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
your Collection The other on Rom. xiv 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive c. was preach'd at St. Paul's Cross and I moved him to Print it That of My Kingdom is not of this world I once saw and returned to Mr. Hales with four more which I saw him put into Mr. Chillingworth's hands That of Dixi Custodiam I have heard him often speak of it with a kind of complacency That of He spake a Parable that men ought always to pray I believe is his by the passage of the Spunge and the Knife which I have heard from his mouth The Sermon which you had from D. Hammond upon Son remember c. was preach'd at Eaton Colledge The other of Duels was either one or two and preach'd at the Hague to Sir D. Carlton and his company That you call a Letter on I can do all things is a Sermon The Sermon of Peter went out and wept c. is under his own hand One caution I should put in that you print nothing which is not written with his own hand or be very careful in compareing them for not long since one shewed me a Sermon which he said was his which I am confident could not be for I saw nothing in it which was not Vulgaris mone tae of a vulgar stamp common and flat and low There be some Sermons that I much doubt of for there is little of his spirit and Genius in them and some that are imperfect That of Genes xvii 1. Walk before me c. is most imperfect as appears by the Autogâ—aphum which I saw at Eaton a fortnight since For his LETTERS he had much trouble in that kind from several freinds and I heard him speak of that friends Letter you mention pleasantly Mr. He sets up Tops and I must whip them for him But I am very glad to hear you have gained those Letters into your hands written from the Synod of Dort You may please to take notice that in his younger days he was a Calvinist and even then when he was employed at that Synod and at the well pressing S Ioh. iij. 16. by Episcopius There I bid Iohn Calvin good-night as he has often told me I beleive they will be as acceptable or in your phrase as saleable as his Sermons I would not have you to venture those Papers out of your hands to me for they may miscarry and I fear it would be very difficult to find another Copy Peradventure I may shortly see you at the Term I hope I shall and then I shall advise you further the best I can about those other Sermons you have I see you will be troubled yet a while to put things in a right way I have drawn in my mind the Model of his Life but I am like Mr. HALES in this which was one of his defects not to pen any thing till I must needs God prosper you in your work and business you have in hand that neither the Church nor the Authour suffer Septemb. 17. 16â—7 Your assured Freind to his power Anthony Farindon 2 Pet. III. 16. Which the Vnlearned and Vnstable Wrest as they do the other Scriptures unto their own Destruction THE love and favour which it pleased God to bear our Fathers before the Law so far prevail'd with him as that without any Books and Writings by familiar and friendly conversing with them and communicating himself unto them he made them receive and understand his Laws their inward conceits and Intellectuals being after a wonderful manner as it were Figured and Character'd as St. Basil expresses it by his Spirit so that they could not but see and consent unto and confess the truth of them Which way of manifesting his will unto many other gracious priviledges which it had above that which in after ages came in place of it had this added that it brought with it unto the man to whom it was made a preservation against all doubt and hesitancy a full assurance both who the Authour was and how far his intent and meaning reacht We that are their offspring ought as St. Chrysostom tell us so to have demeaned our selves that it might have been with us as it was with them that we might have had no need of writing no other teacher but the Spirit no other books but our hearts no other means to have been taught the things of God Nisi inspirationis divinae internam suavioremque doctrinam ubi sine sonis sermonum c fiue elementis literarum to dulcius quo secretius veritas loquitur as saith Fulgentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pelusiotâ— for it is a greater argument of our shame and imperfection that the holy things are written in books For as God in anger tells the Jews that he himself would not go before them as hitherto he had done to conduct them into the promised land but would leave his Angel with them as his deputy so hath he dealt with us the unhappy posterity degenerated from the antient purity of our forefathers When himself refused to speak unto our hearts because of the hardness of them he then began to put his Laws in writing Which thing for a long time amongst his own people seems not to have brought with it any sensible inconvenience For amongst all those acts of the Jews which God in his book hath registred for our instruction there is not one concerning any pretended ambiguity or obscurity of the Textâ— and Letter of their Law which might draw them into faction and schism the Devil belike having other sufficient advantages on which he wrought But ever since the Gospel was committed to writing what age what monument of the Churches Acts is not full of debate and strife concerning the force and meaning of those writings which the holy Ghost hath left us to be the law and rule of faith St. Paul one of the first Pen-men of the holy Ghost who in Paradise heard words which it was not lawful for man to utter hath left us words in writing which it is not safe for any man to be too busie to interpret No sooner had he laid down his pen almost ere the ink was dry were there found Syllabarum aucupes such as St. Ambrose spake of qui nescire aliquid erubescunt per occasionem obscuritatis tendunt laqueos deceptionis who thought there could be no greater disparagement unto them then to seem to be ignorant of any thing and under pretence of interpreting obscure places laid gins to entrap the uncautelous who taking advantage of the obscurity of St. Pauls text made the Letter of the Gospel of life and peace the most forcible instrument of mortal quarrel and contention The growth of which the holy Ghost by the ministery of St. Peter hath endeavoured to cut up in the bud and to strangle in the womb in this short admonition which but now hath sounded in your ears Which the unlearned c. In which words
