a truth but in the Church who formerly had with too much facility admitted a conclusion so justly subject to exception And let this suffice for our third part Now because it is apparent that the end of this our Apostles admonition is to give the Church a Caveat how she behave her self in handling of Scripture give me leave a little in stead of the use of such doctrines as I have formerly laid down to shew you as far as my conceit can stretch what course any man may take to save himself from offering violence unto Scripture and reasonably settle himself any pretended obscurity of the text whatsoever notwithstanding For which purpose the diligent observing of two rules shall be throughly available First The litteral plain and uncontroversable meaning of Scripture without any addition or supply by way of interpretation is that alone which for ground of faith we are necessarily bound to accept except it be there where the holy Ghost himself treads us out another way I take not this to be any peculiar conceit of mine but that unto which our Church stands necessarily bound When we receded from the Church of Rome one motive was because she added unto Scripture her glosses as Canonical to supply what the plain text of Scripture could not yield If in place of hers we set up our own glosses thus to do were nothing else but to pull down Baal and set up an ephod to run round and meet the Church of Rome again in the same point in which at first we left her But the plain evident and demonstrative ground of this rule is this That authority which doth warrant our faith unto us must every way be free from all possibility of errour For let us but once admit of this that there is any possibility that any one point of faith should not be true if it be once granted that I may be deceived in what I have believed how can I be assured that in the end I shall not be deceived If the Author of faith may alter or if the evidence and assurance that he hath left us be not pregnant and impossible to be defeated there is necessarily opened an inlet to doubtfulness and wavering which the nature of faith excludes That faith therefore may stand unshaken two things are of necessity to concur First That the Author of it be such a one as can by no means be deceived and this can be none but God Secondly That the words and text of this Author upon whom we ground must admit of no ambiguity no uncertainty of interpretation If the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall provide himself to battel If the words admit a double sense and I follow one who can assure me that that which I follow is the truth For infallibility either in judgment or interpretation or whatsoever is annext neither to the See of any Bishop nor to the Fathers nor to the Councels nor to the Church nor to any created power whatsoever This doctrine of the literal sense was never grievous or prejudicial to any but onely to those who were inwardly conscious that their positions were not sufficiently grounded When Cardinal Cajetan in the days of our grandfathers had forsaken that vein of postilling and allegorising on Scripture which for a long time had prevailed in the Church and betaken himself unto the literal sense it was a thing so distasteful unto the Church of Rome that he was forc'd to find out many shifts and make many apologies for himself The truth is as it will appear to him that reads his writings this sticking close to the literal sense was that alone which made him to shake many of those tenets upon which the Church of Rome and the Reformed Churches differ But when the importunity of the Reformers and the great credit of Calvin's writings in that kind had forced the Divines of Rome to level their interpretations by the same line when they saw that no pains no subtlety of wit was strong enough to defeat the literal evidence of Scripture it drave them on those desperate shelves on which at this day they stick to call in question as far as they durst the credit of the Hebrew text and countenance against it a corrupt translation to adde Traditions unto Scripture and to make the Churches interpretation so pretended to be above exception As for that restriction which is usually added to this Rule that the literal sense is to be taken if no absurdity follow though I acknowledge it to be sound and good yet my advise is that we entertain it warily St. Basil thought the precept of Christ to the rich man in the Gospel Go sell all that thou hast and give unto the poor to be spoken as a command universally and eternally binding all Christians without exception And making this objection how possibly such a life could be amongst Christians since where all are sellers none could be buyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ask not me the sense of my Lords commands He that gave the Law can provide to give it possibility of being kept without any absurdity at all Which speech howsoever we may suppose the occasion of it to be mistaken yet it is of excellent use to repress our boldness whereby many times under pretence of some inconvenience we hinder Scripture from that latitude of sense of which it is naturally capable You know the story of the Roman Captain in Gellius and what he told the Ship-wright that chose rather to interpret then to execute his Lords command Corrumpi atque dissolvi omne imperantis officium si quis ad id quod facere jussus est non obsequio debito sed consilio non desiderato respondeat It will certainly in the end prove safer for us to entertain Gods commandments obsequio debito then to interpret them acumine non desiderato Those