men altogether unletter'd men called from mending nets to preach the Gospell If this were so That God according to his good pleasure without any consideration of study or height of parts chose simple unlearned unstudied men to be Prophets and Apostles and Teachers then why should any thinke he hath so confined or entailed his free Spirit or vocation of men upon great parts and studies that he may not if he please call the like unstudied simple men from the Plough or Fisher-boat or Stall or Shop-board to be Ministers of his Gospel and Teachers of his people now My Brethren you see I have not prevaricated or diminished ought of the strength of the Argument which is urged in favour of Lay-mens preaching In answer to which laying aside all partiality to my selfe and prejudice against them I shall with the same spirit of meekness and Candour with which Saint Paul here in this Text bespoke his Corinthians beseech you who heare me this day to observe and weigh and consider well this which I shall say for a Reply First Far far be it from me so to flatter the place of my Education or so to biass my beleef by any false ovevarluing of humane Industry or great parts that I should pinion as it were or put limits to the power of the Almighty Or should be so irreligiously bold as to gain-say that piece of his Gospell which compares his holy Spirit to the Wind which bloweth where it listeth If they who thus pretend to a private Inspiration doe meane that whatever God did in the times heretofore he is able to doe now I shall easily grant it And here in the presence of you all confesse my selfe to be of their opinion Nor shall I make any doubt or scruple at all to say that if we looke upon what God is able to doe by the same power by which he was able to raise up Children to Abraham out of stones or to speake yet more neerly to the Argument in hand by the same power that hee was able to make a Herd-man a Prophet or a Fisher-man an Apostle he is able in our times also if he please to make the meanest Tradesman one of the greatest Luminaries of his Church Since to an Omnipotent Agent whose gifts are meerly Arbitrary and depend wholly upon the pleasure of his owne will the greatest endowments of men and the least are alike easie But though he be able to doe this and in the ancient times of the Scripture have imparted his Gifts without respect of Persons yet whether he now will or whether in our times hee doth still thus extraordinarily raise up Teachers to himselfe is extreamly to be doubted For here with all the Christian gentleness and reason which may possibly conduce to the clearing of this doubt were I to argue this Controversie with one of those men who invade our function and from gathering of Sycamore fruit step up into the Pulpit I would onely aske him this question What Commission he hath thus to usurp upon our Office Or who signed him his patent Since the Apostle tells us in the fifth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes at the fourth Verse A place well worth your marking my Brethren That no man taketh this honour of a Priest to himselfe But he who is called of God as was Aaron I know his common answer will bee that God hath called him to this Office by the secret Instinct and Motion of his Holy Spirit But then he must not take it ill if I yet farther aske him by what signes or markes or testimonies or tokens he can either maâ—… it reasonably appeare to himselfe or others that God hath dealt with him as he dealt with some of the Prophets or Apostles called him from his Trade by such a motion of his Spirit Elisha we know made Iron swim and knew mens Closet-discourses in a farre Countrey which was a sure and certaine signe that God had called him to be a Prophet The Apostles also we know wrought many of Christs miracles which was a most infallible signe that God had chosen them to be Apostles If any of these men who derive their warrant from the same sacred spring can make Iron swim or like Elisha remaining here in their owne Israel can tell us what the King of Syria saies in his Bed-chamber Or if like Saint Peter they can cure fevers and diseases by their bare shadowes passing over them Or if like the rest of the Apostles having never before knowne Letters they can of a sudden speake all Languages the Controversie is at an end It would bee a very great sinne against the Spirit of God to deny that hee is in them of a Truth But if all the proofe and signe they can give us that they have him be onely a strong perswasion of themselves Nay if by an infallible Illumination they could assure themselves that they have him yet as many as have not the like infallible Illumination to assure them so too will not be guilty of an unpardonable offence if they suspect they have him not For here I must once more repeat my former Question and aske by what effects or signes of the Spirit men shall know them to be called By what will some man say why Doe you not heare them preach expound