to suppose they know all things and to be bold in affirming and the Heathen Rhetorician could tell us that by this so speedy entring upon action and so timely venting our crude and unconcocted studies quod est ubique perniciosissimum praevenit vires fiducia a thing which in all cases is most pernicious Presumption is greater then strength after the manner of those who are lately recovered out of some great sickness in whom appetite is stronger then digestion These are they who take the greatest mysteries of Christian Religion to be the fittest arguments to spend themselves upon So Eâ—kins in his Chryâ—opassus a work of his so termed wherein he discusses the question of predestination in the very entrance of his work tells us That he therefore enterpris'd to handle this argument because forsooth he thought it to be the fittest question in which he might Iuveniles calores exercere The antient Masters of Fence amongst the Romans were wont to set up a Post and cause their young Schollars to practise upon it and to foin and fight with it as with an adversary Instead of a Post this young Fencer hath set himself up one of the deepest Mysteries of our profession to practise his freshmanship upon Which quality when once it finds Scripture for its object how great inconvenience it brings with it needs no large discourse to prove St. Ierome a man not too easily brought on to acknowledge the errours of his writings among those few things which he doth retract censures nothing so sharply as the mistake of his youth in this kind In adolescentia provocatus ardore studio Scripturarum allegorice interpretatus sum Abdiam Prophetam cujus historiam nesciebam He thought it one of the greatest sins of his youth that being carried away through an inconsiderate heat in his studies of Scripture he adventured to interpret Abdias the Prophet allegorically when as yet he knew not the Historical meaning Old men saith our best natural Master by reason of the experience of their often mistakes are hardly brought constantly to affirm any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will always cautelously interline their speeches with it may bees and peradventures and other such particles of wariness and circumspection This old mens modesty of all other things best fits us in perusing those hard and obscure Texts of holy Scripture Out of which conceit it is that we see St. Austine in his books de Genesi ad literam to have written onely by way of questions and interrogations after the manner of Aristotle in his Problemes That he might not for so he gives his reason by being ever positive prejudice others and peradventure truer interpretations that every one might choose according to his liking ubi quid intelligere non potest Scripturae Dei det honorem sibi timorem and where his understanding cannot attain unto the sense of it let him give that honour and reverence which is due unto the Scripture and carry himself with that aw and respect which befits him Wherefore not without especial providence it is that the holy Ghost by St. Paul giving precepts to Timothy concerning the quality of those who were to be admitted to the distributing of Gods holy word expresly prescribes against a young Schollar lest saith he he be puft up For as it hath been noted of men who are lately grown rich that they differ from other rich men onely in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that commonly they have all the faults that rich men have and many more so is it as true in those who have lately attained to some degree and mediocrity of knowledge Look what infirmities learned men have the same have they in greater degree and many more besides Wherefore if Hippocrates in his Physician required these two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great industry and long experience the one as tillage to sow the seed the other as time and season of the year to bring it to maturity then certainly by so much the more are these two required in the spiritual Physician by how much he is the Physician to a more excellent part I will adde yet one third motioner to this abuse of Scriptures and that is The too great presumption upon the strength and subtilty of our own wits That which the Roman Priest sometimes told an over-pleasant and witty Vestal Virgin Coli Deos sancte magis quam scite hath in this great work of exposition of Scripture an especial place The holy things of God must be handled sancta magis quam scite with fear and reverence not with wit and dalliance The dangerous effects of this have appeared not in the green tree onely in young heads but in men of constant age and great place in the Church For this was that which undid Origen a man of as great learning and industry as ever the Church had any whilst in sublimity of his wit in his Comments on Scripture conceiving Meteors and airy speculations he brought forth those dangerous errors which drew upon his person the Churches heaviest censure and upon posterity the loss of his works Subtle witted men in nothing so