Civil Magistrate being termed Head by reason of that Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs which hath been already declared that themselves do acknowledge to be lawful It followeth that he is a Head even subordinated of Christ and to Christ. For more plain explication whereof unto God we acknowledge daily that Kingdom Power and Glory are his that he is the immortal and invisible King of Ages as well the future which shall be as the present which now is That which the Father doth work as Lord and King over all he worketh not without but by the Son who through coeternal generation receiveth of the Father that Power which the Father hath of himself And for that cause our Saviours words concerning his own Dominion are To me all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given The Father by the Son did create and doth guide all wherfore Christ hath Supream dominion over the whole universal World Christ is God Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the consubstantial Word of God Christ is also that consubstantial Word which made man As God he saith of himself I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end he which was and which is and which is to come even the very Omnipotent As the consubstantial Word of God he hath with God before the beginning of the World that glory which as he was Man he requireth to have Father glorifie thy Son with that glory which with thee be enjoyed before the World wa◠Further it is not necessary that all things spoken of Christ should agree to him either as God or else as Man but some things as he is the consubstantial Word of God some things as he is that Word incarnate The Works of Supream Dominion which have been since the first beginning wrought by the power of the Son of God are now most properly and truly the Works of the Son of Man the Word made Flesh doth sit for ever and reign as Soveraign Lord over all Dominion belongeth unto the Kingly Office of Christ as Propitration and Mediation unto his Priestly Instruction unto his Pastoral and Prophetical Office His Works of Dominion are in sundry degrees and kindes according to the different conditions of them that are subject unto it he presently doth govern and hereafter shall judge the World intire and wholly and therefore his Regal power cannot be with truth restrained unto a proportion of the World only Notwithstanding forasmuch as all do not shew and acknowledge with dutiful submission that Obedience which they owe unto him therefore such as do their Lord he is termed by way of excellency no otherwise than the Apostle doth term God the Saviour generally of all but especially of the Faithful these being brought to the obedience of Faith are every where spoken of as men translated into that Kingdom wherein whosoever is comprehended Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation unto them they have a high and ghostly fellowship with God and Christ and Saints as the Apostle in more ample manner speaketh Aggregated they are unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the Celestial Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the Congregation of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Testament In a word they are of that Mystical body which we term the Church of Christ. As for the rest we account them Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and that live in the Kingdom of Darkness and that are in this present World without God Our Saviours Dominion is therefore over these as over Rebels over them as over dutiful and loving Subjects which things being in holy Scriptures so plain I somewhat muse at that strange position That Christ in the Government of his Church and Superiority over the Officers of it hath himself a Superiour which is the Father but in governing of Kingdoms and Common wealths and in the Superiority which he hath over Kingdoms no Superiour Again That the Civil Magistrates Authority commeth from God immediately as Christs doth and it subordinate unto Christ. In what Evangelist Apostle or Prophet is it found that Christ Supream Governour of the Church should be so unequal to himself as he is Supream Governor of Kingdoms The works of his Providence for the preservation of Mankinde by upholding Kingdoms not only obedient unto but also obstinate and rebellious against him are such as proceed from Divine Power and are not the works of his Providence for safety of God's Elect by gathering inspiring comforting and every way preserving his Church such as proceed from the same Power likewise Surely if Christ as God and Man hath ordained certain means for the gathering and keeping of his Church seeing this doth belong to the Government of that Church it must in reason follow I think that as God and Man he worketh in Church Regiment and consequently hath no more there any Superiours than in the Government of the Common-wealth Again to be in the midst of his wheresoever they are assembled in his Name and to be with them to the World's end are comforts which Christ doth perform to his Church as Lord and Governour yea such as he cannot perform but by that very Power wherein he hath no Superiour Wherefore unless it can be proved that all the works of our Saviours Government in the Church are done by the mere and onely force of his Human nature there is no remedy but to acknowledge it a manifest errour that Christ in the Government of the World is equal to the Father but not in the Government of the Church Indeed to the honour of this Dominion it cannot be said that God did exalt him otherwise than only according to that Human nature wherein he was made low For as the Son of God there could no advancement or exaltation grow unto him And yet the Dominion whereunto he was in his Human nature lifted up is not without Divine Power exercised It is by Divine Power that the Son of man who sitteth in Heaven doth work as King and Lord upon us which are on Earth The exercise of his Dominion over the Church Militant cannot choose but cease when there is no longer any Militant Church in the World And therefore as Generals of Armies when they have finished their Work are wont to yield up such Commissions as were given for that purpose and to remain in the state of Subjects and not as Lords as concerning their former authority even so when the end of all things is come the Son of man who till then reigneth shall do the like as touching Regiment over the Militant Church on the Earth So that between the Son of man and his Brethren over whom he reigneth now in this their War fare there shall be then as touching the exercise of that Regiment no such difference they not warfaring
serve unto others good and all to prefer the good of the whole before whatsoever their own particular as we plainly see they do when things natural in that regard forget their ordinary natural wont That which is heavy mounting sometime upwards of its own accord and forsaking the Centre of the Earth which to it self is most natural even as if it did hear it self commanded to let go the good it privately wisheth and to relieve the present distress of Nature in common 4. But now that we may lift up our eyes as it were from the Tootstool to the Throne of God and leaving these Natural consider a little the state of Heavenly and Divine Creatures Touching Angels which are Spirits Immaterial and Intellectual the glorious Inhabitants of those Sacred Palaces where nothing but Light and Blessed Immortality no shadow of matter for tears discontentments griefs and uncomfortable passions to work upon but all joy tranquillity and peace even for ever and ever doth dwell As in number and order they are huge mighty and royal Armies so likewise in perfection of obedience unto that Law which the Highest whom they adore love and imitate hath imposed upon them Such observants they are thereof that our Saviour himself being to set down