile the seeming contradictory Proverbs Homo Homini Deus and Homo Homini Diabolus Man to Man is a kind of God and Man to Man is an arrant Devil All the rest of our Fellow-creatures are very innocent Neighbours
Idolatrous Greeks apply to Hercules whom they affirm to have ran through all the habitable world And those distinct praedictions of the Prophet Esa touching our Saviour's healing Virtue over all manner of Diseases they apply to Aesculapius their God of Physick Not to be endless in particulars All the Prophecies of our Messias excepting that of his Crucifixion which their Poets could never parallel in all their fabulous Sons of Jupiter have by the wicked Ingeny of Deceivers been profanely misapply'd to the bolstering up of their Idolatries and that by having been wrested from those Completions they all do find in our Blessed Saviour Insomuch as without and within the Church both under the Law and under the Gospel This has ever been a pertinent if not a necessary Caveat Be wise as Serpents Beware of Men or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take ye heed that no man deceive you § 11. We stand in need of This Caveat in respect of All Persons without exception not onely of the worst but the Best of men For as the worst may deceive us by their very good Words so may the Best of men too though without any design and even before they are aware by their evil Deeds To begin with the worst let us first of all attend unto that Caveat of S. Paul to his Ephesians Let no man deceive you with vain words A Caveat extended to many things of great moment however expressed by our Apostle in the stile of vain words He does not mean by vain words such as are but unprofitable and impertinent to the Hearers such as are to no end and purpose but such as are filthy as well as foolish and withall such as are false or fallacious words Such as blind a man's Judgment such as pervert his Understanding such as impose upon his Reason such as mislead him from the true Faith and even couzen him of his Religion In all these respects though in the last above all S. Paul is carefull that his Ephesians be not deceiv'd with vain words They who call foolish or filthy Talking by the plausible names of Facetiousness or Drollery Vrbanity or Burlesque are the first fort of such as do deceive with vain words These are called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latines Ridicularii in French and English Drolls and Railleurs such as think it a mark of Wit never to speak a serious word but to turn all into Ridicule By foolish talking and jesting two words for one thing is meant such insipid and unsavory discourse as has not in it any Salt either of Charity or of Prudence to make it usefull 'T is true that Aristotle does reckon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here S. Paul's word a Semivertue in Conversation But being usually coupled with Scurrility or Obscoeneness or some degree of Profanation for mala sunt vicina bonis it is prohibited and condemn'd and heavily censur'd by our Apostle as inconsistent with the seriousness and the gravity of a Christian whose Conversation should be in heaven and his Joy in the Holy Ghost not in jesting and buffonery Mortification and Repentance and Amendment of life should be His Business and Praising God his Recreation The Study and Contemplation both of the Wisedom and the Will and the Word of God should be his Labour and his Divertisement his daily Exercise and Delight To them that place their present happiness in the contrary to This in sparing nothing to break a Jest neither the holy Word of God nor the good Names of Men nor the modest Ears of Women but sacrifice all considerations to Sport and Laughter as to the Idol they most adore To Them our Lord's Denuntiation belongs of right Wo be to Them that laugh for they shall mourn and weep As for such things as These impious Jests to cause laughter and filthy Talking v. 4. let no man deceive us saith S. Paul as if they were altogether Venial and such as easily consist with a Christian state For even because of These things as arrant Trifles and Peccadilloes as by too many they may be thought the wrath of God cometh upon the children of Disobedience either in This or the World to come Again Let no man deceive us with vain words that is with false ones saith Estius or with fallacious ones saith Menochius And so the Caveat is extensible to All the Deceitfulnesses of Men who with the Sophistry of words or the words of man's Wisedom which is the wisedom of the Flesh seek to impose upon the Consciences and minds of those they speak to As in calling vitious Fear by the Name of Prudence in calling Avarice Frugality Luxury Nobleness Lightness Affability Ambition Greatness of Soul Sheepishness Humility Insultation Courage and devilish Envy Hatred of Evil. For now and then a great Vice does so Ape-out Vertue and several Vertues in some degrees do so border upon Vice that for want of due Heed to the vain words of men many mistake them for one another Let no man therefore deceive us as many will unless we stand upon our Guard by giving vain Subtilty the name of Wisedom and Cruelty the name of Corrective Justice by calling Rashness Resolution and Giddiness Zeal Let no man lead us into Intemperance under the stile of Goodfellowship nor seek to lessen the guilt of Wantonness by its being intitl'd a Trick of youth nor withdraw our Obedience to publick Parents in pretense of Sacrifice to God no nor our Sacrifice to God when That is due because Obedience indeed is better Let no man persuade us to leave undone the smallest Duties under colour of our doing the weightier matters of the Law nor wilfully to admit of a lesser Sin in a sophistical Pretense of avoiding greater For That saying of Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that of two Evils the least is to be chosen is not meant of two Moral but of two Physical or civil Evils 'T is true when two Evils are Both of Punishment or when of any two Evils the one is of Sin and the other of Affliction Reason prompts us to choose the lesser But of two moral Evils or of two formal Sins Religion bids us choose neither But rather suffer the greatest evil than submit to do the least § 12. Should I adventure to reflect upon all sorts of Men of this first rank of whom an heed is to be taken in this last Age though this at first was my Design I should heedlesly ingage in a new Sea of matter and wear out the Patience of all that hear me I shall therefore choose to spend the little Remainder of my time in giving notice of two or three of the most plausible Deceivers which seem to have had the chiefest hand in all the Miseries of the late Times For till the Errours they have sown and sometimes planted be rooted out of the people's Minds I cannot imagin how it is possible to keep our Peace any longer than whilst the
is divinely undeceivable Take away This and all her other Impositions will fall to ruin of Themselves But by the Help of This Errour All the rest must needs be swallow'd how gross soever To wit That the 2 Books of Maccabees and All the rest of the Apocrypha are as much the Word of God as the 5 Books of Moses or any other at least since the Canons of the Council at Trent to whose Authority forsooth The Holy Scriptures owe Theirs That in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper it is the Interest and the Duty of every Christian to be a Canibal even materially and grosly to eat and drink the Flesh and Bloud of The Man Christ Jesus That the single Bishop of Rome is the Vniversal Pastor Head and Monarch over the whole Catholick Church both Diffusive and Representative though in an absolute Contradiction to Four famous Councils which with the Papalins themselves do pass for General to wit of Pisa Constance Basil and Siena Not to insist on those other Councils of Chalcedon Constantinople Antioch and Africa That there must be an Infallible Judge of Controversies on Earth over and above the Word of God Though they who say it are not agreed who the Judge of them should be whether the Diffusive or Representative or That which They call the Virtual Church Catholick or Their