other ways of interpretation whether it be by allegorising or allusion or whatsoever the best that can be said of them is that which S. Basil hath pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We acount of them as of trim elegant and witty speeches but we refuse to accept of them as of undoubted truths And though of some part of these that may be said which one said of his own work Quod ad usum lusi quod ad molestiam laboravi in respect of any profit comes by them they are but sport but in respect of the pains taken in making of them they are labour and travel yet much of them is of excellent use in private either to raise our affections or to spend our meditations or so it be with modesty to practise our gifts of wit to the honour of him that gave them For if we absolutely condemn these interpretations then must we condemn a great part of antiquity who are very much conversant in this kind of interpreting For the most partial for antiquity cannot chuse but see and
Austine for example For it is not depth of knowledge nor knowledge of antiquity or sharpness of wit nor authority of Councels nor the name of the Church can settle the restless conceits that possess the minds of many doubtful Christians onely to ground for faith on the plain uncontroversable Text of Scripture and for the rest to expect and pray for the coming of our Elias this shall compose our waverings and give final rest unto our souls Thus instead of a discourse which was due unto this time concerning the glorious Resurrection of our blessed Saviour and the benefits that come unto us by it I have diverted my self upon another Theam more necessary as I thought for this Auditory though less agreeable with this solemnity Those who have gone afore me in that argument have made so copious a harvest that the issue of my gatherings must needs have been but small except I had with Ruth glean'd out of their sheaves or strain'd my industry which is but small and my wits which are none to have held your attentiveness with new and quaint conceits In the mean time whether it be I or they or whatsoever hath been delivered out of this place God grant that it may be for his honour and for the Churches good to whom both it and we are dedicate To God the Father c. Rom. XIV I. Him that is weak in the faith receive but not to doubtful disputations MIght it so have pleased God that I had in my power the choice of my ways and the free management of my own actions I had not this day been seen for so I think I may better speak seen may I be of many but to be heard with any latitude and compass my natural imperfection doth quite cut off I had not I say in this place this day been seen Ambition of great and famous Auditories I leave to those whose better gifts and inward endowments are Admonitioners unto them of the great good they can do or otherwise thirst after popular applause Vnto my self have I evermore applied that of St. Hierom Mihi sufficit cum auditore Lectore pauperculo in Angulo Monasterii susurrare A small a private a retired Auditory better accords both with my will and my abilities Those unto whose discretion the furniture of this place is committed ought especially to be careful since you come hither to hear to provide you those who can be heard for the neglect of this one circumstance how poor soever it may seem to be is no less then to offend against that Faith which cometh by hearing and to frustrate as much as in them is that end for which alone these meetings were ordained We that come to this place as God came to Elias in the mount in a soft and still voice to those which are near us are that which the grace of God doth make us unto the rest we are but Statues such therefore as my Imperfection in this kind shall offend such as this day are my spectatours onely know I trust whom they are to blame At my hands is onely required truth in sincerely discharging a common care at others care of profitably delivering a common truth As for me the end of whose coming is to exhort you to a gracious intepreting of each others imperfections having first premised this Apology for my self it is now time to descend to the exposition of that Scripture which I have propos'd Iâ—firmum in Fide recipite c. Him that is weak in the Faith receive c. GOodness of all the attributes by which a man may be styled hath cheif place and sovereignty Goodness I say not that Metaphysical conceit which we dispute of in our Schools and is nothing else but that perfection which is inwardly due unto the Being of every creature and without which either it is not at all or but in part that whose name it bears but that which the common sort of men do usually understand when they call a man Good by which is meant nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and sweet and flexible disposition For all other Excellencies and Eminent qualities which raise in the minds of men some opinion and conceit of us may occasion peradventure some strong respect in another kind but impression of love and true respect nothing can give but this Greatness of place and authority may make us fear'd Depth of Learning admir'd Aboundance of Wealth may make men outwardly obsequious unto us but that which makes one man a God unto another that which doth tie the Souls of men unto us that which like the Eye of the Bridegroom in the Book of Canticles ravishes the heart of him that looks upon it is Goodness Without this Mankind were but as one speaks Commissiones merae arena sine calce stones heapt together without morter or peices of boards without any cement to combine and tie them together