the perfect Idea of that which we are to pray and wish for on Earth did not teach to pray or wish for more then onely that here it might be with us as with them it is in Heaven God which moveth meer Natural Agents as an efficient onely doth otherwise move Intellectual Creatures and especially his holy Angels For beholding the Face of God in admiration of so great excellency they all adore him and being rapt with the love of his beauty they cleave inseparably for ever unto him Desire to resemble him in goodness maketh them unwearable and even unsatiable in their longing to do by all means all manner of good unto all the Creatures of God but especially unto the Children of Men. In the countenance of whose Nature looking downward they behold themselves beneath themselves even as upward in God beneath whom themselves are they see that character which is no where but in themselves and us resembled Thus far even the Painims have approached thus far they have seen into the doings of the Angels of God Orpheus confessing that the Fiery Throne of God is attended on by those most industrious Angels careful how all things are performed amongst men and the Mirror of Humane Wisdom plainly teaching That God moveth Angels even as that thing doth stir Mans heart which is thereunto presented amiable Angelical Actions may therefore be reduced unto these three general kindes First Most delectable Love arising from the visible apprehension of the Purity Glory and Beauty of God invisible saving onely unto Spirits that are pure Secondly Adoration grounded upon the evidence of the greatness of God on whom they see how all things depend Thirdly Imitation bred by the presence of his exemplary goodness who ceaseth nor before them daily to fill Heaven and Earth with the rich treasures of most free and undeserved Grace Of Angels we are not to consider onely what they are and do in regard of their own Being but that also which concerneth them as they are linked into a kinde of Corporation amongst themselves and of Society or Fellowship with men Consider Angels each of them severally in himself and their Law is that which the Prophet David mentioneth All ye his Angels praise him Consider the Angels of God associated and their Law is that which disposeth them as an Army one in order and degree above another Consider finally the Angels as having with us that communion which the Apostle to the Hebrews noteth and in regard whereof Angels have not disdained to profess themselves our fellow servants From hence there springeth up a third Law which bindeth them to works of Ministerial employment Every of which their several Functions are by them performed with joy A part of the Angels of God notwithstanding we know have faln and that their fall hath been through the voluntary breach of that Law which did require at their hands continuance in the exercise of their high and admirable vertue Impossible it was that ever their will should change or encline to remit any part of their duty without some object having force to avert their conceit from God and to draw it another way and that before they attained that high perfection of bliss wherein now the Elect Angels are without possibility of falling Of any thing more then of God they could not by any means like as long as whatsoever they knew besides God they apprehended it not in it self without dependency upon God because so long God must needs seem infinitely better then any thing which they so could apprehend Things beneath them could not in such sort be presented unto their eyes but that therein they must needs see always how those things did depend on God It seemeth therefore that there was no other way for Angels to sin but by reflex of their understanding upon themselves when being held with admiration of their own sublimity and honor the memory of their subordination unto God and their dependency on him was drowned in this conceit whereupon their adoration love and imitation of God could not chuse but be also interrupted The fall of Angels therefore was Pride Since their fall their practices have been the clean contrary unto those beforementioned for being dispersed some in the Air some on the Earth some in the Water some amongst the Minerals Dens and Caves that are under the Earth they have by all means labored to effect an Universal Rebellion against the Laws and as far as its them lieth utter destruction of the Works of God These wicked spirits the Heathens honored instead of Gods both generally under the name of Dii inferi Gods Infernal and particularly some in Oracles some in Idols some as Houshold Gods some as Nymphs In a word No foul and wicked spirit which was not one way or other honored of Men as God till such time as Light appeared in the World and dissolved the works of the Devil Thus much therefore may suffice for Angels the next unto whom in degree are Men. 5. God alone excepted who actually and everlastingly is whatsoever he may be and which cannot hereafter be that which now he is not all other things besides are somewhat in possibility which as yet they are not in act And for this cause there is in all things an appetite or desire whereby they incline to something which they may be and when they are it they shall be perfecter then now they are All which Perfections are contained under the general name of Goodness And because there is not in the World any thing whereby another may not some way be made the perfecter therefore all things that are are good Again sith there can be no goodness desired which
no proof to the contrary But that our love is sound and sincere that it cometh from a pure heart a good conscience and a faith unfeigned who can pronounce saving only the searcher of all mens hearts who alone intuitively doth known in this kind who are his And as those everlasting promises of Love Mercy and Blessedness belong to the mystical Church even so on the other side when we read of any duty which the Church of God is bound unto the Church whom this doth concern is a sensible known company And this Visible Church in like sort is but one continued from the first beginning of the World to the last end Which company being divided into two moyeties the one before the other since the coming of Christ that part which since the coming of Christ partly hath embraced and partly shall hereafter embrace the Christian Religion we term as by a more proper name the Church of Christ. And therefore the Apostle affirmeth plainly of all men Christian that be they Jew or Gentiles bond or free they are all incorporated into one company they all make but one body The unity of which visible body and Church of Christ consisteth in that Uniformity which all several persons thereunto belonging have by reason of that one Lord whose servants they all profess themselves that one Faith which they all acknowledge that one Baptism wherewith they are all initiated The visible Church of Jesus Christ is therefore one in outward profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very Essence of Christianity and are necessarily required in every particular Christian man Let all the house of Israel know for certainty saith Peter that God hath made him both Lord and Christ even this Iesus whom ye have crucified Christians therefore they are not which call not him their Master and Lord. And from hence it came that first at Antioch and afterward throughout the whole world all that were of the Church visible were called Christians even amongst the Heathen which name unto them was precious and glorious but in the estimation of the rest of the world even Christ Jesus himself was execrable for whose sake all men were so likewise which did acknowledge him to be their Lord. This himself did foresee and therefore armed his Church to the end they might sustain it without discomfort All these things they will do unto you for my names sake yea