Principium Vnitatis as they call the Bishop of Rome who proudly Lords it over them All. That though nothing is to be added to The Apostles own Creed consisting of but 12 Articles Each Apostle casting in One as Ruffinus tells us yet the 12 more at least thereto added by Pius Quartus and the Council of Trent are to be sworn to and Believed as of equal Necessity to Life Aeternal To sum up all in a word No Contradiction can be so gross no Absurdity so great as not to be readily entertained by Those Jesuited Bigots who have beforehand devoured and swallow'd down without chewing That Breeding Blasphemy and Falshood That the Pope is as Infallible as Jesus Christ as often as he speaks ex Cathedrâ even without a General Council not in Questions onely of Right but in those of Fact also Let no man therefore deceive us with his pretended Infallibility more than with his being God or wholly Impeccable upon Earth For He who cannot be deceiv'd can as little Sin they are Attributes peculiar to God alone § 18. But now 't is time that I proceed to the second general Member of Sub-Division by which a Caveat was enter'd against Deceipts of all sorts as well of the best as the worst of Men. For As heed is to be taken that no evil man deceive us by good Appearances and Praetenses so there is use of as great heed that no good man deceive us against his will by the evil Example of his Miscarriage There being at least as much danger of the one as of the other If we allow our selves to think we may safely do what some very good People have done before us the consequence of it will be This that we shall imitate the worst in the best of Men and leave the best to be Their peculiar And therefore here 't is very fit for our observation that 't was not said by our Saviour Matth. 10. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beware of Men that is of Some men Those of the Consistories or Sanedrim amongst the Jews who yet are aimed at in especial manner But with an article praefixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beware of Men that is of all men in general not excepting the very best For let Erasmus and Vatablus say what they will the praefixing of the article seems to import the whole species as Tostatus and Casaubon at least do judge Let us not say therefore with Bellarmin that so good a Woman as Sarah had never prompted her Husband to lie with Hagar if she had not well known it to have been lawfull No nor yet with a greater man that Abram might dissemble and tell a lie to save his life Nor think the better of Adultery or wilfull Murther for being committed even by David after a state of Regeneration Nor look upon Incest itself as venial because 't was acted even by Lot who in the holy Scripture is stiled Righteous Nor imagin it does the rather consist with Wisedom to be Idolatrous for that Solomon Himself did worship Idols who is renowned for his Wisedom throughout the World Nor be so illogical as to conclude in the behalf of Polygamy because so honest a man as Jacob had two Wives at once and is no where reproved in all the Scripture Nor may we give an ear to Them who do excuse the worst Impieties of all such men as have been Regenerate by imputing them wholly to the infirmity of the flesh and not as well to the filthiness of the Spirit Some there are who are serious in the use of such Logick be it spoken to the disgrace of their wit and learning though it is patcht up of nothing but one gross Fallacy à benè divisis ad malè conjuncta Many things are very false in a compound sense which being divided are very true and many are true being compounded which in sensu diviso are very false David was holy and committed wilfull Murther in conjunction with Adultery But it was not committed by holy David for This would imply a Contradiction in adjecto He was holy before and holy after but in a state of Vnholiness and Condemnation whilst he lay snoring in his impieties as he did for some months without repentance So Solomon was wise and a Worshipper of Idols But he was not Then wise when he stood guilty of Idol-Worship Solomon and Solomon were just as different as Peter in the Hall and behind the Door or as the Book of Kings and the Book of Ecclesiastes When That impiety was committed it was by Solomon the Fool who recover'd not his Wisedom till he repented that is to say till he amended and chang'd his life till he became a new Creature and brought forth fruits meet for Repentance § 19. And if heed is to be taken that no good man deceive us we may not sure neglect Him who has nothing of good but in bare appearance If the former may deceive us by the example of his Sin well may the later deceive us too by the lying sanctity of his life Then let not any man deceive us by any means Neither by giving smooth Speeches nor by wearing rough Garments Neither by using Foxes words nor by having Sheeps Cloathing Neither by Spirit nor by Letter Not by the current of his Prosperity not by the reddiness of his Praying not by the commonness of his Preaching not by the plausible Demureness called the Godliness of his Practice For the Devil were but a Dunce in case he could not fish whilst he is angling after Souls with more Baits than These and too contemptible a
shall apostatize from the Faith of Christ A very evident opposition unto final perseverance in Both those Places and 't is as evident that the Apostasie there prophesied of is from a State of Sanctification For the Love waxing cold and the Faith departed from That expressed by our Saviour and This by our Apostle are the same in both Texts in which they ought to have persever'd So again in the first Chapter of the same Epistle to Timothy S. Paul exhorts him to hold fast faith and a good Conscience which some says He having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack That This was justifying Faith which was thus put away and suffer'd shipwrack may appear by two reasons clearly arising out of the Text First because it was That to the holding fast of which S. Paul does there exhort Timothy next because it was That which was attended with a good Conscience If a man saith our Saviour abide not in Me he is cast forth as a Branch and is withered and cast into the Fire clearly spoken of a Reprobate who had formerly been in Christ but abideth not in him and was therefore cast forth as a wither'd branch A Text to which our Apostle in probability does allude where he tells us of certain Branches broken off from The Olive Tree though once partakers of the Root and Fatness of it and broken off they were for their unbelief From whence he exhorts his Believing Romans to beware lest they who now stand by Faith do also fall into infidelity and They be also broken off who are grafted in There are that hear the word of God and receive it with Joy and indure for a while in that good Course and yet in time of Persecution they are offended and fall away saith our blessed Lord. Some have erred from the Faith through the Love of money saith S. Paul to his Son Timothy and in the Eighteenth of S. Matthew the Servant forgiven v. 32. was yet condemn'd v. 35. The same is signified by the Parable of an unclean Spirit cast out by Repentance or regeneration and re-entring by a Relapse into the House of a man's Heart well swept and garnish'd and that with 7 Devils worse if possible than himself so as the Person he repossesseth is worse than ever Which very Parable of our Saviour S. Peter seems to point at in the plainest terms whilst he tells us of some so intangled and overcome by those pollutions of the world which before they had escap'd as that their later end was very much worse then their beginning Again 't is said by the same Apostle in the Chapter going before that He who lacketh those things by which he is to make his Election sure has forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins that is to say that he was regenerate § 8. Whosoever is not satisfied with what I have hitherto alledg'd out of holy writ let him tell me what he thinks of That unpardonable Sin The Sin against the Holy Ghost Let him say whether that Sin can ever be possibly committed unless by one who was once enlightned