For this it hath singular in it above all other properties of which our nature is capable that it is the most available to Humane Society incorporating and as it were kneading us together by softness of disposition by being compassionate by gladly communicating to the necessity of others by transfusing our selves into others and receiving from others into our selves All other Qualities how excellent soever they are seem to be somewhat of a melancholick and solitary disposition They shine then brightest when they are in some one alone or attain'd unto by few once make them common and they lose their lustre But Goodness is more sociable and rejoyceth in equalling others unto it self and loses its nature when it ceases to be communicable The Heathen speaking of God usually stile him by two Attributes Optimus Maximus the one importing his Goodness the other his Power In the first place they call'd him Optimus a name signifying his Goodness giving the precedency unto it and in the second place Maximus a name betokening his Power yea Goodness is that wherein God himself doth most delight himself and therefore all the Acts of our Saviour while he conversed on earth among men were purely the issues of his tenderness without any aspersion of severity two onely excepted I mean his chasing the Prophaners out of the Temple and the Curse laid upon the innocent Fig-tree and yet in both these mercy rejoyced against judgment and his goodness had the preheminence For the first brought some smart with it indeed but no harm at all as Fathers use to chastise their Children by means that fear them more then hurt them The second of it self was nothing as being practis'd on a creature dull and senseless of all smart and punishment but was meerly exemplary for us sterilitas nostra in ficu vapulat Christ whips our fruitlesness in the innocent Fig-tree like as the manner was among the Persians when their great men had offended to take their Garments and beat them Now that gracious way of goodness which it
or to Breathe and this Notion belongs to the FATHER and the SON alike for Pater Filius spirant Spiritum Sanctum Hence it evidently follows that he who acknowledgeth thus much can never possibly scruple the Eternal Deity of the Son of God If any man think this Confession to be Defecti for I can conceive no more in this point necessary to be known let him supply what he conceives be deficient and I shall thank him for his favour How we come to know the Scriptures to be the Word of God HOw come I to know that the Works which we call Livie's are indeed his whose name they bear Hath God left means to know the prophane Writings of men hath he left no certain means to know his own Records The first and outward means that brings us to the knowledge of these Books is the voice of the Church notified to us by our Teachers and Instructors who first unclasp'd and open'd them unto us and that common duty which is exacted at the hand of every learner Oportet discentem credere And this remaining in us peradventure is all the outward means that the ordinary and plainer sort of Christians know To those who are conversant among the Records of Antiquity farther light appears To find the ancient Copies of Books bearing these Titles to find in all Ages since their being written the universal consent of all the Church still resolving it self upon these writings as sacred and uncontrolable these cannot chuse but be strong Motioners unto us to pass our consent unto them and to conclude that either these Writings are that which they are taken for or nothing left us from Antiquity is true For whatsoever is that gives any strength or credit to any thing of Antiquity left to posterity whether it be Writings and Records or Tradition from hand to hand or what things else soever they all concur to the authorising of holy Scriptures as amply as they do to any other thing left unto the world Yea but will some man reply this proves indeed strongly that Moses and the Prophets that St. Matthew and St. Paul c. writ those Books and about those times which they bear shew of but this comes not home for how proves this that they are of God If I heard St. Paul himself preaching what makes me beleive him that his Doctrine is from God and his words the words of the holy Ghost For answer There was no outward means to perswade the world at the first rising of Christianity that it is infallibly from God but onely Miracles such as impossibly were naturally to be done Had I not done those things saith our Saviour which no man else could do you had had no sin Had not the world seen those Miracles which did unavoidably prove the assistance and presence of a Divine power with those who first taught the will of Christ it had not had sin if it had rejected them For though the world by the light of natural discretion might easily have discover'd that that was not the right way wherein it usually walk'd yet that that was the true path which the Apostles themselves began to tread there was no means undoubtedly to prove but Miracles and if the building were at this day to be raised it could not be founded without Miracles To our fore-fathers therefore whose ears first entertain'd the word of life Miracles were necessary and so they are to us but after another order For as the sight of these Miracles did confirm the doctrine unto them so unto us the infallible records of them For whatsoever evidence there is that the Word once began to be preach'd the very same confirms unto us that it was accompanied with Miracles and Wonders so that as those Miracles by being seen did prove