the time shall come that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service These things I tell you that when the hour shall come ye may then call to minde how I told you before-hand of them But our naming of Jesus Christ the Lord is not enough to prove us Christians unless we also embrace that Faith which Christ hath published unto the World To shew that the Angel of Pergamus continued in Christianity behold how the Spirit of Christ speaketh Thou keepest my Name and thou hast not denied my Faith Concerning which Faith The rule thereof saith Tertullian is one alone immoveable and no way possible to be better framed anew What rule that is he sheweth by rehearsing those few Articles of Christian belief And before Tertullian Irency The Church though scattered through the whole World unto the uttermost borders of the Earth hath from the Apostles and their Disciples received Belief The parts of which Belief he also reciteth in substance the very same with Tertullian and thereupon inferreth This Faith the Church being spread far and wide preserveth as if one House did contain them These things it equally embraceth as though it had even one Soul one Heart and no more It publisheth teacheth and delivereth these things with Uniform consent as if God had given it lut one onely Tongue wherewith to speak He which amongst the Guides of the Church is best able to speak uttereth no more then this and less then this the most simple do not utter when they make Profession of their Faith Now although we know the Christian Faith and allow of it yet in this respect we are but entring entred we are not into the Visible Church before our admittance by the door of Baptism Wherefore immediately upon the acknowledgment of Christian Faith the Eunuch we see was baptized by Philip Paul by Ananias by Peter a huge multitude containing Three thousand Souls which being once Baptized were reckoned in the number of Souls added to the Visible Church As for those Vertues that belong unto Moral Righteousness and honesty of life we do not mention them because they are not proper unto Christian Men as they are Christian but do concern them as they are Men. True it is the want of these Vertues excludeth from Salvation So doth much more the absence of inward belief of heart so doth despair and lack of Hope so emptiness of Christian Love and Charity But we speak now of the Visible Church whose Children are signed with this mark One Lord one Faith one Baptism In whomsoever these things are the Church doth acknowledge them for her Children them onely she holdeth for Aliens and Strangers in whom these things are not found For want of these it is that Saracens Jews and Infidels are excluded out of the bounds of the Church Others we may not deny to be of the Visible Church as long as these things are not wanting in them For apparent it is that all Men are of necessity either Christians or not Christians If by External Profession they be Christians then are they of the Visible Church of Christ and Christians by External Profession they are all whose mark of Recognisance hath in it those things which we have mentioned yea although they be impious Idolaters wicked Hereticks Persons excommunicable yea and cast out for notorious improbity Such withal we deny not to be the Imps and Limbs of Satan even as long as they continue such Is it then possible that the self-same men should belong both to the Synagogue of Satan and to the Church of Jesus Christ Unto that Church which is his Mystical Body not possibleâ— because that Body consisteth of none but onely true Israelites true Sons of Abraham true Servants and Saints of God Howbeit of the Visible Body and Church of Jesus Christ those may be and oftentimes are in respect of the main parts of their outward Profession who inregard of their inward disposition of minde yea of External Conversation yea even of some parts of their very Profession are most worthily both hateful in the sight of God himself and in the eyes of the sounder part of the Visible Church most execrable Our Saviour therefore compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Net whereunto all which cometh neither is nor seemeth Fish His Church he compareth unto a Field where Tares manifestly known end seen by all Men do grow intermingled with good Corn and even so shall continue till the final consummation of the World God hath had ever
cause her merciful disposition to take so much the more delight in saving others whom the like necessity should press What in this behalf hath been done towards Nations abroad the parts of Christendom most afflicted can best testifie That which especially concerneth our selves in the present matter we treat of is the state of Reformed Religion a thing at her coming to the Crown even raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that even they which beheld it done searcely believed their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to pass thus many years it hath continued standing by no other wordly mean but that one onely hand which erected it that hand which as no kinde of imminent danger could cause at the first to withhold it self so neither have the practises so many so bloody following since been ever able to make weary Nor can we say in this case so justly that Aaron and Hur the Ecclesiastical and Civil States have sustained the hand which did lift it self to Heaven for them as that Heaven it self hath by this hand sustained them no aid or help having thereunto been ministred for performance of the Work of Reformation other then such kinde of help or aid as the Angel in the Prophet Zechariah speaketh of saying Neither by an army nor strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Which Grace and Favor of Divine Assistance having not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few days or years appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sins and transgressions striving to the contrary What can we less thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the World that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot chuse but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to believe us disputing for the Verity of Religion established let then believe God himself thus miraculously working for it and with life even for ever and ever unto that Glorious and Sacred Instrument whereby he worketh OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK V. Concerning their Fourth Assertion That touching several Publick Duties of Christian Religion there is amongst us much Superstition retained in them and concerning Persons which for performance of those Duties are endued with the Power of Ecclesiastical Order our Laws and Proceedings according thereunto are many ways herein also corrupted The Matter contained in this Fifth Book 1. TRue Religion is the Root of all true Vertues and the stay of all Well-ordered Commonwealths 2. The must extream opposite to true Religion is affected Atheism 3. Of Superstition and the Rest thereof either misguided zeal or Ignorant fear of Divine glory 4. Of the Redress of Superstition in Gods Church and concerning the Question of this Book 5. Four General Propositions demanding that which may reasonably be granted concerning Matters of outward Form in the Exercise of true Religion And fifthly Of a Rule and safe not reasonable in these Cases 6. The first Proposition touching Iudgment what things are convenient in the outward publick ordering of Church affairs 7. The second Proposition 8. The third Proposition 9. The fourth Proposition 10. The Rule of Mens private spirit not safe in these Cases to be followed 11. Plans for the Publick Service of God 12. The Solemnity of Erecting Churches condemned the Hallowing and Dedicating of them scanned by the Adversary 13. Of the names whereby we distinguish our Churches 14. Of the Fashion of our Churches 15. The