and had tasted of the heavenly Gift had been made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and of the good word of God and the powers of the World to come Let him weigh the fourth Verse and compare it with the Sixth of the Sixth Chapter to the Hebrews and Both together with the Comment of learned Calvin thereupon if he will not trust That of our most learned Dr. Hammond Let him consider if 't is not possible for such a man to fall away who is so enlightned and if 't is not impossible for such a man falling away from such a Station and State of Grace to be renew'd again unto repentance But above all let him consider the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sixth verse of That Chapter which signifies expresly a second regeneration and every second implies a first The Apostle does not say barely it is impossible to renew them if such as they fall away but that 't is impossible to renew them again clearly intimating unto us these two Illations First that a man may so fall from a State of Grace as not to be able to rise again Next that the Grace he falls from was such as gave him a Salvability or such as by which he was in a State of Regeneration § 9. Being about to carry my proof from Vniversals to Individuals I shall not instance in Saul with S. Cyprian and S. Austin much less in Ahab with S. Jerom and S. Chrysostom much less yet in Cain and Esau nor yet in Alexander and Demas Philetus and Hymenaeus Phygellus and Hermogenes who were Deserters of Christ in his Apostles Wasters of Conscience and Shipwrackers of Faith I shall not instance in Dorotheus who fell away to serve Idols at Thessalonica nor yet in Nicolaus who though one of the seven Deacons was yet the Author of that old Haeresie which carries the Name of The Nicolaitans much less shall I instance in the most excellent of the Haeresiarchs Nestorius Photinus Apollinaris and Pelagius for these last may be the subjects of great Dispute and whatsoever may be true in the Judgment of Faith yet the Judgment of Charity forbids me to affirm that These did finally fall away But of Judas I suppose there is no Dispute For He was chosen by Christ as one of the Twelve select Apostles Joh. 6. 70. and is said to have been given by God the Father to God The Son whose word he kept for some time Joh. 17. 6. and was justified by Faith v. 8. prayed for by Christ not as one of the World but as His peculiar v. 9. He confess'd and taught Christ and did Miracles in his Name Matth. 10. 5 7 8. He was one of Christ's Sheep v. 16. had been grafted into Christ Joh. 15. 2. notwithstanding all which he did not onely fall from but betray his Master hang'd himself as a man Lost and is call'd by our Lord expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son of Perdition § 10. I would not here be so mistaken as if I meant that God's Elect can fall away finally from Grace I am so very far from That that I affirm it to be impossible and to imply a Contradiction For They and They onely are God's Elect who do finally persevere in a Christian Course who being delivered out of the hands of their Enemies do not onely serve God in holiness and righteousness for so do many that are called and are not chosen but they serve him in Both together All the days of their Lives as Zachary goes on in his Benedictus We must therefore so distinguish in our Discourse of this subject between The Regenerate and The Elect as still to carry in our minds as well their Difference as their Agreement In This they agree that all The Elect are still Regenerate In This they differ that all The
against all Pretenders And This is that which is commanded in the two first Precepts of the Decalogue Thou shalt have no God but me Thou shalt not make any graven Images to bow down to them or worship them This is holiness in Thought Which however 't is Necessary is not enough And therefore to this we must add our Reverence That we know to be a vertue which is equally compounded of Love and Fear and by which an Inferiour does speak with Awe concerning any one above him whom he does honour or admire And this is that which is commanded in the third Precept of the Decalogue Thou shalt not lift up the name of thy God in vain Thou shalt not onely not use it falsly but not so much as upon trivial and slight Occasions This is holiness in Word Which however it is Necessary is not enough neither And therefore to this there must be added our active Service That we know is an execution of what our Master gives us in charge And as an acknowledgment of Supremacy as well as of Maintenance and Protection a setting aside our own business that we may wholly attend upon our Master's And this is that which is commanded in the fourth Precept of the Decalogue Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath Day Six days are allowed thee to do thine own business but the seventh is set apart in the seventh thou shalt do no manner of Work No manner of work which is thine own but all manner of work which is thy Master's Not onely acts of Sacrifice such as our Duties in the Church but works of Justice and Mercy too For these indeed are the things in which especially consisteth the Sanctification of a Sabbath and are call'd by our Saviour the weightier matters of the Law This is holiness in action And so we see the three things wherein our holiness is to consist which comprehends our whole obedience to the first Table of the Law § 19. I have the rather been thus plain in shewing the Latitude and the Nature of these Grand Duties that the exactness of our Knowledge may be our Directory to Practice It being necessary to know what it is necessary to practise Holiness towards God and Peace with all men For whilst we are told by our Apostle that without these two there will be no seeing of God we are as good as assur'd by God himself that These precisely are the Terms on which Salvation is to be had Insomuch that if either of these is wanting there 's no escaping the Pains of Hell nor any attaining the Joys of Heaven And therefore after their Nature I am to speak of their Necessity their absolute Necessity to Life eternal § 20. And first Observe how other Scriptures do hold conformity with This. Without these two we cannot possibly make our Calling and Election sure Not the first For we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus that we may draw near with a pure Heart having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 19. 22. Nor yet the second For God hath chosen us in his Son that we should be Holy and without Blame Eph. 1. 4. Without these two our Justification vvill be in vain For God did therefore Reconcile us when we were Enemies in our Minds by wicked works that he might present us Holy and Vnblameable and Vnreproveable in his sight Colos 1. 22. Without these two vve lose the End and so do frustrate the Work of our Redemption For our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for the Church that he might present it unto himself a Glorious Church that it should be Holy and without Blemish Eph. 5. 25. 27. Without these two vve lose the Benefit of the Rod and do partake of That as Bastards which is intended to us as Sons For as vve are told by the Apostle that if we are without chastisement then are we Bastards and not Sons so he presently adds that God correcteth us for our profit to make us Partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12. 10. In a vvord Without an earnest prosecution of Peace and Holiness Vnited for I have shewed that the one cannot subsist vvithout the other vve lose the Benefit of Grace and so evacuate the Means of our Glorification For we all with open face behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord that we may be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3. 