unanswerably unto our fore-fathers the truth of the doctrine for the confirmation of which they were intended so do they unto us never a whit less effectually approve it by being left unto us upon these Records which if they fail us then by Antiquity there can be nothing left unto posterity which can have certain and undoubted oredit The certain and uncontrolable Records of Miracles are the same to us the Miracles are The Church of Rome when she commends unto us the Authority of the Church in dijudicating of Scriptures seems onely to speak of her self and that of that part of her self which is at some time existent whereas we when we appeal to the Church's testimony content not our selves with any part of the Church actually existent but add unto it the perpetually successive testimony of the Church in all Ages since the Apostles time viz. since its first beginning and out of both these draw an argument in this question of that force as that from it not the subtilest disputer can find an escape for who is it that can think to gain acceptance and credit with reasonable men by opposing not onely the present Church conversing in earth but to the uniform consent of the Church in all Ages So that in effect to us of after-ages the greatest if not the sole outward mean of our consent to holy Scripture is the voice of the Church excepting always the Copies of the Books themselves bearing from their birth such or such names of the Church I say and that not onely of that part of it which is actually existent at any time but successively of the Church ever since the time of our blessed Saviour for all these testimonies which from time to time are left in the Writings of our fore-fathers as almost every Age ever since the first birth of the Gospel hath by God's providence left us store are the continued voice of the Church witnessing unto us the truth of these Books and their Authority well but this is onely fides humano judicio testimonio acâ—quaesita what shall we think of fides infusa of the inward working of the holy Ghost in the consciences of every beleiver How far it is a perswader unto us of the Authority of these Books I have not much to say Onely thus much in general that doubtless the holy Ghost doth so work in the heart of every true Beleiver that it leaves a farther assurance strong and sufficient to ground and stay it self upon But this because it is private to every one and no way subject to sense is unfit to yeild argument by way of dispute to stop the captious curiosities of wits disposed to wrangle and by so much the more unfit it is by how much by experience we have learn'd that men are very apt to call their own private conceit the Spirit To oppose unto these men to reform them our own private conceits under the name likewise of the Spirit were madness so that to judge upon presumption of the Spirit in private can be no way to bring either this or any other controversie to an end If it should please God at this day to adde any
it lasted full three years and better Thirdly the time of the plague it fell long after the person offending was dead Fourthly whereas it is said in my Text That Bloud is cleansed by the Bloud of him that shed it here the Bloud of him that did this sin sufficed not to purge the Land from it that desperate and woful end that befell both Saul and his sons in that last and fatal Battel upon Mount Gilboa a man may think had freed the Land from danger of Bloud yet we see that the Bloud of the Gibeonites had left so deep a stain that it could not be sponged out without the Bloud of seven more of Saul's off-spring So that in some cases it seems we must alter the words of my Text The Land cannot be purged of Bloud but by the Bloud of him and his Posterity that shed it St. Peter tells us that some mens sins go before them unto judgment and some mens sins follow after Beloved here is a sin that exceeds the members of this division for howsoever it goes before or after us unto judgment yet it hath a kind of Vbiquity and so runs afore so follows us at the heels that it stays behind us too and calls for vengeance long after that we are gone Bloud unrevenged passes from Father to Son like an Heirlome or Legacy and he that dies with Bloud hanging on his fingers leaves his off-spring and his Family as pledges to answer it in his stead As an Engineer that works in a Mine lays a train or kindles a Match and leaves it behind him which shall take hold of the powder long after he is gone so he that sheds Bloud if it be not betimes purged as it were kindles a Match able to blow up not onely a Parliament but even a whole Land where Bloud lies unrevenged Secondly another circumstance serving to express unto us the greatness of this sin I told you was the difficulty of cleansing it intimated in those words cannot be cleansed but by the Bloud of him that shed it Most of other sins have sundry ways to wash the guilt away As in the Levitical Law the woman that was unclean by reason of Child-bearing might offer a pair of Turtle-doves or two young Pigeons so he that travels with other sins hath either a Turtle or a Pigeon he hath more ways then one to purifie him prayer unto God or true repentance or satisfaction to the party wronged or bodily affliction or temporary mulct But he that travels with the sin of Bloud for him there remains no sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of vengeance he hath but one way of cleansing onely his Bloud the Bloud of him that shed it The second general part which we considered in these words was that one mean which is left to cleanse Bloud exprest in the