Sumptuousness of Churches 16. What Holiness and Vertue we ascribe to the Church more than other places 17. Their pretence that would have Churches utterly vazed 18. Of Publick Teaching or Preaching and the first kinde thereof Catechizing 19. Of Preaching by reading publickly the Books of holy Scripture and concerning supposed Untruths in those Translations of Scripture which we allow to be read as also of the choice which we make in reading 20. Of Preaching by the Publick Reading of other prositable Instructions and concerning Books Apâ—cryphal 21. Of Preaching by Sermons and whether Sermons be the onely ordinary way of Teaching whereby man are brought to the saving knowledge of Gods Truth 22. What they attribute to Sermons onely and what we to Reading also 23. Of Prayer 24. Of Publick Prayer 25. Of the Form of Common Prayer 26. Of them which like not to have any Set Form of Common Prayer 27. Of them who allowing a Set Form of Prayer yet allow not ours 28. The Form of our Liturgy too near the Papists too far different from that of other Reformed Churches as they pretend 29. Attire belonging to the Service of God 30. Of gesture in Praying and of different places chosen to that purpose 31. Easiness of Praying after our Form 32. The length of our Service 33. Instead of such Prayers as the Primitive Churches have used and those that be Reformed now use we have they say divers short cuts or shreaddings rather Wishes them Prayers 34. Lessons intermingled with our Prayers 35. The number of our Prayers for Earthly things and our oft rehearsing of the Lords Prayer 36. The People saying after the Minister 37. Our manner of Reading the Psalms otherwise then the rest of the Scripture 38. Of Musick with Psalms 39. Of Singing or Saying Psalms and other parts of Common Prayer wherein the People and the Minister answer one another by course 40. Of Magnificat Benedictus and Nune Dimittis 41. Of the Litany 42. Of Athanasus Creed and Gloria Patri 43. Our want of particular Thanksgiving 44. In some things the Matter of our Prayer as they affirm is unsound 45. When thou hast overcome the sharpness of Death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven unto all Believers 46. Touching Prayer for Deliverance from Sudden Death 47. Prayer for these things which we for our worthiness dare not ask God for the worthiness of his Sin would vouchsafe to grant 48. Prayer to be evermore delivered from all Adversity 49. Prayer that all Men may finde Mercy and if the will of God that all Men might be Saved 50. Of the Name the Author and the force of Sacraments which force consisteth in this That God hath ordained them as means to make us partakers of him in Christ and of life through Christ. 51. That God is in Christ by the Personal Incarnation of the Son who is very God 52. The Misinterpretations which Heresit hath made of the manner how God and Man are united in one Christ. 53. That by the union of the one with the other Nature in Christ there groweth neither gain nor loss of Essential Properties to either 54. What Christ hath obtained according to the Flesh by the union of his Flesh with Dâ—iey 55. Of the Personal presence of Christ every where and in what sense it may be granted he is every where present according to the Flesh. 56. The union or mutual Participation which is between Christ
their Form of Administration Upon their Force their necessity dependeth So that how they are necessary we cannot discern till we see how effectual they are When Sacraments are said to be Visible Signs of Invisible Grace we thereby conceive how Grace is indeed the very end for which these Heavenly Mysteries were instituted and besides sundry other Properties observed in them the matter whereof they consist is such as signifieth Figureth and representeth their End But still their efficacy resteth obscure to our understanding except we search somewhat more distinctly what Grace in particular that is whereunto they are referred and what manner of operation they have towards it The use of Sacraments is but onely in this life yet so that here they concern a far better life then this and are for that cause accompanied with Grace which worketh Salvation Sacraments are the Powerful Instruments of God to Eternal Life For as our Natural Life consisteth in the Union of the Body with the Soul so our Life Supernatural in the Union of the Soul with God And for as much as there is no Union of God with Man without that mean between both which is both it seemeth requisite that we first consider how God is in Christ then how Christ is in us and how the Sacraments do serve to make us partakers of Christ. In other things we may be more brief but the weight of these requireth largeness 51. The Lord our God is but one God In which Indivisible Unity notwithstanding we adore the Father as being altogether of himself we glorifie that Consubstantial Word which is the Son we bless and magnifie that Co-essential Spirit eternally proceeding from both which is the Holy Ghost Seeing therefore the Father is of none the Son is of the Father and the Spirit is of both they are by these their several Properties really distinguishable each from other For the Substance of God with this property to be of none doth make the Person of the Father the very self-same Substance in number with this property to be of the Father maketh the Person of the Son the same Substance having added unto it the property of proceeding from the other two maketh the Person of the Holy Ghost So that in every Person there is implied both the Substance of God which is one and also that property which causeth the same Person really and truly to differ from the other two Every Person hath his own subsistence which no other besides hath although there be others besides that are of the same Substance As no man but Peter can be the person which Peter is yet Paul hath the self-same Nature which Peter hath Again Angels have every of them the Nature of pure and Invisible Spirits but every Angel is not that Angel which appeared in a Dream to Ioseph Now when God became Man lest we should err in applying this to the Person of the Father or of the Spirit St. Peters confession unto Christ was Thou art the Son of the Living God and St. Iohns Exposition thereof was made plain That it is the Word which was made Flesh. The Father and the Holy Ghost saith Damascen have no Communion with the Incarnation of the Word otherwise then onely by approbation and assent Notwithstanding for as much as the Word and Deity are one Subject we must beware we exclude not the Nature of God from Incarnation and so make the Son of God incarnate not to be very God For undoubtedly even the Nature of God it self in the onely Person of the Son is incarnate and hath taken to it self Flesh. Wherefore Incarnation may neither be granted to any Person but onely One nor yet denied to that Nature which is common unto all Three Concerning the cause of which incomprehenble Mystery for as much as it seemeth a thing unconsonant That the World should honor any other as the Saviour but him whom it honoreth as the Creator of the World and in the Wisdom of God it hath not been thought convenient to admit any way of saving man but by man himself though nothing should be spoken of the Love and Mercy of God towards Man which this way are become such a Spectacle as neither Men nor Angels can behold without a kinde of Heavenly astonishment we may hereby perceive there is cause sufficient why Divine Nature should assume Humane that so God might be in Christ reconciling to himself the World And if some cause be likewise required why rather to this end and purpose the Son then either the Father or the Holy Ghost should be made man Could we which are born the children of wrath be adopted the Sons of God through Grace any other then by the Natural Son of God being Mediator between God and us It became therefore