18. § 21. Nor have vve onely store of Scripture but Reason for it For if Salvation vvere to be had by appearing Righteous unto men The greatest Hypocrites would become the most glorious Saints If by the stoutness of a Belief or by a Hope without doubting None would be happier than the presumptuous and such as are carnally secure If by the Latitude of a Knowledge or by the Rectitude of Opinions it would be better sure with none than the Lapsed Angels who are as Knowing and as Orthodox as any meer man can be thought to be Heaven would Then be a kind of Jayl full of the guiltiest Malefactors The Error of the Origenists would presently pass into a Truth and the worst of Devils receive the Benefit of a Redemption But no man's reason will yield to That For whosoever does but believe there is a Heaven and a Hell must grant that the one is for the Recompence of the Good and the other for the Punishment of Evil Doers Which shews the absolute Necessity of Peace and Holiness being as 't were the two Eyes without which it is impossible to see the Lord. § 22. But here withall we are to take an especial Care that we do not divide the consideration of their Nature from the consideration â—f their Necessity but still consider what it is wherein our holiness is to consist as well as what it is which depends upon it For through the want of this Caution the empty Picture of Holiness is oft mistaken for the Life there are that think themselves Holy when indeed they are Hypocritical and many hope to be sav'd for their being Cheats There were Professors amongst the Jews who were indeed very punctual in the worship of God and thence concluded they were The Godly but 't was a worship which consisted in the outward washing of Cups and Platters in external Rites and legal Ceremonies which were but shadows of things to come in spreading forth their hands and making Prayers for a pretense in fasting often to appear Righteous unto men in keeping Sabbaths and new Moons in building the Tombs of the Prophets and adorning the Sepulchers of the righteous when all the while they neglected the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith They did so pull the Motes out of other mens Eyes as not at all to see the Beams in their own They did so strain at Gnats as to swallow Camels for they devoured even Orphans and Widows Houses Camels Those with
Infirmities Yea when our Infirmities are so potent as to disable us even from praying and from crying out for help the Spirit interceedeth for us with Groans which cannot be uttered And at the intercession of such a Spirit our Spiritual Enemies will fly as the walls of Jericho did fall at the sound of a Trumpet 'T was by the help of This Spirit that though the Enemies of David were still in hand to swallow him up yet he was able still to say He would not fear what Flesh could do unto him Whilst the weapons of our warfare are not Carnal but Spiritual They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against God and bringing into captivity every Thought to the obedience of Christ Our weapons indeed are mighty but 't is through God who does not onely guide our Feet but also lifts up our Hands and directs our Blows and often strikes for us Himself too And yet the Victory which he wins his Goodness placeth to our Accompt His is the Glory of the Conquest but Ours the Comfort And This accordingly was the Incouragement our Saviour gave to his Apostles Be of good Comfort I have overcome the World The Sting of Death which is Sin He hath pluck'd out for us The strength of Sin which is the Law He hath weaken'd in our behalf He hath routed our common Enemy and looks that We should follow the chase Which the Apostle well considering did seem with one and the same Breath to turn his out-cry into an Eulogy his complaint into a Jubily his Temptations of Despair into Joy and Triumph For no sooner had he said O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death But in the next words he added I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Nay farther yet He does not onely say in another place Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ But also invents a new Word to shew the greatness of our Victory above that of others Through Him that loved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Text we do not onely overcome but are more than Conquerors Indeed without Him our strength is weakness our Wisedom Folly and accordingly the Apostle does very appositely exhort us to be strong in the Lord and in the Power of His might Eph. 6. 10. And when 't is said by S. John Ye are of God little Children and have overcome them he gives this Reason Because greater is He that is in You than he that is in the World For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 1 Joh. 5. 4. This must therefore be our Prayer That Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith And this will then be our Incouragement That being strengthned with might in the Inward man we shall be able to stand in the evil Day § 19. But we have yet another Incouragement to wrestle with and to fight against Fleshly Lusts from the exceeding great Richness of our Reward For when we can say with the Apostle we have fought the god fight we may also say with him in the same Assurance because upon the same Ground Henceforth is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness Betwixt which two there is so vast a Disproportion that the Fight is for a moment and the Sufferings growing from it do quickly wither whereas the Crown is immarcescible such as cannot but injoy an eternal Spring And therefore S. Paul vvas not out in his Reckoning vvhen he reckon'd that the Sufferings and amongst Them the Self-denials of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. Which kind of Sufferings and Self-denials do not onely praecede but even work for us a weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. And the reason of This expression may be argued even from hence That to fight against the Flesh so far forth as to mortifie and put it to Death which are the literal importance of the Apostles two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to make our selves Partakers of the sufferings of Christ Which sufferings of Christ do not onely occasion but clearly work for us a weight of Glory And for this very end do we partake of Christ's sufferings by Self-denials on his Accompt That when his Glory shall be revealed we may also rejoyce with exceeding Joy 1 Pet. 4. 13. Yea the bare consideration of such an unspeakable Reward did put S. Paul upon Rejoycing not onely after but in his Sufferings and Self-denials Col. 1. 24. A Reward great enough to make a Coward turn Fighter For who would not fight even for fear that he shall lose such a Reward The onely thing we have to fear is our not fighting enough to win the Prize we fight for Now every Fighter says our Apostle and so say all Agonistick Writers is to keep a strict Diet. S. Paul's words are He must be temperate in all Things Alluding plainly to the Olympicks in which the Combatans were dieted for forty Days Every Man had his Lent whereby to fit him for his Encounter and his Abstinence was his Armour whereby to guard him from a Defeat And if They were so Abstemious to gain a corruptible Crown how much more should we abstain for the gaining of a Crown which is not liable to corruption not onely an exceeding but an aeternal weight of Glory Such was the Logick with which S. Paul argued and such was the Rule of his Acting too For saith He I so run not as uncertainly So fight I not as one that beateth the Air. But I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection His own words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I fight as a Pancratiast that is as a Cuffer and Wrestler too I beat my Body black and blue I make an arrant Slave of it lay upon it both the Yoke and the Cross of Christ subdue my Flesh unto my Spirit deny my self the use of my Christian Liberty suffer the loss of many things which I might lawfully injoy that by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead that by any means possible I may apprehend That for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus All which I take to be imported by those two words 1 Cor. 9. 27. Where by the way we may observe of our Apostle S. Paul He did not war against Another's but against his own Body For he knew his own Body was the worst Enemy to his Soul and that to save himself from it was to keep it under He knew the Flesh to be so sturdy and so implacable a Rebel that if he should suffer it to thrive and to get an Head he would