last words the bloud of him that shed it The Apostle to the Hebrews speaking of the sacrifices of the Old Testament notes that without Bloud there was no cleansing no forgiveness He spake it onely of the Bloud of beasts of Bulls and Goats who therefore have their Bloud that they might shed it in mans service and for mans use But among all the Levitical Sacrifices there was not one to cleanse the manslayer For the Bloud of the cattle upon a thousand hills was not sufficient for this yet was that sin to be purged with Bloud too and that by a more constant and perpetual Law then that of Sacrifices For the cleansing of other sins by Bloud is done away the date of it is out but to cleanse Bloud by bloud remains as a Law to our times and so shall unto the worlds end Sanguine quaerendi reditus out of Bloud no way to get but by Bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Basil hast thou shed Bloud wouldst thou be free from the guilt of it Thy best way is to be a Martyr and shed thy Bloud for Christ's sake Now that what I have to say may the better be conceived and lodged up in your memories I will comprehend and order all that I will speak under three heads First I will in general yet a little further breifly shew how great a sin the sin of Bloud is Secondly I will speak of the redress of some misorders very frequent in our age which give way to this sin especially private revenge and single combat Thirdly I will touch at the means of taking the guilt of Bloud away which here the holy Ghost commends to those which are set in Authority to that purpose And first of the greatness of the crime and sin of Bloud Of sins in holy Scripture there be two sorts recorded One sort is a silent dumb and quiet sin God doth as it were seek after it to find it as the people did after Saul when he was hidden amongst the stuff Of this nature are the ordinary sins of our life which do more easily find pardon at the hands of God but there is a second sort of sin which is a vocal and a crying sin a sin like that importunate widow in the Gospel that will not suffer the Judge to be quiet till he hath done justice and those are the more heavy and grievouser sins of our lives Of this second sort there are two sins to which the Scripture doth attribute this crying faculty First the sin of Sodom for so God tells Abraham The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is come up before me The second is the sin of which I am now to speak the sin of Bloudshed for so God tells Cain The voice of thy brothers bloud cries unto me from the earth The sin of Adam in Paradise doubtless was a great and heinous sin which hath thus made us all the children of death yet it seems to be but of the rank of mute sins and to have had no voice to betray it God comes unto Adam convents him examins him as if he had not known it and seems not to beleive any such thing was done till himself had confessed it But bloud is an unmannerly importunate and clamorous sin God shall not need to come and enquire after it it will come up unto him and cry as the souls do under the Altar in the Revelation How long Lord how long Nec patimur iracunda Deum ponere fulmina suffers not God to forget judgment or entertain a thought of mercy To satisfie therefore the cry of this importunate sin and to shew men the grievousness of it the Laws of God and men have wonderfully conspired in the avenging of bloud by what means or by what creature soever it were shed Beasts unreasonable creatures though whatsoever they do they cannot be said to sin for whatsoever they do they do by force of that natural instinct by which they are guided and led as by their proper Law yet man's bloud if they shed it is revenged upon them God himself is the Authour of this Law Gen. ix where he tells Noah
this weakness of the flesh is no prejudice at all to the strength of a Christian for though the flesh be weak yet the spirit is strong and so much our Saviour tells us too and why then do we not follow the stronger part Si spiritus carne fortior quia generosior nostra culpa infirmiora sectamur saith Tertullian If the spirit be stronger then the flesh what madness is it in us to make choice of and follow the weaker side Nulla fides unquam miseros elegit amicos Which of you is so improvident as in a faction to make choice of that side which he sees to be the weakest and which he knows must fall Again this weakness of a Christian is onely outward within what he is the words of my Text do sufficiently shew Socrates outwardly was a man of deformed shape but he was one of an excellent spirit and therefore Alcibiades in Plato compares him to an Apothecary's box which without had painted upon it an Ape or a Satyre or some deformed thing but within was full of sweet and precious oyntment Thus Beloved it is with a Christian whatsoever outward deformity he seems to have howsoever he seems to be nothing but rags without yet he is totus purpureus all scarlet and glorious within I have said Ye are gods saith the Scripture the Magistrate is wont to ingross and impropriate this Scripture to himself because sitting in place of Authority for execution of Justice he carries some resemblance of God but to whom can this Scripture better belong then to the Christian man For the magistrate indeed carries some shew of God without but many times within is full of corruption and weakness the Christian carries a shew of weakness without but within is full of God and Christ. The second thing which I told you we learn't was a Lesson teaching us not to be puft up with opinion and conceit of our own outward strength and