him by whom all things are to be the Way of Salvation to all that the Institution and Restitution of the World might be both wrought by one hand The Worlds Salvation was without the Incarnation of the Son of God a thing impossible not simply impossible but impossible it being presupposed That the Will of God was no otherwise to have it saved then by the Death of his own Son Wherefore taking to himself our Flesh and by his Incarnation making it his own Flesh he had now of his own although from us what to offer unto God for us And as Christ took Manhood that by it he might be capable of death whereunto he humbled himself so because Manhood is the proper subject of compassion and feeling pity which maketh the Scepter of Christs Regency even in the Kingdom of Heaven be amiable he which without our Nature could not on Earth suffer for the sins of the World doth now also by means thereof both make intercession to God for sinners and exercise domnion over all men with a true a natural and a sensible touch of Mercy 52. It is not in mans ability either to express perfectly or conceive the manner how this was brought to pass But the strength of our Faith is tried by those things wherein our wits and capacities are not strong Howbeit because this Divine Mystery is more true then plain divers having framed the same to their own conceits and fancies are found in their Expositions thereof more plain then true In so much that by the space of Five hundred years after Christ the Church was almost troubled with nothing else saving onely with care and travel to preserve this Article from the sinister construction of Hereticks Whos 's first mists when the light of the Nicene Council had dispelled it was not long ere Macedonius transfered unto Gods most holy Spirit the same blasphemy wherewith Arius had already dishonored his co-eternally begotten Son not long ere Apollinarius began to pare away from Christs Humanity In refutation of which impieties when the Fathers of the Church Athanasius Basil and the two Gregories had by their painful
the Sons of God in which number how far soever one may seem to excel another yet touching this that all are Sons they are all equals some happily better Sons then the rest are but none any more a Son then another Thus therefore we see how the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father how they both are in all things and all things in them what Communion Christ hath with his Church how his Church and every Member thereof is in him by original derivation and he personally in them by way of Mystical Association wrought through the Gift of the Holy Ghost which they that are his receive from him and together with the same what benefit soever the vital force of his Body and Blood may yield yea by steps and degrees they receive the compleat measure of all such Divine Grace as doth sanctifie and save throughout till the day of their Final Exaltation to a state of Fellowship in glory with him whose partakers they are now in those things that tend to glory As for any mixture of the Substance of his Flesh with ours the Participation which we have of Christ includeth no such kinde of gross surmise 57. It greatly offendeth that some when they labor to shew the use of the holy Sacraments assign unto them no end but onely to teach the minde by other seases that which the Word doth teach by Hearing Whereupon how easily neglect and careless regard of so Heavenly Mysteries may follow we see in part by some experience had of those Men with whom that opinion is most strong For where the Word of God may be heard which teacheth with much more Expedition and more full Explications any thing we have to learn if all the benefit we reap by Sacraments be instruction they which at all times have opportunity of using the better mean to that purpose will surely hold the worse in less estimation And unto Infants which are not capable of instruction who would not think it a meer superfluity that any Sacrament is administred if to administer the Sacraments be but to teach receivers what God doth for them There is of Sacraments therefore undoubtedly some other more excellent and Heavenly use Sacraments by reason of their mixt Nature are more diversly interpreted and disputed of then any other part of Religion besides for that in so great store of Properties belonging to the self-same thing as every Mans wit hath taken hold of some especial consideration above the rest so they have accordingly seemed one to cross another as touching their several opinions about the necessity of Sacraments whereas in truth their disagreement is not great For let respect be had to the duty which every Communicant doth undertake and we may well determine concerning the use of Sacraments that they serve as Bonds of Obedience to God strict Obligations to the mutual exercise of Christian Charity Provocations to Godliness Preservations from Sin Memorials of the Principal benefits of Christ respect the time of their institution and it thereby appeareth that God hath annexed them for ever unto the New Testament as other Rites were before with the Old regard the weakness which is in us and they are warrants for the more security of our belief Compare the receivers of then with such as receive them not and Sacraments are marks of distinction to separate Gods own from strangers so that in all these respects they are sound to be most necessary But their chiefest force and vertue consisteth not herein so much as in that they are Heavenly Ceremonies which God hath sanctified and ordained to be administred in his Church First As marks whereby to know when God doth impart the vital or saving Grace of Christ unto all that are capable thereof and secondly as Means conditional which God requireth in them unto whom he imparteth Grace For sith God in himself is invisible and cannot by us be discerned working therefore when it seemeth good in the eyes of his Heavenly Wisdom that men for some special intent and purpose should take notice of his glorious Presence he giveth them some plain and sensible token whereby to know what they cannot see For Moses to see God and live was impossible yet Moses by fire knew where the glory of God extraordinarily was present The Angel by whom God endued the Waters of the Pool called Bethesda with Supernatural Vertue to Heal was not seen of any yet the time of the Angels presence known by the troubled motions of the Waters themselves The Apostles by Fiery Tongues which they saw were admonished when the Spirit which they could not behold was upon them In like manner it is with us Christ and his Spirit with all their blessed Effects though entring into the Soul of Man we are not able to apprehend or express how do notwithstanding give notice of the times when they use to make their access because it pleaseth Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those Blessings which are incomprehensible Seeing therefore that Grace is a consequent of Sacraments a thing which accompanieth them as their end a benefit which they have received from God himself the Author of Sacraments and not from any other Natural or Supernatural Quality in them it may be hereby both understood That Sacraments are necessary and that the manner of their necessity to Life Supernatural is not in all respects as food unto Natural Life because they contain in themselves no vital force of efficacy they are not Physical but Moral Instruments of Salvation duties of Service and Worship which unless we perform as the Author of Grace requireth they are unprofitable For all receive not the Grace of God which receive the Sacraments of his Grace Neither is it ordinarily his Will to bestow the Grace of Sacraments on any but by the Sacraments which Grace also they that receive by Sacraments or with Sacraments receive it from him and not from them For of Sacraments the very same is true which Solomons Wisdom observeth in the Brazen Serpent He that turned towards it was not healed by the thing he saw but by thee O Saviour of all This is therefore the necessity of Sacraments That saving Grace which Christ originally is or hath for the general good of his whole Church by Sacraments he severally deriveth into every member thereof Sacraments serve as the Instruments of God to that end and purpose Moral Instruments the use whereof is in our own hands the effect in his for the use we have his express Commandment for the effect his Conditional Promise So that without our obedience to the one there is of the other no apparent assurance as contrariwise where the Signs and Sacraments of his Grace are not either through contempt unreceived or received with contempt we are not to doubt but that they really give what they promise and are what they signifie For we take not Baptism nor the Eucharist for bare resemblances or memorials