have reason to be jealous of its Aspirings and to stand in some fear lest whilst he preached unto others He himself might become a Castaway § 20. Now we must go and do likewise For we expect the same Crown and are beset with the same Enemies by which if he was indanger'd much more are we And therefore if it was His way much more must it be Ours to abstain in good earnest from Fleshly Lusts by abstaining from the things by which they are nourished and upheld Intemperance is the Mother of all the rest or if not properly the Mother yet at least she is the Nurse as being evermore feeding and making provision for the Flesh and by consequence giving strength to its several Lusts And therefore striving for the Mastery let us be temperate in all things Let us add Fasting unto our Prayers and constant Watchfulness unto our Fasting and persevere in all Three till we have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts For since our Lusts are so restless as never ceasing to rebell we must be every whit as restless in reducing such Rebels to their Allegiance Nay it concerns us to be restless though they should possibly be at rest For as a Leopard or a Lion though sometimes gentle and debonaire are yet with reason kept close in Chains or Dungeons because they still retain the nature of salvage Beasts so Fleshly Lusts though very much tamer at one Season than at another do yet retain the whole nature of Fleshly Lusts and if they are not lock'd up in Chains or thrust down into a Dungeon we know not how soon they may rage against us However then our Fleshly Lusts may Seem to be at peace with us let us never be at peace with our Fleshly Lusts And though the vileness of our Enemies or the miseries of a Defeat the Honour and Gallantry of our Ingagement or the Divinity of our Support by the Grace of God and the Means of Grace should not be able of themselves to prevail upon us yet the additional consideration of the Immensity of our Reward should one would think beget within us the noblest courage and resolution We find them both in one Text and spoken both with one Breath and the later is an Inference which cannot but follow from the former That whosoever will but fight the good fight of Faith will not fail to lay hold on Eternal life And this the God of all Mercy prepare us for both for the Glory of his Grace and for the Worthiness of his Son unto whom with the Father in the unity of the Spirit be all Obedience and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen OF ABSTAINING In particular from DISOBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY In things INDIFFERENT As from the worst and the most scandalous of all FLESHLY LUSTS in S. Peter's Judgment 1 PET. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake § 1. SAint Peter having exhorted us to abstain from Fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul and inforc'd his Exhortation with Five strong Reasons in the two next Verses before my Text straight gives an Instance in the most scandalous and the most damning piece of Carnality of all those sorts in general from which he exhorted us to abstain For what Connexion or Coherence can there be betwixt my present and former Text lying as close by one another as by S. Peter they could be laid unless it be that Disobedience to human Governours and Laws is of all Fleshly Lusts the most disgracefull to Christianity the most repugnant to the Gospel of Jesus Christ most incompatible with the Profession and the Salvation of a Christian That this is the meaning of S. Peter seems to be clear from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very significant in the Original however omitted in the Translation To stop the Mouths of those Enemies who speak against you as evil Doers says S. Peter to the Christians of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom he writes by your abstaining from Fleshly Lusts and by your unblameable Conversation among the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ye subjected and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ye Therefore subjected and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to every human Creature that is to say to every Man who is a Magistrate created by God not by the People to be a Governour But still a Creature and a Man and Both together an human Creature wholly mortal as to his Person though wholly divine as to his Office Therefore to Him submit your selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for the Magistrates or the People's or your own sakes onely but first and chiefly for the Lord 's First because of the Lord's Precept Matth. 22. 21. Next because of the Lord's Example Matth. 17. 27. Thirdly because of the Lord 's Ordaining him Rom. 13. 1 2. Fourthly because He bears the Lord's Image and is the Lord's Deputy Lieutenant or Vicegerent upon Earth the Lord's Minister and Avenger Rom. 13. 4. Lastly because ye must love the Lord v. 5. and love the Lord ye cannot unless ye love the Lord's Surrogate and your love to Superiours is to be seen in your Obedience Again submit your selves without partiality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Apostle's word to every Ordinance of Man or to All the Lord's Surrogates without exception Not onely to the Supreme as sent by God's Providence and God's Commission but to subordinate Rulers also as sent by Commission from the Supreme Not to the Emperour onely Himself whether Claudius or Nero at the writing of this Epistle but to Proconsuls and Procurators both of Asia and Bithynia as sent by Caesar Yet not to Them against Him not to Furius Camillus Scribonianus against Claudius not to the Parliament against the King nor to the King against Himself not at all to his Authority against his Person nor in his Right to his Wrong as some Christians have plaid the Sophisters to the reproach of Christianity But to each in his order To the King as Supreme so it follows in the Text and to Governours as sent by Him Where the word as is very emphatical As and no otherwise than as by Him sent As and no otherwise than for His sake and on His accompt And so à quatenus ad omne optimè valet argumentum Submit your selves to All as sent by Him and submit your selves to None but so far forth as He sends them S. Peter's Logick is very plain and makes the Case very clear upon every side § 2. Of all the Arguments or Reasons which are producible for the inforcing S. Peter's Praecept here are two of concernment to Men in general and a Third for Believers or Christian People in particular Of the two former the first is taken from the Author and Assertor of All Authorities unto which Men as Men are here commanded to submit They must do it propter Dominum because The Lord hath Authorized human Authorities upon Earth and The Lord will
Laws than the Laws allow Him in his being lawless or no longer than they are usefull and pleasant to him as when they avenge him upon his Enemies protect him in his Liberty and assert him in his Estate deserves not those Benefits of Propriety and safety the Laws afford him Sixthly that as many as do avow themselves Protestants and yet divide from the Church of England do contribute a great deal more towards the bringing in of Popery than All the Emissaries of Rome could have done without them § 10. If we earnestly desire at least as much as in us lies to put an end to all Schisms and Separations to procure or promote the publick Peace of this Nation and in That the publick Safety by procuring and promoting Vniformity in Religion and a general Conformity to the Laws we live under we must be restless in convincing all the People we can converse with of these Six things Not onely by making them unable to deny but by making them able to assert the Truth of them and thereby to be Converters of other men We must never be at rest nor let Them be so until they are perfect in these Particulars Or if not in all yet especially in the chief As that though the Laws of God cannot possibly depend on the Laws of Men but vice versâ yet our Obedience to God's own Laws does depend on our Obedience to