much miscarry as in the too much pleasing themselves in the goodness of their own conceits where the like sometimes befalls them which befell Zeuxiâ— the Painter who having to the life pictured an old woman so pleas'd himself with the conceit of his work that he died with laughing at it Heliodor Bishop of Tricca in Thessaly the Author of the Ethiopick Story a polite and elegant I confess but a loose and wanton work being summon'd by a Provincial Synod was told that which was true That his work did rather endanger the manners then profit the wits of his Reader as nourishing loose and wanton conceits in the heads of youth and having his choice given him either to abolish his work or to leave his Bishoprick not willing to lose the reputation of wit chose rather to resign his place in the Church and as I verily think his part in heaven And not in private persons alone but even in whole Nations shall we find remarkable examples of miscarriage in this kind The Grecians till barbarism began to steal in upon them were men of wonderous subtlety of wit and naturally over indulgent unto themselves in this quality Those deep and subtle Heresies concerning the Trinity the Divinity of Christ and of the holy Ghost the Union and Division of the Divine Substance and Persons were all of them begotten in the heat of their wits yea by the strength of them were they conceived and born and brought to that growth that if it had been possible for the gates of hell to prevail against the Church they would have prevailed this way Wherefore as God dealt with his own land which being sometimes the mirrour of the world for fertility and abundance of all things now lies subject to many curses and especially to that of barrenness so at this day
audierint aliquid contradici The same temper must be found in every Reader of Scripture he must not be at a stand and require an answer to every objection that is made against them For as the Philosopher tells us that mad and fantastical men are very apprehensive of all outward accidents because their soul is inwardly empty and unfurnished of any thing of worth which might hold the inward attention of their minds so when we are so easily dor'd and amated with every Sophism it is a certain argument of great defect of inward furniture and worth which should as it were ballance the mind and keep it upright against all outward occurrents whatsoever And be it that many times the means to open such doubts be not at hand yet as St. Austin sometime spake unto his Scholar Licentius concerning such advice and counsel as he had given him Nolo te cansas rationesque rimari quae etiamsi reddi possint fidei tamen qua mihi credis non cas debeo so much more must we thus resolve of those lessons which God teacheth us the reasons and grounds of them though they might be given yet it fits not that credit and trust which we owe him once to search into or call in question And so I come to the third general part the Danger of Wresting of Scripture in the last words unto their own Damnation The reward of every sin is Death As the worm eats out the heart of the plant that bred it so whatsoever is done amiss naturally works no other end but destruction of him that doth it As this is true in general so is it as true that when the Scripture doth precisely note out unto us some sin and threatens Death unto it it is commonly an argument that there is more then ordinary that there is some especial sin which shall draw with it some especial punishment This sin of Wresting of Scripture in the eye of some of the Antients seemed so ugly that they have ranged it in the same rank with the sin against the holy Ghost And therefore have they pronounced it a sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greater then can be pardoned For the most part of others sins are sins of infirmity or simplicity but this is a sin of wit and strength the man that doth it doth it with a high hand he knows and sees and resolves upon it Again Scripture is the voice of God and it is confest by all that the sense is Scripture rather then the words It cannot therefore be avoided but he that wilfully strives to fasten some sense of his own upon it other then the very nature of the place will bear must needs take upon him the Person of God and become a new inditer of Scripture and all that applaud and give consent unto any such in effect cry the same that the people did to Herod The voice of God and not of man If he then that abases the Princes Coin deserves to die what is his desert that instead of the tried silver of Gods word stamps the Name and Character of God upon Nehushtan upon base brasen stuff of his own Thirdly No Scripture is of private interpretation saith the Apostle There can therefore be but two certain and infallible interpreters of Scripture either it self or the holy Ghost the Author of it It self doth then expound it self when the words and circumstances do sound unto us the prime and natural and principal sense But when the place is obscure involved and intricate or when there is contained some secret and hidden mystery beyond the prime sense infallibly to shew us this there can be no Interpreter but the holy Ghost that gave it Besides these two all other Interpretation is private Wherefore as the Lords of the Philistines sometimes said of the kine that drew the Ark unto Bethshemesh If they go of themselves then is this from God but if they go another way then is it not from God it is some chance that hath happened unto us so may it be said of all pretended sense of Scripture If Scripture come unto it of it self then is it of God but if it go another way or if it be violently urged and goaded on then is it but a matter of chance of mans wit and invention As for