satisfie our desires in that which else we should want so to love them on whom we bestow is Nature because in them we behold the effects of our own vertue Seeing therefore no Religion enjoyeth Sacraments the signs of Gods love unless it have also that Faith whereupon the Sacraments are built could there be any thing more convenient then that our first admittance to the Actual Receit of his Grace in the Sacrament of Baptism should be consecrated with profession of Belief which is to the Kingdom of God as a Key the want whereof excludeth Infidels both from that and from all other saving Grace We finde by experience that although Faith be an Intellectual Habit of the Minde and have her Seat in the Understanding yet an evil Moral Disposition obstinately wedded to the love of darkness dampeth the very Light of Heavenly Illumination and permitteth not the Minde to see what doth shine before it Men are lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God Their assent to his saving Truth is many times with-held from it not that the Truth is too weak to perswade but because the stream of corrupt affection carrieth them a clean contrary way That the Minde therefore may abide in the Light of Faith there must abide in the Will as constant a resolution to have no fellowship at all with the vanities and works of darkness Two Covenants there are which Christian men saith Isidor do make in Baptism the one concerning relinquishment of Satan the other touching Obedience to the Faith of Christ. In like sort St. Ambrose He which is baptized forsaketh the Intellectual Pharaoh the Prince of this World saying Abrenuncio Thee O Satan and thy Angels thy works and thy mandates I forsake utterly Tertullian having speech of wicked spirits These saith he are the Angels which we in Baptism renounce The Declaration of Iustin the Martyr concerning Baptism sheweth how such as the Church in those days did baptize made profession of Christian Belief and undertook to live accordingly Neither do I think it a matter easie for any man to prove that ever Baptism did use to be administred without Interrogatories of these two kindes Whereunto St. Peter as it may be thought alluding hath said That the Baptism which saveth us is not as Legal Purifications were a cleansing of the flesh from outward impurity but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Interrogative tryal of a good conscience towards God 64. Now the fault which they finde with us concerning Interrogatories is our moving of these Questions unto Infants which cannot answer them and the answering of them by others as in their names The Anabaptist hath many pretences to scorn at the baptism of Children First Because the Scriptures he saith do no where give Commandment to Baptize Infants Secondly For that as there is no Commandment so neither any manifest example shewing it to have been done either by Christ or his Apostles Thirdly In as much as the Word Preached and the Sacraments must go together they which are not capable of the one are no fit receivers of the other Last of all sith the Order of Baptism continued from the first beginning hath in it those things which are unfit to be applied unto Sucking Children it followeth in their conceit That the Baptism of such is no Baptism but plain mockery They with whom we contend are no enemies to the Baptism of Infants it is not their desire that the Church should hazard so many Souls by letting them run on till they come to ripeness of understanding that so they may be converted and then baptized as Infidels heretofore have been they bear not towards God so unthankful mindes as not to acknowledge it even amongst the greatest of his endless mercies That by making us his own possession so soon many advantages which Satan otherwise might take are prevented and which should be esteemed a part of no small happiness the first thing whereof we have occasion to take notice is How much hath been done already to our great good though altogether without our knowledge The Baptism of Infants they esteem as an Ordinance which Christ hath instituted even in special love and favor to his own people They deny not the practice thereof accordingly to have been kept as derived from the hands and continued from the days of the Apostles themselves unto this present onely it pleaseth them not That to Infants there should be Interrogatories proposed in Baptism This they condemn as foolish toyish and profane mockery But are they able to shew that ever the Church of Christ had any Publick Form of Baptism without Interrogatories or that the Church did ever use at the Solemn Baptism of Infants to omit those Questions as needless in this case Ioniface a Bishop in St. Augustines time knowing That the Church did Universally use this Custom of Baptising Infants with Interrogatories was desirous to learn from St. Augustine the true cause and reason thereof If saith he I should see before thee a young infant and should ask of thee whether that Infant when he cometh unto riper age will be honest and just or no Thou wouldst answer I know that to tell in these things what shall come to pass is not in the power of Mortal Man If I should ask What good or evil such an infant thinketh Thine answer hereunto must needs be again with the like uncertainty If them neither canst promise for the time to come nor for the present pronounce any thing in this case How is it that when such are brought unto Baptism their Parents there undertake what the Childe shall afterwards do Yea they are not doubtful to say It doth that which is impossible to be done by Infants At the least there is no man precisely able to affirm it done Vonchsafe me hereunto some short answer such as not onely may press me with the bare authority of Custom but also instruct me in the cause thereof Touching which difficulty whether it may truly be said for Infants at the time of their Baptism That they do believe the effect of St. Angustines answer is Yea but with this distinction a present Actual habit of Faith there is not in them there is delivered unto them that Sacrament a part of the due celebration whereof consisting in answering to the Articles of Faith because the habit of Faith which afterwards doth come with years is but a farther building up of the same edifice the first foundation whereof was laid by the Sacrament of Baptism For that which there we professed without any understanding when we afterwards come to acknowledge do we any thing else but onely bring unto ripeness the very Seed that was sown before We are then Believers because then we begun to be that which process of time doth make perfect And till we come to Actual Belief the very Sacrament of Faith is a shield as strong as after this the Faith of the Sacrament against all