Those of Men. They onely differ by the Distinction of mediate and immediate And so they are Termini Convertibiles for the immediate Laws of Men are the mediate Laws of God And that by force of This Text never enough to be repeated and chew'd upon Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake And why for the Lord's sake if not because the Lord hath so appointed What God does mediately command by his several Deputies his Moses and his Aaron his Zerubbabel and his Joshua and all his succeeding Legislators in Church and State He does as really and as truly and as bindingly command as what He immediately commands by a Voice from Heaven In so much that the Distinction of mediate and immediate does no ways alter the Obligation or make God's Law either more or less His. Now though the Doctrine of Obedience unto the mediate Commands of God is very learnedly and piously and frequently preach'd in many Places yet it has not universally its wish'd effect because not preach'd as a Fundamental as essential to our Religion and as of absolute Necessity to the Salvation of the Soul The Doctrine cannot be press'd enough until 't is press'd in This Notion For Liberty is so sweet and Obligation so distastfull to most mens Palates that they will never make Conscience of being punctually Obedient to human Ordinances and Laws whilst they are flatter'd that their Souls may be sav'd without it § 11. Touching the several Ways and Means whereby This Work is to be done I am plainly of This opinion That though it may be well done from out the Pulpit in such profitable Discourses as we commonly call Sermons yet very much better it may be done out of the Pew in the more primitive way of Preaching and the more profitable I think which is Catechizing But best of all by private Conference wherein we deal with our Dissenters one by one and give them the reasonable Advantage which in the publick they cannot have of alledging all they can for their Separation and of objecting all they can against our Church from which they separate and by consequence against the 33 Acts of Parliament by which our Liturgy and Church do remain establish'd For This Advantage given to Them by a Private Conference gives Vs also the Advantage of giving clear and full Answers to their Objections Which if we do to their Satisfaction we shall gain them back to God and to His Spouse our Dear Mother The Church of England This we certainly shall do if their Error is but of Weakness and so consistent with an honest well meaning Spirit whereas if of Wilfulness Pride and Stomach Then indeed they are possess'd with such a Deaf and Dumb Spirit as of which without a Miracle we are not able to dispossess them And so we may lawfully give them over as incurable Patients on whom All Remedies are cast away As we may lawfully cease to cast that which is holy unto Dogs For in good Earnest of the two I do esteem it a lesser Miracle to make the Blind man to see or the Deaf to hear than either the Wilfull to believe or the Obstinate to submit to the clearest Reason The onely Charity left for Such is to deliver them up to Satan I will not say for the Destruction but Humiliation of the Flesh that so if by any means possible their Spirits may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus § 12. If what I have said is not sufficient to reach the end I aim at I will try what success I may happen to obtain by a shorter Method The Method of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus a very Noble Roman of known Integrity Who being accused before the People in a very long Oration by Varius Sucronensis an envious Knave defended himself in a very short one or to say truly in None at all For disdaining to contend with his base Enemy in words He onely ask'd the Roman People this Question Which of the Two ye men of Rome think ye the worthier of your Belief Varius Sucronensis who does confidently affirm Aemilius Scaurus to be Guilty or Aemilius Scaurus rather who does protest that he is Innocent Upon which words alone the Person accused was acquitted and the Envious Accuser severely censur'd In a manner not unlike I shall onely say Here. The great Apostle S. Peter as the Holy Ghost's Penman bids us all submit our selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake Whether to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as sent by Him But certain men of these Times crept in unawares who despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities who think themselves of more knowledge and greater Authority than S. Peter do as absolutely forbid as S. Peter bids us They will not have us submit to any Ordinance of Man either Subordinate or Supreme But they will have us for the Lord's sake to recalcitrate rather and kick at every Ordinance of Man as incroaching too much on our Christian Liberty Now if I ask which of the Two S. Peter or His Enemies we ought to follow or obey very confident I am ye will say S. Peter These I think are words enough to have been us'd at This Time upon the grounds I have to hope that No more are needfull A CAVEAT Touching the Danger of REFUSING THOSE CAVEATS Our LORD hath given us in His GOSPEL HEB. 12. 25. See that ye Refuse not Him that speaketh For if They escaped not who refused Him that spake on Earth much more shall not We escape if we turn away from
loathsome and in a state of Depravation he had not given himself for us to make us lovely that is to redeem us from all Iniquity And since the hardness of our Hearts was able enough to break His I mean to break it into compassion and pity towards us shall not the tenderness of his Heart be able enough to melt ours I mean to melt them into Tears of sincere Repentance At least it should melt us into so much good Nature as to afford him willing Ears when he speaks unto us You know 't is uncivil for any Aequal to look aside when another speaks But 't is sawciness in a Cottager to slight the speech of his noble Landlord 'T is more than Insolence in a Subject not to attend unto the words of a gracious Soveraign How great a Crime is it by consequence as well as a clownery in Religion either to laugh or look aside or any other ways to express an haughty Carelesness or Neglect when God himself in his Gospel is speaking to us by his Son The Men of Israel and of Judah were more obnoxious to Judgment than Those of Nineve both for slighting His preaching who was greater than Jonah and because they were a People much more oblig'd For as the better he is that speaks the worse it is not to attend him or as the more the Things spoken have been obliging the contempt of such things is the more enormous so the more favours they have received to whom the word of God is offer'd the more unpardonable they are on supposition of their Refusal Indeed the Jews and the Mahomedans or the Salvages of America may refuse the Lord Jesus with some colour of Excuse But we are capable of none if we neglect so great Salvation when brought unto us by a Saviour with whom from our Birth we have been acquainted and of whom we know This by the instruction of S. Peter that He alone hath the words of Eternal Life And therefore whatever is done by others who are but Aliens and Strangers to Christianity yet in remembrance of the Privilege and the Dignity of your Vocation your having been washed in the laver of Baptism your having had a Taste of the heavenly gift and of the Powers of the world to come your being a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People which in time past were not a People but are now the People of God which had not once obtained Mercy but have now obtained Mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh § 7. Last of all let us consider after the Quality of the Speaker the excellent Nature of what is spoken and the Condition of the Persons to whom he speaks the greater Degrees of Condemnation to such as are guilty of a Refusal For as the Dignity of our Calling is above that of others so we find our selves obliged to greater Duty And the more we are rewardable for our Discharge of such Duty by so much the greater is our Danger if we neglect it For the Gospel will condemn us to greater misery