Scripture unfold Prophecies interpret Parables nay plucke the veile and cloud from the Booke of Mysteries it selfe the very Revelation Can any of you great Schollers with all your study of Philosophers Fathers Councells Schoole-men Historians Oratours Poets either hold your Congregations longer or send them away more edified And will you yet ask Questions Or doubt of the certainty of their vocation I must not dissemble with you if I could meet with an unlearned Handicraft-man who without study can doe this to the same height and measure of Truth as those unjustly-cryed downe learned and well-studied men doe I should begin to alter my opinion And should reckon him as hee deserves in the number of the inspired But alas my Brethren as I am not come hither to disparage the guifts of the Holy Ghost in what person soever I finde them or to perswade that Scripture rightly expounded is not one and the same from the mouth of a Priest or an inspired Lay-man so this I must freely say to you That as many of those strange Teachers as I have heard have expounded Scripture indeed and have ventured upon some of the hardest places of the Prophets But then if all my studies of the Bible assisted with all those holy uncorrupted learned helps which might enable mee to understand it aright have not deceived me their expositions and Sermons how passionately delivered or how long soever are evident proofes to mee that they have not the Spirit If they had they would never certainely expound Scripture so directly contrary to his meaning Or make the writings of the Prophets or Apostles weare only that present shape not which the holy Ghost hath
who most belyes God to his Glorie To what unweighed aery scruples and vanities is he entitled How is his Scripture for want of learning to understand it aright abused and made the bellowes to blow a fire fit rather to be quencht by the repentance and teares of the Incendiaries and feeders of it How many are there who daily urge text for Bloud-shed and undertake to prove the slaughter of their Brethren I had almost said of their lawfull Prince and Soveraigne too warrantable by the VVord of God What bold Libell or Pamphlet hath not for some yeares railed in a holy style And what Sermons have not been spiced with a a holy sedition Hath it not even to the ruine of one of the most flourishing Kingdomes of the world beene made a piece of Religion to divide it against it self to divorce a King from his People and his people from their peace Have not men been taught that they cannot give God his due if they give Caesar his And that the onely way left to preserve in themselves the grace and favour of the one is quite to deface and blot out the image and superscription of the other And have not the Teachers of these strange unchristian Doctrines delivered them to the people in the holy stole of Prophets Have they not called a most unnaturall civill VVar the burden of the Lord Have they not quite inverted the injunction of the Apostle and turning his affirmative into their negative have they not directly contrary to his word said Thus saith the Lord honour not the King My brethren let me speake freely to you as in the presence of God who knowes that I hate the sinne of these Prophets here in the Text too much to flatter Or if I would be so irreligiously servile you your selves know that the present condition of things is at too low an â—…bbe for me or any man else to hope to thrive by such a false Engine If there be such a thing as a VVaking providence over the actions of men wich I confesse an unresolved man in such irregular times as these might be tempted to question or if there bee such a thing in nature as Truth with a promise annext to it by the God of Truth that first or last it shall prevaile unlesse by a timely and seasonable repentance of their abuse of the Name of God and of their many bold reproaches throwne upon his Annoynted they divert their punishment Something me thinks whispers to me I dare not be so confident of my owne infallible sanctity as to call it the Spirit of God but something whispers to me and bids mee in the Prophet Ezechiels words in another place Prophecie against these Prophets and say * VVoe to the foolish Prophets who have followed their owne spirit and have seen nothing Because with lies they have made the heart of the Righteous sad whom the Lord hath not made sad and have strengthned the hands of the wicked that he should not returne from his evill way Or if this will not awake them but that they will still be guilty of the sinne of these Prophets here in the Text they must not take it ill if not I but the holy Ghost which they so much boast of by whom they so confidently pretend to speake passe this sad sentence on them and their complyers by the mouth of two other Prophets 1. As for their complyers if any such there have been who have said to the Seers See not and to the Prophets Prophecie not unto us right things but speake to us smooth