glory for if any man because of this shall begin to think of himself above what he ought let him know that he may say of his exceeding strength no otherwise then the man in the Book of Kings spake when his ax was fallen into the water Alas Master it was but lent Those that build houses make Anticks which seem to hold up the beams whereas indeed as St. Paul tells the Olive-branch Thou bearest not the root but the root thee So is it true in them they hear not up the house the house bears up them Beloved seem we never so strong yet we are but Anticks the strength by which the house of Christ doth stand it is not ours it is Christ's who by that power by which he is able to subdue all things to himself doth sustain both himself and us Luke XVIII 1. And he spake a Parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint MY Text is like the Temple at Hierusalem it is the House of Prayer wherein we may learn many special points of the skill and practise of it Now as that Temple had two parts First the Fore-front the Porch the walk before it and secondly the Temple it self So have these words likewise two parts First there are words which stand before like a Porch or Walk and they are these And he spake a parable unto them Secondly here are words like unto the Temple it self that men ought always to pray and not to faint If you please before we enter into the Temple or speak of these words That men ought always to pray let us stay and entertain our selves a little in the Porch and see what matter of meditation it will yeild And he spake a Parable unto them c. to instruct and teach the ignorant no method no way so speedy and effectual as by Parables and Fables Strabo gives the reason of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For man is a creature naturally desirous to know but it is according to the Proverb as the Cat desires fish loath to touch the water loath to take the pains to learn knowledge is indeed a thing very pleasant but to learn is a thing harsh and tedious above all the things in the world The Book which St. Iohn eats in the tenth of the Apocalyps was in his mouth sweet as honey but bitter in his belly Beloved those Librorum helluones students that like St. Iohn eat up whole Volumes these find the contrary for in the mouth in the perusal◠their Books are harsh and unpleasant but in the stomach when they are understood and digested then are they delightful and pleasurable Yet one thing by the providence of God our nature hath which makes this rough way to learn more plain and easie it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common experience shews we are all very desirous to hear narrations and reports either pleasant or strange wise men therefore and God himself which is wiser then men being to train up mankind Genus indocile a subject dull of hearing and hardly drawn to learn have from time to time wrought upon this humour upon this part of our disposition and mitigated sugred as it were the unpleasantness of a difficult and hard lesson with the sweetness of some delightful Parable or Fable And S. Chrysostom tells us of a Physician who finding his Patient to abhor Physick but infinitely long for Wine heating an earthen cup in the fire and quenching it in Wine put his potion therein that so the sick person being deceived with the smell of Wine might unawares drink of the Physick or that I may better draw my comparison from Scripture as when Iacob meant to be welcome to his father Isaac he put on his brother Esau's apparel and so got access So beloved wise men when they meant either to instruct the ignorant or to reprove offenders to procure their welcom and make their way more passable have been wont for the most part as it were to clothe their lesson or reproof in a Parable or to serve it in a dish savouring of wine that so Iacob might be admitted under Esau's coat that the smell of the pleasantness of Wine might draw down the wholesomeness of Physick Great and singular have been those effects which this kind of teaching by parables hath wrought in men by informing their ignorance reproving their errour working patience of reproof opening the understanding moving the affections and other sovereign commodities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And for this cause not onely our Poets and prophane Authours but whole Cities and men which gave Laws to Common-wealths have made especial choice of this course Yea our Saviour Christ himself hath filled the Gospels with Parables made them like a Divine and Christian AEsop's Fables because he found it to be exceeding profitable For first of all it is the plainest and most familiar way and above all other stoops to the capacity of the learner as being drawn either from Trees or Beasts or from some ordinary common