than the Law upon that Supposal An injur'd Saviour will become a most angry Judge And our contempt of richer Favours than had been shewn in Times past will but excite our Benefactor to greater Fury Mark I pray what it is which I am now to demonstrate and press you with for what you can never enough remember I cannot mind you of too often That as the greater Dignities are allow'd us the stricter Duties we are injoyn'd so by how much the stricter our Duties are we must needs be obnoxious to greater Dangers To us it is given to know the Will of our Master and the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Here lies our Dignity But if we know his Will we must do it too There lies our Duty For if we know it but do it not we shall be beaten with many stripes Therein consists our greatest Danger 'T is not the knowledge of our Duties but the living up to our knowledge which will stand us instead in the Day of Wrath. Nay All we gain by our Knowledge whilst it is destitute of Practice is to be laden with greater misery than they that know nothing at all God who spake in times past to our Forefathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son There lies our Dignity But the times of their Ignorance God winked at saith the Apostle who now commandeth all men every where to repent There lies our Duty and Danger too For if his bespeaking us by his Son exacts to be answer'd by our Repentance by so much the greater must be our Misery if we continue in our Impenitence And then what Ground is it of Comfort that God in these last days hath spoken to us by his Son thereby filling us with the knowledge of all the Mysteries of the Gospel in case our Knowledge is become barren and doth not bring forth the Fruits of Evangelical Integrity to wit impartial Obedience to the whole Law of Christ To what purpose is our Knowledge of all good things without the sedulous execution of what we know when God who hath spoken by his Son hath spoken This in effect amongst other things That our present Guilt will be the more and our future Stripes the more numerous It had been better for us by consequence He had not spoken to us at all much less by his Son if we shall now slop our Ears against the Voice of this Charmer or onely open our Ears to him but not our Hearts For what said our Lord of the stubborn Jews upon whom he had bestow'd the first-fruits of his Preaching and to whom he had offer'd the first Refusal of his Favours If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had Sin but now that I am come and have spoken and both in vain they have no excuse or colour for Sin After the very same manner had not God spoken to us at all or had he spoken to us obscurely as he spake to the Gentiles before the Law by the great Book of the Creation the twofold Volume of heaven and earth or had he spoken to us onely by Dreams and Visions by Vrim and Thummim by Types and Figures by Angels and Men by whom he spake unto the Jews under the Paedagogie of Moses we might have alledged in our excuse how ineffectually soever that we either wholly wanted the means of knowledge or that the means were much less than they might have been But now since after all other Methods by which he spake to us and others and which are written for our Instruction he hath left to us in writing what he spake to us by his Son thereby enlightning our Heads with an abundant measure of his Knowledge and also hath given us of his Spirit whereby to warm our Hearts too with a competent measure of
his Grace what Apologie or Pretense are we able to make for our Impieties We cannot alledge at his Tribunal That we were ignorant of his Glory and unacquainted with his Works for the heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psal 19. 1. We cannot say in that hour that we were destitute of the Law for He hath written it in our Hearts Nor that we wanted his Gospel for He hath put it into our Ears Nor that we were strangers unto his Name for we daily take it into our Lips Nor can we plead that He exacted more than 't was possible for us to do for we know we can do all things through Him that strengthens us And he accepteth according to what we have although it be but a willing mind where nothing more can be perform'd 2 Cor. 8. 12. He accepts the least Things where the least are the greatest that we can give Sincere we can be although not sinless Let us but be what we can and be perfectly willing to be what we can not that is let us be perfect as it is possible for us to be and perfectly willing to be perfect as our Father in Heaven and then we have that willing mind which S. Paul doth assure us will be accepted But here I would not be so mistaken by such as love to be misled into pleasant Errors as if I had hinted that the Will is still as good as the Deed or that if we are desirous to do our Duties and do them not it will certainly serve our turn as well as if we had done them The Apostle does not so speak and I onely speak with the Apostle whose words to the Corinthians are plainly These If there be first a willing mind God accepteth according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Which is as if he should have said God will not punish any man living who does as much as he is able for the not doing of That which 't is impossible for him to do From whence 't is obvious to infer not that any man may presume upon God's acceptance of his Will or his woulding rather without the performance of his Duty when he is able to perform as well as will it for this were to justifie our wilfullest which are our very worst sins but that when we have in earnest done the greatest good we can God accepts of our willingness to do the good we can not Being as good as we are able he will not be angry we are no better When he finds us sincere in all our Services he will not condemn us for not being sinless But notwithstanding all This which is indeed for our Comfort It is every whit as true and for our Humiliation that we shall be utterly unexcusable at the last great Audit in the day when God shall judge the Secrets of men by Jesus Christ in case we so far refuse Him that speaks to us from Heaven as live no more strictly with all the Advantages of the Gospel than the Jews and the Gentiles who liv'd without them First from the Gentiles 't is argued Thus by S. Paul If They were left without excuse who had no other Scripture than the great Book of Hieroglyphicks the double System of the Creatures in Heaven and Earth and had no other Light than that of Reason whereby to read it and had no Law to go by but That of Nature and had no where else to see it but in the Tables of their Hearts and where 't was written in no Characters but what were Invisible to their Eyes then what excuse can We hope for whom God hath spoken to by his Son and who besides the Light of Nature have All the Instruments of Grace too if We shall sin against the light of so clear a Knowledge 'T is very plain that we Christians may be less excusable than the Gentiles who many of them never heard of the Name of Christ and yet for all that were unexcusable Secondly from the Jews we find our Author to the Hebrews disputing thus Heb. 10. 28 29. If he that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of how much sorer Punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God And He is reckon'd to be the Man that hath trodden under foot the Son of God whoever he is that sinneth wilfully after he hath received the knowledge of the Truth v. 26. For if then we sin wilfully there remaineth no more sacrifice or expiation for sins but a certain fearfull looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries v. 27. The confirmation of this we have Heb. 6. 