calling been always so eminent above the rest in the same Church And what need we to seek far for proofs that the Apostles who began this order of Regiment by Bishops did it not but by divine instinct when without such direction things of far less weight and moment they attemdted not Paul and Barnabas did not open their mouths to the Gentiles till the Spirit had said Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have sent them The Eunuch by Philip was neither baptized nor instructed before the Angel of God was sent to give him notice that so it pleased the most High In Asia Paul and the rest were silent because the Spirit forbad them to speak When they intended to have seen Bythinia they stayed their journey the spirit not giving them leave to go Before Timothy was imployed in those Episcopal affairs of the Church about which the Apostle St. Paul used him the Holy Ghost gave special charge for his Ordination and prophetical intelligence more then once what success the same would have And shall we think that Iames was made Bishop of Ierusalem Evodius Bishop of the Church of Antioch the Angels in the Churches of Asia Bishops that Bishops every where were appointed to take away factions contentions and Schisms without some like divine instigation and direction of the Holy Ghost Wherefore let us not fear to be herein bold and peremptory That if any thing in the Churches Government surely the first institution of Bishops was from Heaven was even of God the Holy Ghost was the Author of it VI. A Bishops saith St. Augustine is a Presbyter's Superior but the question is now wherein that superiority did consist The Bishops pre-eminence we say therefore was twofold First he excelled in latitude of the power of Order secondly in that kind of power which belongeth unto Iurisdiction Priests in the law had authority and power to do greater things then Levites the high Priest greater then inferiour Priests might do therefore Levites were beneath Priests and Priests inferior to the High Priest by reason of the very degree of dignity and of worthiness in the nature of those functions which they did execute and not only for that the one had power to command and controul the other In like sort Presbyters having a weightier and a worthier charge then Deacons had the Deacon was in this sort the Presbyters inferior and where we say that a Bishop was likewise ever accompted a Presbyters superior even according unto his very power of Order we must of necessity declare what principal duties belonging unto that kind of power a Bishop might perform and not a Presbyter The custom of the primitive Church in consecrating holy Virgins and Widows unto the service of God and his Church is a thing not obscure but easie to be known both by that which St. Paul himself concerning them hath and by the latter consonant evidence of other mens writings Now a part of the pre-eminence which Bishops had in their power of Order was that by them onely such were consecrated Again the power of ordaining both Deacons and Presbyters the power to give the power of order unto others this also hath been always peculiar unto Bishops It hath not been heard of that inferiour presbyters were ever authorized to ordein And concerning Ordination so great force and dignity it hath that whereas Presbyters by such power as they have received for Administration of the Sacraments are able only to beget Children unto God Bishops having power to Ordain do by vertue thereof create Fathers to the people of God as Epiphanius fitly disputeth There are which hold that between a Bishop and a Presbyter touching power of Order there is no difference The reason of which conceipt is for that they see Presbyters no less then Bishops authorized to offer up the prayers of the Church to Preach the Gospel to Baptize to Administer the holy Eucharist but they considered not with all as they should that the Presbyters authority to do these things is derived from the Bishops which doth ordain him thereunto so that even in those things which are common unto both yet the power of the one is as it were a certain light borrowed from the others lamp The Apostles being Bishops at large â—deined every where Presbyters Titus and Timothy having received Episcopal power as Apostolique Embassadors or Legates the one in Greece the other in Ephesus they both did by vertue thereof likewise ordein throughout all Churches Deacons and Presbyters within the circuits allotted unto them As for Bishops by restraint their power this way incommunicable unto Presbyters which of the ancients do not acknowledge I make not Confirmation any part of that power which hath always belonged only unto Bishops because in some places the custom was that Presbyters might also confirm in the absence of a Bishop albeit for the most part none but onely Bishops were thereof the allowed Ministers Here it will be perhaps Objected that the power of Ordination it self was not every where peculiar and proper unto Bishops as may be seen by 2 Council of Carthage which sheweth their Churches Order to have been That Presbyters should together with the Bishop lay hands upon the ordained But the answer hereunto is easie For doth it hereupon follow that the power of Ordination was not principally and originally in the Bishop Our Saviour hath said unto his Apostles With me ye shall sit and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel yet we know that to him alone it belongeth to judge the World and that to him all judgement is given With us even at this day Presbyters are licensed to do as much as that Council speaketh of if any be present Yet will not any man thereby conclude that in this Church others than Bishops are allowed to ordain The association of Presbyters is no sufficient proof that the power of Ordination is in them but rather that it never was in them we may hereby understand for that no man is able to shew either Deacon or Presbyter ordained by Presbyters only and his Ordination accounted lawful in any ancient part of the Church every where examples being found both of Deacons and of Presbyters ordained by Bishops alone oftentimes neither ever in that respect thought unsufficient Touching that other chiefty which is of Jurisdiction amongst the Jews he which was highest through the worthiness of peculiar duties incident into his function in the legal service of God did bear alwaies in Ecclesiastical jurisdiction the chiefest sway As long as the glory of the Temple of God did last there were in it sundry orders of men consecrated unto the service thereof one sort of them inferior unto another in dignity and degree the Nathiners subordinate unto the Levites the Levites unto the Priests the rest of the Priests to those twenty four which were chief Priests and they all to the High Priest If any
the Antients termed usually an Arch-Presbyter weat this day name him Dean For most certain truth it is that Churches-Cathedral and the Bishops of them are as glasses wherein the face and very countenance of Apostolical antiquity remaineth even as yet to be seen notwithstanding the alterations which tract of time and the course of the world hath brought For defence and maintenance of them we are most earnestly bound to strive even as the Jews were for their Temple and the High-Priest of God therein The overthrow and ruine of the one if ever the sacrilegious avarice of Atheists should prevail so farr which God of his infinite mercy forbid ought no otherwise to move us than the people of God were moved when having beheld the sack and combustion of his Sanctuary in most lamentable manner flaming before their eyes they uttered from the bottom of their grieved Spirits those voyces of doleful supplication Exsurge Domine miserearis Sion serve tui diligunt lapides ejus pulver is ejus miseret cos VIII How farr the power which Bishops had did reach what number of Persons was subject unto them at the first and how large their Territories were it is not for the question we have in hand a thing very greatly material to know For if we prove