proceed upon Thursday the 7 17 of Ianu. in the Evening The question proposed then was An praeter Decretum de salvandis fidelibus nullum sit aliud Decretum Electionis The Remonstrant affirms there is none and for this produces certain places of Scripture The Contra-Remonstrant grants that there is such a Decree but withal contends that this is but a Secondary Decree For God saith he first resolved upon the Salvation of some certain singular persons and in the second place decreed to give them Faith as a means to bring the former Decree to pass But before this question came on the stage other things were done at that time The Synod therefore being met at the time mentioned First the Letters from the States concerning D. Goads Admission were read and after that some were sent to his Lodging to conduct him to the Synod In the mean time were there Letters from Mr. Dean to the Synod produced and read together with a form of Valediction and farewel by him conceived I suppose Mr. Dean acquainted your Honor with the thing whilst he was with you which is the cause I have not sent a transcript of it as soon as I understand your Lordship hath not seen it I will cause a Copy of it to be taken It was then concluded by the Synod that the Praeses and Assessors together with the Seculars Scribe should after the Synod was ended repair to Mr. Dean and take their leave of him in the name of all the rest and by him commend their love and service unto his Majesty and render him humble thanks for his prinely care All which the same night was done Now was Dr. Goade come to the Synod and according to the manner conducted to his seat where being sate he made a short speech which being ended the Synod proceeded to discuss the question above mention'd The Decree is that the Professors shall expound those places of Scripture on which the Remonstrant builds Wherefore Io. Polyander who is the Senior Professor being absent Sibrandus Lubbertus who is the next in order took the question and answer'd such Texts as were urged by the Adversary one out of Joh. 3.36 Qui credit in filium habot vitam aeternam qui non credit non videbit vitam sed ira Dei manet super eo Another out of Ephes. 1.4 Elegit nos in Christo ante jacta mundi fundamenta A third out of Heb. 11. Impossibile est sine fide placere Deo The summe of Sibrandus his answer at that time I cannot give For being misinform'd that it would be but a private Session I was not at it Besides Sibrandus no man spake any thing that night As soon as he had done it was signified by the Praeses that the Campenses who were lately cited were now ready to make their appearance It was concluded that because the business of the Synod should not be interrupted certain out of the company should be appointed to hear the cause and make relation of it to the Synod so the Praeses concluded the Session with a prayer in which he prayed for Mr. Dean's Health and for the good success of his journey This was the summe of what was then done and so I end committing your Honour to Gods good protection Dort this 8 â—â— of January Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty and Service Jo. Hales The Synodical Decree of the sixt of Ianuary concerning the manner of handling the five Articles COllatis diligenter per D. Praesidem Assessores Scribas ex praescripto illustrium D D. Delegatorum suffragiis omnibus tum Scripto tum viva voce heri ac nudiustertius in veneranda hac Synodo dictis super modo agendi circa examen judicium quinque Articulorum compertum est plurimis placere ut singula quamprimum Collegia ad examen illud instituendum judiciumque formandum serio se accingant Ac primo quidem loco in manus sumant primum Articulum In cujus examine ut deinceps in caeterorum ad interrogatoria Theses à D. Praeside dictata ut postea dictanda quilibet in primis attendat Si quis tamen plura quae ad sententiam Remonstrantium proponendam explicandam facere possunt quae forte in Thesibus interrogatoriis istis indicata non sunt addere velit possit id cuique liberum relinquatur ut privatim singula collegia ante Meridiem de hoc examine cogitabunt ita post Meridiem ne Synodus intermissa ac nulla auditorum Spectatorumque ex omnibus passim oris quotidie accurrentium ratio haberi videatur publicus nisi omnino res ipsa aliud postulaverit conventus celebrabitur in quo potissima Remonstrantium argumenta maxime ex Scripturis desumpta ipsorumque adeo ad contrariae sententiae argumenta maxime ex Scripturis desumpta responsiones proponentur excutientur praeeuntibus D D. Doctoribus ac Professoribus nunc nostratibus nunc exteris ad Arbitrium D. Praesidis relicta interim singulis libertate dictis addendi suam etiam de praepositis argumentis sententiam dicendi Quare necesse quoque erit ut quilibit seriò de argumentis istis responsionibus apud se cogitet ac meditetur Dabit autem operam D. Praeses singulis Sessionibus ut ea de quibus proxima Sessione erit agendum universae Synodo fignificet Ac si quis fuerit qui de quoquam quod forte à D. Praeside monitum non fuerat judicium Synodi audire sua vel aliorum causa desideret ejus si privatim D. Praesidem appellaverit ratio habebitur prout ipse adhibito consilio Assessorum Scribarum ac si opus fuerit plurium ex usu Synodi aut rei de qua agitur esse existimaverit Iudicium formatum de quolibet Articulo additis rationibus quibus subnixum est Praesidi privatim exhibebitur asservandum donec de omnibus judicium Articulis judicium formatum similiter exhibitum fuerit Right Honourable and my very good Lord UPon Wednesday the 6 1â— of Ianuary there was no Session at all in the morning in the evening there was one but in private In this they have concluded the question about their manner of proceeding There was a form conceived and concluded upon and transcribed by all the Deputies They concluded likewise their Theses upon the first Article which they purpose publickly to discuss It was late in the evening ere this Session was done so that I could not get the Copies of either of these but in my morrow Letters I will not fail by Gods grace to send your Honour the transcripts of them Besides there were some things of smaller weight advised of First whether in delivering of their judgements upon the Articles in Controversie the Forreigners should begin as hitherto they had done The Provincials at first strain'd courtesie and thought it no point of good manners to take Precedency of the Forreigners but it