things Prophecie deceit let them heare with trembling what the Prophet Esay sayes in his 30. Chapter at the 12. and 13. Verses Because sayes he ye despise my word and trust in oppression and perversenesse and stay thereon Therefore thus saith the holy one of Israel This iniquity shall bee to you as a breach ready to fall swelling â—…ut in a high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly at an instant The meaning of which propheticall judgement will be easily understood of any who shall consideringly marke the beginning and progresse of the Chapter to the context where 't is uttered and denounced Next as for the Prophets themselves who for poore low earthly interests and respects have suffered themselves to be mis-led let them with confusion of face heare what the Prophet Ieremy sayes in the 23 Chapter at the 32. verse A place no lesse remarkable then the former As for those sayes he who doe prophecie false dâ—…eames and do tell them and cause my people to erre by their lyes and by their lightnesse yet I sent them not nor commanded them behold I am against them saith the Lord and they shall not profit this people at all saith the Lord God The conclusion then of this Sermon shall be this Fathers and brethren of this University I presume it could not but seem strange to you to heare your Manners and Religion as well as Studies and Learning not long since publiquely reproved and preacht against out of this Pulpit by men who professe themselves indeed to be Prophets but discovering to you so little as they did of the abilities of Prophets sonnes could not but seem to you very unfit Reformers or instructers of this place I presume also that with a serious griefe of heart you cannot but resent that there should bee thought to be such a dearth and scarcity of able vertuous men among us that the Great Councell of this Kingdome in pitty to our wants should think it needfull to send us men better gifted to teach us how to preach What the negligence or sâ—…oth or want of industrie in this place hath been which should deserve this great exprobration of our Studies from them or how one of the most famous Springs of Learning which of late Europe knew should by the mis-representation of any false reporting men among us fall so low in the esteem of that great Assembly as to be thought to need a Tutor I know not Nor will I here over-curiously enquire into the ungiftednesse of the persons who have drawne this reproofe upon us or say that some of us perhaps might have made better use of our time and of the bounty of our Founders then by wrapping up our Talent in a Napkin to draw the same reproach upon our Colledges which once passed upon Monasteries which grew at length to be a Proverbe of Idlenesse But that which I would say to you is this Solomon in one of his Proverbs sends the sluggish man to the Spider to learne diligence Take it not ill I beseech you if I send some of you for this is a piece of exhortation which doth concerne very few who have been lesse industrious to these vaine but active Prophets which I have al this while preacht against Mistake me not I doe not send you to them to learne knowledge of them For you know 't is a received axiom among most of them that
your running negligence which should help to make your sophisticall criticisme perfect sense Truly Sir if it be so high a fault to picture God I may justly wonder that any picture of a Saint turned into an Idoll should be retained and pleaded for by any man that pretends to be a Protestant and if it be impossible to picture God it is also impossible to picture God-man And I beleeve that you will acknowledge our Mediatour to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. That the Sun and Images cannot be put in the scales of a comparison in point of fitness to be preserved is a truth written with a Sun-beame Sir I never durst argue from the abuse of a thing against the use of it if the thing be necessary But the Sun is necessary and Images are not necessary ergo there is no parity of reason betweene the termes of your comparison 5. It appeares to me by your shifting fallacy that you make Copes as necessary as clean Linnen 6. You will never be able to prove that all that the prelates and their Faction have borrowed out of the Missall Ritualls Breviary Pontificall of Rome are to be found in any Lyturgie received by the Primitive Church And I would intreat you to consider whether they who doe profess a seperation from the Church of Rome can in reason receive and imbrace such trash and trumpery And yet though you would willingly be esteemed a Protestant I find you very unwilling to part with any thing which the Prelates have borrowed from the Court rather then Church of Rome 7. Your next Paragraph doth concerne Tradition I shall give you leave to preferre the constant and universall consent of the Church of Christ in all ages before the reason of any single man but Sir you doe very ill to call the testimony