those marvellous discourses of some framed upon presumption of the Spirits help in private in judging or interpreting of difficult places of Scripture I must needs confess I have often wondred at the boldness of them The Spirit is a thing of dark and secret operation the manner of it none can descry As underminers are never seen till they have wrought their purpose so the Spirit is never perceived but by its effects The effects of the Spirit as far as they concern knowledge and instruction are not particular information for resolution in any doubtful case for this were plainly revelation but as the Angel which was sent unto Cornelius informs him not but sends him to Peter to school so the Spirit teaches not but stirs up in us a desire to learn desire to learn makes us thirst after the means and pious sedulity and carefulness makes us watchful in the choice and diligent in the use of our means The promise to the Apostles of the Spirit which should lead them into all truth was made good unto them by private and secret informing their understandings with the knowledge of high and heavenly mysteries which as yet had never entred into the conceit of any man The same promise is made to us but fulfilled after another manner For what was written by revelation in their hearts for our instruction have they written in their books To us for information otherwise then out of these books the Spirit speaks not When the Spirit regenerates a man it infuses no knowledge of any point of faith but sends him to the Church and to the Scriptures When it stirs him up to newness of life it exhibits not unto him an inventory of his sins as hitherto unknown but either supposes them known in the Law of Nature of which no man can be ignorant or sends him to learn them from the mouth of his teachers More then this in the ordinary proceeding of the holy Spirit in matter of instruction I yet could never descry So that to speak of the help of the Spirit in private either in dijudicating or in interpreting of Scripture is to speak they know not what Which I do the rather note first because by experience we have learnt how apt men are to call their private conceits the Spirit and again because it is the especial errour with which S. Austine long ago charged this kind of men Tanto sunt ad seditionem faciliores quanto sibi videntur spiritu excellere by so much the more prone are they to kindle Schism and contention in the Church by how much they seem to themselves to be endued with a more eminent measure of Spirit then
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
It is or should be nothing else but Virtue and Happiness now these are alike purchasable in all estates Poverty disease distress contumely contempt these are as well the object of Virtue as Wealth liberty honour reputation and the rest of that forespoken rank Happiness therefore may as well dwell with the poor miserable and distressed persons as with persons of better fortune since it is confest by all that happiness is nothing else but actio secundum virtutem a leading of our life according to virtue As great art may be exprest in the cutting of a Flint as in the cutting of a Diamond and so the work-man do well express his skill no man will blame him for the baseness of the matter or think the worse of his work Beloved some man hath a Diamond a fair and glittering fortune some man hath a Flint a hard harsh and despicable fortune let him bestow the same skill and care in polishing and cutting of the latter as he would or could have done on the former and be confident it will be as highly valued if not more highly rewarded by God who is no accepter of persons but accepteth every man according to that he hath and not according to that he hath not To him let us commit our selves To him be all honour and praise now and for ever Amen Numb XXXV Verse 33. And the Land cannot be cleansed of bloud that is shed in it but by the bloud of him that shed it THese words are like unto a Scorpion for as in that so in these the self-same thing is both Poison and Remedy Bloud is the poison Bloud is the remedy he that is stricken with the Scorpion must take the oyl of the Scorpion to cure him He that hath poison'd a Land with the sin of Bloud must yeild his own Bloud for Antidote to cure it It might seem strange that I should amongst Christians thus come and deliver a speech of Bloud For when I read the notes and characters of a Christian in holy Scriptures me-thinks it should be almost a sin for such a one to name it Possess your souls in patience By this shall men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Peace I leave with you The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace in the Holy Ghost Let your softness be known to all men The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy It is reported by Avenzoar a great Physician that he was so tender-hearted that he could not endure to see a man let-bloud He that should read these passages of Scripture might think that Christians were like Avenzoar that the sight of bloud should be enough to affright them But is the common Christian so soft so tender-hearted is he so peaceable so tame and tractable a creature You shall not find two things of more different countenance and complexion then that Christianity which is commended unto us in the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists and that which is current in use and practise of the times He that shall behold the true face of a Christian as it is deciphered and painted out unto us in the Books of the New Testament and unpartially compare it with that copy or counterfeit of it which is exprest in the life and demeanour of common Christians would think them no more like then those sheilds