4 5 6. where 't is affirm'd to be impossible for them that once have been inlightned and have tasted of the good word of God if They fall away to be renewed unto Repentance And the reason there is because in God's interpretation they crucifie to themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame This again is confirm'd by 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. where the End of relapsed Christians is said to be worse than the Beginning And thence 't is inferred to be better never to have known the way of Truth than after they have known it to turn c. Thus you see how the Jews might be less excusable than the Gentiles and yet how We who are Christians may be less excusable than the Jews And therefore let us look to it that we refuse not him that speaketh but rather that we make him some proportionable Answer speaking back to him better than by our Sins to wit by Repentance and change of Life For if They escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth much less shall we if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven § 8. I do insist so much the rather upon this fourth and last Topick from which the Caveat or Warning is now inforc'd because the hope of Reward in a world to come is less available with men than the fear of Punishment and because the Holy Ghost does seem to prefer this way of arguing not onely in my Text but in diverse other places of this Epistle In the second Chapter more especially at the first second third and fourth Verses we find the Argument and the Inference to be much the same that they are here First of all observe the Argument and especially the Topick from which 't is drawn If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience received a just recompence of reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How shall we then escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and diverse Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost
Nature and such as carried up S. Paul above the low sense of all his Sufferings 'T is no less than the Victory which overcometh the World No less than the Evidence of Things not seen no less than the Substance that is the confident Expectation of things hoped for It refresheth our drooping Spirits with unspeakable Comforts in the black and gloomy day of our greatest Trial when all the Comforters upon Earth are utterly unable to yield us comfort It fills us inwardly with Joy in the Holy Ghost Conveys unto us a full assurance that our Pardon is seal'd our Peace ratified that God is our Father and we His Children Gives us some Glimmerings and Fore-tasts of the Glory to be reveal'd It presentiates things future and prepossesseth us with the Injoyment of things invisible Reveals unto us by the secret and powerfull Whispers of God's Spirit the Beatifick and glorious Mansions prepared for us in His House Hereupon it does so place us above the Level of Temptations as to exempt us from the fear of whatsoever Men or Devils can do unto us Insomuch that what is intended by the Enemies of our Faith to make us sorry by This is wonderfully made to increase our Joy By This we are enabled to trust in God as Holy Job did although he kills us So that lifting up our heads and looking up unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith we learn to love and to kiss his Rod and are so far from repining at his severest Dispensations that in regard unto the Joy that is set before us we can injoy the very Torments and scorn the shame of a Crucifixion In a word should I exemplifie all I have said concerning Faith by making a Narrative of Particulars as far as from Abel to Charles the First which were to prove by the Argument they call Induction the wonderfull Powers and Effects and glorious Benefits of Believing as well as of Knowing whom we believe I must have taken for my Text the whole Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews § 22. But because This would prove an Enterprize too long and tedious though not too difficult to be perform'd I shall conclude with some Directions for the securing of our Faith if at least we have any from slipping from us and for the enabling us to say with our Apostle in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we know whom we have trusted we Know whom we have Believed and are perswaded that He is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against That Day § 23. If we find our selves wavering in the Belief of those Things whereof we have not a perfect knowledge however a perfect knowledge of That which is the Ground of the Things Believed and we have reason to superstruct the strongest Belief to be imagin'd upon so firm a Foundation as perfect Knowledge we may comfort our selves and re-inforce our Sick Faith by observing these following Rules First by reflecting on the importance of those known Words Lord I believe help Thou my unbelief Implying an unbelief in one does consist with belief in another measure Just as contrary Qualities often meet in one Subject in gradibus remissis although in gradibus intensis they never can Next by making that Confession and Prayer our own Lord we believe in a degree but with fears now and then and some dishonourable Faintings Nor of our selves can we do more but That and more by thy Help Help us therefore to believe without the least degree of doubting or distrust or diffidence Whatever is wanting in our Belief we pray thee pardon and repair and replenish in us We cannot acquire it by Art or Industry but we can humbly wrestle with thee as Jacob did for this Blessing by Prayer and Fasting And through the Grace which Thou hast given us We will never let thee go till thou hast bless'd us with a steady unshaken Faith Thirdly by considering that to be tempted however strongly is no Transgression But rather the more a man is tempted and to the staggering of his Faith the more victorious is his Faith when he does not yield Yield we do not whilst we dissent from our Waverings and hate the unsteadiness of our Assent and are heartily griev'd at its Haesitations and are piously carefull to make it steady and resolute in our Purposes to hold fast our Faith even in spite of those Doubtings we grapple with and strive to make it so much the stronger the more our Tempter attempts its overthrow by the Antiperistasis of Temptations We do not yield though we are buffeted both by Satan and the Flesh and the World we live in whilst we are obstinate in our purpose to serve the God whom we own with our Self-denials to serve him with the Denial of all the Rivals of his Religion our Wit our Reason our Erudition our Profit Pleasure or Reputation and to honour him with the obedience of every Faculty within us not onely with our Wills but our Vnderstandings whilst we make them stoop down when they cannot rise so high as to things above us and the rather to believe them if I may use Tertullian's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because Impossible For what is impossible to us to God is easie What to us is miraculous to Him is natural And therefore the Mysteries of our Religion to wit the Trinity Incarnation Resurrection and the like which to the misty Eye of Reason our Tempter would make to seem impossible do to the clearer Eye of Faith appear to be True so much the rather I say the rather in two respects in respect of our Tempter whose ends we frustrate by our Belief and in respect of the Things Themselves which do the better become Religion for being above the short Reach of our stunted Knowledge and which we are Therefore to believe because unable to comprehend them For were we able to comprehend them as we do many things below us This gross Absurdity would follow that what is now our Religion would be our Science Wherein our finite Vnderstandings would not humbly submit but proudly Triumph And it would be an hard thing to be Irreligious The Pelagians of old and our late Socinians do seem to forget the vast Distance and Disproportion betwixt the Faculties of Man and hidden Mysteries of God when they contend for a Sufficience in natural reason to receive the deep things of the Spirit of God For as God being a Spirit must for that very reason be worshipped in Spirit so the spiritual things of God must be spiritually discerned There must be Similitude and Proportion 'twixt Acts and Objects Lastly 't is matter of comfort to us and one of the means of reinforcing our wavering Faith that what does often seem to fail us in one regard may yet in another be ever with us for our support We may with the Father of the Faithfull the Faithfull Abraham believe in Hope against Hope For