of the spirit speaking in the word to the Conscience of private men a private spirit I thinke you are more profane in the stating of this point then Bellarmine himselfe 8. You have not yet proved that any Prelate can challenge the Sole power of Ordination and Iurisdiction Iure divino 9. I should be glad to know for how many yeares you will justifie the purity of the Doctrine Discipline and Government in England I beleeve the Doctrine Discipline and Government of the Prelaticall faction whom you call the Church was not excellent if you reckon from 1630. to 1640. and that is time enough for men of our time for to examine I beleeve that you will acknowledge that the Prelates did lay an Ostracisme upon those who did oppose them who were in the right both in the point of Doctrine and Disciplâ—…ne we shall in due time dispute Though Prelacy it selfe be an usurpation yet there were many other encroachments which may justly be called Prelaticall usurpations and the Parliament hath sufficiently declared its judgement in this point they have clearly proved that Prelacy had taken such a deepe root in England and had such a destructive influence not only into the pernicious evills of the Church but Civill State that the Law of right reason even Salus populi quae suprema lex est did command and compell them to take away both roote and branch you may dispute that point with them Sir you cannot prove that Prelacy is an Order of the Church as ancient as the Christian Church it self and made venerable by the never interrupted reception of it in all Ages of the Church but ours 10. I am no Turkish Prophet I never preacht any piece of the Alchoran for good Doctrine much less did I ever make it a piece of the Gospell all that I say is this that Christians incorporated in a Civill State may make use of Civill and naturall means for their outward safety And that the Parliament hath a Legall power more then sufficient to prevent and restrain Tyranny Finally the Parliament hath power to defend that Civill right which we have to exercise the true Protestant Religion this last point is sure of highest consequence because it concernes Gods immediate honour and the Peoples temporall and eternall good Pray Sir shew me if you can why he who saith the Protestants in Ireland may defend their Civill right for the free exercise of their Religion against the furious assaults of the bloudie Rebells doth by that assertion proclaime himself a Turke and Denison the Alchoran you talke of the Papists Religion Sir their faith is faction their Religion is Rebellion they think they are obliged in conscience to put Heretiques to the sword this Religion is destructive to every Civill State into which true Protestants are incorporated therefore I cannot but wonder at your extravagancy in this point Sir Who was it that would have imposed a Popish Service Book upon Scotland by force of Armes You presume that I conceive the King had an intent to extirpate the Protestant Religion Sir I am sure that they who did seduce or over-awe the King had such a designe I doe not beleeve that the Queene and her Agents the Papists in England who were certainly confederate with the Irish Rebells had any intent to settle the true Protestant Religion you cannot but beleeve that their intent was to extirpate the Protestant Religion by the sword and to plant Popery in its stead I know Christ doth make 〈◊〉 and breake the spirituall power of Antichrist by his word and spirit for Antichrist is cast out of the hearts and consciences of men by the spirit of the Lord Iesus but Christ is King of Nations as well as King of Saints and will breake the temporall power of Antichrist by Civill and naturall meanes If Papists and Delinquents are in readiness to resist or assault the Parliament by Armes how can the Parliament be defended or Delinquents punished but by force of Armes I know men must be converted by a spirituall perswasion but they may be terrified by force of Armes from persecution All that I say is the Parliament may repell force with force and if men were afraid to profess the truth because of the Queenes Army and are now as fearfull to maintaine errours for feare of the Parliament the scales are even and we may by study conference disputation and prayer for a blessing upon all be convinced and converted by the undenyable demonstrations of the Spirit Sir this is my perswasion and therefore I am sure far from that Mahumetan perswasion of which I am unjustly accused 11. I am glad that you speake out and give light to your darke roome I did not accuse you of Conventiâ—…les I beleeve you hate those Christian meetings which Tertullian Minutius Pliny and others speake of we had lights and witnesses good store at our meetings And as for your conceit that I deserve to be in Bedlam because of the predominancy of my pride and passion and the irregularity of my will Sir I confess that I deserve to be in Hell a worse place then Bedlam and if you scoffe at