of gold which Solomon made were unto those of brass which Rehâ—boam made in their stead and might suppose that the Writers of those Books had brought vota magis quam praecepta had rather fancied to themselves some admirable pattern of a Christian such as they could wish then delivered Rules and Laws which seriously and indeed ought or could be practised in common life and conversation St. Iames observes that he which beholds his natural face in a glass goes his way and immediately forgets what manner of man he was Beloved how careful we are to look upon the Glass the Books of holy Scriptures I cannot easily pronounce But this I am sure of we go our ways and quickly forget what manner of shape we saw there As Iacob and Esau had both one father Isaac both one mother Rebecca yet the one was smooth and plain the other rough and hairy of harsh and hard countenance and condition so these two kinds of Christians of which but now I spake though both lay claim to one Father and Mother both call themselves the sons of God and the sons of the Church yet are they almost as unlike as Iacob and Esau the one smooth gentle and peacable the other rough and harsh The notes and characters of Christians as they are described in holy Scriptures are patience easily putting up and digesting of wrongs humility preferring all before our selves And St. Iames tells us that the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated St. Iames indeed hath given the first place unto purity and it were almost a sin to compare Christian virtues together and make them strive for precedency and place For what Solomon saith upon another occasion is here much more true Say not Why is this thing better then that for every thing in its time is seasonable Yet he that shall mark how every where the Scriptures commend unto us gentleness and meekness and that peace is it quam nobis Apostoli totis viribus Spiritus sancti commendant as Tertullian speaks which the Apostles endeavour with all the strength and force of the holy Ghost to plant amongst us might a little invert the words of St. Iames and read them thus The wisdom that is from above is first peaceable then pure The Son of God who is the Wisdom of the Father and who for us men came down from Heaven first and before all other virtues commended this unto the world For when he was born the song of the Angels was Peace upon earth and good will towards men All his doctrine was peace his whole life was peaceable and no man heard his voice in the streets His last legacy and bequest left unto his disciples was the same Peace saith he I leave unto you my peace I give unto you As Christ so Christians In the building of Solomon's Temple there was no noise of any hammer of any instrument of Iron so in the spiritual building and frame of a Christian there is no sound of Iron no noise of any weapons nothing but peace and gentleness Ex praecepto fidei non minus rea ira est sine ratione suscepta quam in operibus legis homicidium saith St. Austin Unadvised anger by the Law of Faith is as great a sin as murther was by the Law of Moses As some Physicians have thought that in man's body the Spleen hath very little use and might well be spared and therefore in dealing with â—undry diseased persons they endeavour by Physick to abate and take away that
the behaviour of God in these cases to a slothful freind that is loth to leave his warm bed to do his freind a pleasure and here in my Text to an unjust Iudge that fears neither God nor man and secondly by his own behaviour toward the Canaanitish woman It is strange to observe how though he were the meekest person that ever was upon earth yet here he strives as it were to unnaturalize himself and lay by his natural sweetness of disposition almost to forget common humanity and puts on a kind of sullen and surly person of purpose to deterr her you shall not find our Saviour in all the New Testament in such a mood so bent to contemn and vilifie a poor suitour St. Austin comparing together St. Matthew and St. Mark who both of them record the same story and gathering together the circumstances out of them both tells us that first she follows our Saviour in the street and that our Saviour takes house as it were to shelter himself from her but she comes after and throws her self at his feet and he as offended with her importunity again quits the house to be rid of her and all this while deigns her not a word If any behavour could have dash'd a suit and broken the heart of a poor suitour this had been enough but here 's not all we have a civil precept that if we be not disposed to pleasure a suitour yet to give him good words and shape him a gentle answer it is hard if we cannot afford a suitour a gentle word We read of Tiberius the Emperour as I remember that he would never suffer any man to go sad and discontented from him yet our Saviour seems to have forgot this part of civility being importun'd to answer her gives her an answer worse then silence and speaks words like the peircing of a sword as Solomon speaks I may not take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs And yet after all this strange copy of countenance he fully subscribes to her request Beloved God hath not onely express'd thus much in Parables and practised these strange delays upon Canaanitish women but he hath acted it indeed and that upon his dearest Saints David one of the worthiest of his Saints yet how passionately doth he cry out How long Lord wilt thou forget me how long shall I seek counsel in my soul and be so vexed in my heart Not onely the Saints on earth but even those in heaven do seem to partake in this demeanour of God We read in the Book of the Revelation that when the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar cried out How long Lord just and holy dost thou not avenge our bloud from off the earth they received this answer Have patience yet a little while It is storied of Diogenes that he was wont to supplicate to the Statues and to hold out his hands and beg of them that so he might learn to brook and devour denial and tediousness of suit Beloved let us but meditate upon these examples which I have related and we shall not need to practise any of the â—ynick's art For if the Saints and blessed Martyrs have their suits so long depending in the Courts of Heaven then good reason that we should learn to brook delays and arm our selves with patience and expectation when we find the ears of God not so open to our requests When Ioseph's brethren came down to buy corn he gave them but a course welcome he spake roughly unto them he laid them in prison yet the Text tells us that his bowels melted upon them and at length he opened himself and gave them courteous entertainment Beloved when we come unto God as it were to buy corn to beg at his hands such blessings as we need though he speak roughly though he deal more roughly with us yet let us know he hath still Ioseph's bowels that his heart melts towards us and at length he will open himself and entertain us lovingly And be it peradventure that we gain not what we look for yet our labour of prayer is not lost The blessed souls under the Altar of which I spake but now though their petition was not granted yet had they long white garments given them Even so Beloved if the wisdom of God shall not think it fit to perform our requests yet he will give us the long white garment something which shall be in leiu of a suit though nothing else yet patience and contentment which are the greatest blessings upon earth John xviij 36. Iesus answered My Kingdom is not of this world If my Kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Iews c. AS in the Kingdoms of the world there is an art of Courtship a skill and mystery teaching to manage them so in the Spiritual Kingdom of God and of Christ there is an holy policy there is an art of Spiritual Courtship which teaches every subject there how to demean and bear himself But as betwixt their Kingdoms so betwixt their Arts and Courtship betwixt the Courtier of the one and the Courtier of the other there is as Abraham tells the rich man in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great distance a great difference and not onely one but many Sundry of them I shall have occasion to touch in the process of my discourse mean while I will single out one which I will use as a prologue and way unto my Text. In the Kingdoms of earthly Princes every subject is not fit to make a Courtier yea were all fit this were an honour to be communicated onely unto some Sic opus est mundo There is a necessity of disproportion and inequality between men and men and were all persons equal the world could not consist Of men of ordinary fashion and parts some must to the Plough some to their Merchandize some to their Books some to one Trade some to another onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle calls them men of more then common wit and ability active choice pick'd out of a thousand such must they be that bear Honours attend on Princes persons and serve in their Courts The Scripture tells us that when King Solomon saw that Ieroboam was an active able and industrious young man he took him and made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Ioseph Again when David invited old Barzillai to the Court the good old man excuses himself I am saith he fourscore years of age and can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women Lo here my son Chimham he shall go with my Lord the King and do with him as shall seem good in thine eyes Ieroboam and Chimham strong and able and active persons such are they that dwell in Kings houses of the rest some are too old some too young some too dull some too rude
by yeilding not by fighting but by dying Pilate had heard that he was a King it was the accusation which was fram'd against him that he bear himself as King of the Iews but because he saw no pomp no train no guard about him he took it but as an idle report To put him therefore out of doubt our Saviour assures him that he is a King but of such a Kingdom as he could not skill of My Kingdom is not of this world c. For the better unfolding of which words first we will consider what the meaning of this word Kingdom is for there lies an ambiguity in it Secondly we will consider what Lessons for our instruction the next words will yeild Not of this world First of this word Kingdom Our Saviour is a King three manner of ways and so correlatively hath three distinct several Kingdoms He is first King in the largest extent and meaning which can possibly be imagined and that is as he is Creatour and absolute Lord of all creatures Of this Kingdom Heaven Earth and Hell are three large Provinces Angels Men and Devils his very enemies every creature visible and invisible are subjects of this Kingdom The glory and strength of this Kingdom consists least of all in men and man is the weakest part of it for there is scarcely a creature in the world by whom he hath not been conquer'd When Alexander the Great had travell'd through India and over-ran many large Provinces and conquer'd many popular Cities when tidings came that his Soldiers in Grece had taken some small Towns there he scorn'd the news and in contempt Me-thinks said he I hear of the Battel of Frogs and Mice Beloved if we look upon these huge Armies of Creatures and consider of what wonderful strength they are when the Lord summons them to Battel all the Armies of men and famous Battels of which we have so large Histories in the comparison of these what are they but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Homer's tale a Battel of Frogs and Mice Infinite Legions of Angels attend him in Heaven and every Angel is an Army One Angel in the Book of Kings is sent out against the Army of the Assyrians and in one night fourscore thousand persons die for it Base and contemptible creatures when God calls for them are of strength to conquer whole Countreys He over-runs Egypt with his Armies of Frogs and Flies and Lice and before his own people with an Army of Hornets chases the Canaanites out of the Land Nay the dull and senseless Elements are up in Arms when God summons them He shoots his Hail-shot with his Hail-stones from Heaven he destroys more of the Canaanites then the Israelites can with their swords As for his Armies of Fire and Water what power is able to withstand them Every creature when God calls is a soldier How great then is the glory of this Kingdom of which the meanest parts are invincible Secondly again our Saviour is a King in a more restrain'd and confin'd sense as he is in Heaven attended on by Angels and Archangels Powers Principalities and all the heavenly Hosts For though he be Omni-present and fills every place both in Heaven and Earth yet Heaven is the Palace Throne of this Kingdom there is he better seen and known there with more state and honour served and therefore more properly is his Kingdom said to be there And this is called his Kingdom of glory The Rules and Laws and admirable Orders of which Kingdom could we come to see and discover it would be with us as it was with the Queen of Saba when she came to visit Solomon of whom the Scripture notes that when she heard his wisdom and had seen the order of his servants the attendance that was given him and the manner of his table There was no more spirit left in her Beloved Dum Spiritus hos regit artus whilst this Spirit is in us we cannot possibly come to discern the Laws and Orders of this Kingdom and therefore I am constrain'd to be silent Thirdly our Saviour is a King in a sense yet more impropriated For as he took our nature upon him as he came into the world to redeem mankind and to conquer Hell and Death so is there a Kingdom annext unto him A Kingdom the purchase whereof cost him much sweat and Bloud of which neither Angels nor any other creature are a part onely that remnant of mankind that Ereptus titio that number of blessed Souls which like a brand out of the fire by his death and passion he hath recovered out of the power of sin and all these alone are the subjects of that Kingdom And this is that which is called his Kingdom of Grace and which himself in Scripture every where calls his Church his Spouse his Body his Flock and this is that Kingdom which in this place is spoken of and of which our Saviour tells Pilate That it is not of this world My Kingdom is not of this world Which words at the first reading may seem to savour of a little imperfection for they are nothing else but a Negation or denial Now our Books teach us that a Negative makes nothing known for we know things by discovering not what they are not but what they are yet when we have well examin'd them we shall find that there could not have been a speech delivered more effectual for the opening the nature of the Church and the discovery of mens errours in that respect For I know no errour so common so frequent so hardly to be rooted out so much hindring the knowledge of the true nature of the Church as this that men do take the Church to be like unto the World Tully tells us of a Musician that being ask'd what the Soul was answered that it was Harmony is saith he à principiis artis suae non recescit He knew not how to leave the principles of his own Art Again Plato's Scholars had been altogether bred up in Arithmetick and the knowledge of Numbers and hence it came that when afterward they diverted their studies to the knowledge of Nature or Moral Philosophy wheresoever they walked they still feigned to themselves somewhat like unto Numbers the World they supposed was framed out of Numbers Cities and Kingdoms and Common-wealths they thought stood by Numbers Number with them was sole Principle and Creatour of every thing Beloved when we come to learn the quality and state of Christ's Kingdom it fares much with us as it does with Tullie's Musician or Plato's Scholars difficulter à principiis artis nostrae recedimus Hardly can we forsake those principles in which we have been brought up In the world we are born in it we are bred the world is the greatest part of our study to the true knowledge of God and of Christ still we fancy unto us something of the world It may seem but a light thing that I shall say yet
doth so favour his voice that I can never tell what he saith and I imagine I have no great loss of it After the Professors was there little said which was not said before only Lydius of South-Holland thought certainly to confute Gomarus and told us that such men might preach and that they had Vocation so to do For first that inward Vocation which they had from the Spirit and then their Examination and Admission by the Classes was warrant for them sufficient to preach though they had no particular charge For this good News did Mr. Dean of Worcester publickly applaud D. Lydius in the Synod I marvail'd much with my self to see Mr. Dean and Lydius so wide of the mark For there was no question of those who were admitted by the Classes but only of such who fitted themselves to be admitted The Examination and Admission by the Classes is the very form of their Ministery and not their being placed over a particular Church And thus much at length did the Praeses tell us When all had spoken Mr. Praeses pronounced that it was concluded by the Synod that it should not be lawful for them to baptize but for the matter of Sermons it was thought good by the Synod that it should be left to the Judgement and Discretion of the particular Classes In the third question concerning the Admission of the Proponentes as they call them to the Consistories little was said and so in the fourth concerning the publick reading of Scripture in the Church Some thought fit that the ancient custom of Anagnostae in the Church should be revived others thought it some disparagement to publick Reading that it was committed to Tradesmen and many times to men unskilful that knew not well to read In both these the Synod determined nothing but left them free to the discretion of the Classes and the latter was to be left to the Liberty of the Proponentes whether they would read or no and that they were not to be inforced to it if they would not In the last question whether they should make any necessary Decree binding all or only by way of Counsel my Lord Bishop being asked what he thought fit made answer that they were to distinguish betwixt things necessary and not necessary Things absolutely necessary should be absolutely decreed other things should be left arbitrary Which sentence passed by the major part of Voices and was Synodically concluded Here the Deputies for the Remonstrants of Vtrecht exhibited to the Synod in writing a Bill containing some exceptions against what hitherto had passed in the matter of the Catechism First they misliked that any such form should be forced upon them Secondly that all Schole-masters should be so strictly bound to that form as that it should not be lawful to recede from it For this did prejudice all other forms now currant and might discontent the Lutherans and others who had admitted of another form Thirdly they charged the Praeses with some indirect dealing For whereas he had whilst the business was in fieri solemnly protested that there was no intent concerning the matter but only concerning the form of Catechizing yet in the issue they had confirmed the Palatine Catechism which contained as well matter as form Fourthly they misliked the Decree concerning the not premising of a Text of Scripture before catechetical Sermons Lastly they required that this their dissent might be registred To this the Praeses replyed that the Synod had only exprest it self what it thought fittest to be done As for the necessity of Execution that was not in the power of the Synod but of the States General who when all was done might either pass or recall what they thought good Secondly to the point concerning himself he answered he had done so and thought it fittest so to do but the Synod thought otherwise and since there was a matter of Catechism to be concluded they thought they might confirm this as well as any other and this was not so confirm'd but that it was in the power of the Synod to alter what they please To the point of premising a Text of Scripture before the Catechetical Sermon he answered that the determination of the Synod was not to take that custom away there where it was in use but only to prohibit the urging of it there where it had a long time been disused To the last concerning the Registring of this their dissent he answered he saw not how this could be granted them since the States General had concluded that what passed by a major part of voices should alone be accounted the Act of the Synod and by the same proportion every one that passes not his voice with the major part might require his dissent to be registred After this the Praeses signified that concerning the question of the baptizing of Ethnick children put up by the Church of Amsterdam he required yet farther respite because of the opinion of some of the Synod which was somewhat ambiguous and obscure He was therefore to confer with the Authors of it and therefore desired that the resolution might be put off till the next Session and withall he commended to the Synod the consideration how the liberty of Printing so promiscuously all kind of scandalous and libellous Pamphlets might be represt and so he dismist the Synod The Remonstrants are in Town but because they keep themselves private and have not presented themselves unto the States and Deputies there is no notice taken of it And so commending your Honour to Gods good Protection I humbly take my leave Dort this 4. of Decemb. 1618. stylo novo Your Honours Chaplain and bounden in all Duty Jo. Hales Right Honourable my very good Lord UPon Wednesday the 5. of December stylo novo the Deputies being met in the morning the first thing which was done was the admission of a Senior or Elder for those of Groninga whose number as it seems was not yet full The thing was transacted in Dutch and yet the consent of the English was askt at which I did not a little muse Next followed the advice of the Helvetians what course was to be taken with those who are to enter the Ministery in which there was no great matter from what before was intimated The Palaâ—ini promised the like and therefore the Praeses required yet farther respite before they did conceive any form of Decree in this behalf Then followed the Decree of the Synod concerning the question moved by those of Amsterdam about the Baptism of children born of Ethnick Parents The Decision consisted of two parts The first concerned the Adulti and it was this That such as were of years and capacity should be diligently taught and catechized and then if they did desire it they should be baptized The second concerned Infants and it was That till they came to years of Discretion they should by no means be baptized A strange decision and such as if my memory or reading fails