that Bishops have lawfully of old ruled over other Ministers it is enough how few soever those Ministers have been how small soever the circuit of Place which hath contained them Yet hereof somewhat to the end we may so farr forth illustrate Church-Antiquities A Law Imperial there is which sheweth that there was great care had to provide for every Christian City Biâ—hop as near as might be and that each City had some Territory belonging unto it which Territory was also under the Bishop of the same City that because it was not universally thus but in some Countrys one Bishop had subject unto him many Cities and their Territories the Law which provided for establishment of the other Orders should not prejudice those Churches wherein this contrary Custom had before prevailed Unto the Bishop of every such City not only the Presbyters of the same City but also of the Territory thereunto belonging were from the first beginning subject For we must note that when as yet there were in Cities no Parish Churches but only Colledges of Presbyters under their Bisâ—ops Regiment yet smaller Congregations and Churches there were even then abroad in which Churches there was but some one only Presbyter to perform amongst them Divine duties Towns and Villages abroad receiving the Faith of Christ from Cities whereunto they were adjacent did as Spiritual and Heavenly Colonies by their subjection honour those antient Mother Churches out of which they grew And in the Christian Cities themselves when the mighty increase of Believers made it necessary to have them divided into certain several companies and over every of those companies one only Pastor to be appointed for the Ministry of holy things between the first and the rest after it there could not be but a natural inequality even as between the Temple and Synagogues in Ierusalem The Clergy of Cities were termed Urbici to shew a difference between them and the Clergies of Townes of Villages of Castles abroad And how many soever these Parishes or Congregations were in number which did depend on any one principal City-Church unto the Bishop of that one Church they and their several sole Presbyters were all subject For if so be as some imagine every petty Congregation or Hamlet had had his own particular Bishop what sense could there be in those words of Ierom concerning Castles Villages and other places abroad which having onely Presbyters to teach them and to minister unto them the Sacraments were resorted unto by Bishops for the Administration of that wherewith their Presbyters were not licensed to meddle To note a difference of that one Church where the Bishop hath his seat and the rest which depend upon it that one hath usually been termed Cathedral according to the same sense wherein Ignatius speaking of the Church of Antioch termeth it his Throne and Cyprian making mention of Euaristâ—s who had been Bishop and was now depoâ—ed termeth him Cathedrae extâ—rrem one that was thrust besides his Chair The Church where the Bishop is set with his Colledge of Presbyters about him we call a See the Local compass of his Authority we term a Diocess Unto a Bishop within the compass of his own both See and Diocess it hath by right of his place evermore appertained to ordain Presbyters to make Deacons and with judgement to dispose of all things of weight The Apostle St. Paul had Episcopal Authority but so at large that we cannot assign unto him any one certain Diocess His positive Orders and Constitutions Churches every where did obey Yea a charge and care saith he I have even of all the Churches The walks of Titus and Timothy was limited within the bounds of a narrow Precinct As for other Bishops that which Chrysostom hath concerning them If they be evil could not poâ—â—ibly agreâ— unto them unless their Authority had reached farther than to some one only Congregation The danger being so great at it is to him that scandalizeth one Soul What shall he saith Chrisostom speaking of a Bishop what shall he deserve by whom so many Souls yea even whole Cities and Peoples Men Women and Children Citizens Peasants Inhabitants both of his own City and of other Towns subject unto it are offended A thing so unusual it was for a Bishop not to have ample Jurisdiction that Theophilus Patriark of Alexandria for making one a Bishop of a small Town is noted a proud Despiser of the commendable Orders of the Church with this censure Such Novelties Theophilus presumed every where to begin taking upon him as it had been another Moses Whereby is discovered also their Errour who think that such as in Ecclesiâ—stical Writings they finde termed Chorepiscopos were the same in the Country which the Bishop was in the City Whereas the old Chorepiscopi are they that were appointed of the Bishops to have as his Vicegerents some over-sight of those Churches abroad which were subject unto his See in which Churches they had also power to make Sub-deacons Readers and such like petty Church-Officers With which power so stâ—nted they not contenting themselves but adventuring at the length to Orâ—â—in even Deacons and Presbyters also as the Bishop himself did their presumption herein was controlled and stayed by the antient Edict of Councils For example that of Antioch It hath seemed good to the holy Synod that such in Towns and Countrys as are called Chorepiscopi do know their limits and govern the Churches under them contenting themselves with the charge thereof and with Authority to make Readers Sub-Deacons Exorcists and to be Leaders or Guiders of them but not to meddle with the Ordination either of
their assurance whereof his Peace he gave them his Peace he left unto them not such Peace as the World offereth by whom his name is never so much pretended as when deepest treachery is meant but Peace which passeth all understanding Peace that bringeth with it all happinesse Peace that continueth for ever and ever with them that have it This Peace God the Father grant `for his Son's sake unto whom with the Holy Ghost three Persons one Eternal and Everliving God be all Honour and Glory and Praise now and for ever Amen A Learned and Comfortable SERMON Of the certainty and perpetuity of FAITH in the ELECT Especially of the Prophet Habakkuk's FAITH HABAK. 1. 4. Whether the Prophet Habakkuk by admitting this cogitation into his minde The Law doth fail did thereby shew himself an Unbeliever WEE have seen in the opening of this clause which concerneth the weakness of the Prophet's Faith First what things they are whereunto the Faith of sound Believers doth assent Secondly wherefore all men assent not thereunto and Thirdly why they that doe doe it many times with small assurance Now because nothing can be so truly spoken but through mis-understanding it may be depraved therefore to prevent if it be possible all mis-construction in this cause where a small errour cannot rise but with great danger it is perhaps needful ere we come to the fourth Point that something be added to that which hath been already spoken concerning the third That meer natural men do neither know nor acknowledge the things of God we do not marvel because they are spiritually to be discerned but they in whose hearts the light of Grace doth shine they that are taught of God why are they so weak in Faith why is their assenting to the Law so scrupulous so much mingled with fear and wavering It seemeth strange that ever they should imagin the Law to fail It cannot seem strange if we weigh the reason If the things which we believe be considered in themselves it may truly be said that Faith is more certain than any Science That which we know either by sense or by infallible demonstration is not so certain as the Principles Articles and Conclusions of Christian Faith Concerning which we must note that there is a certainty of evidence and a certainty of adherence Certainty of evidence we call that when the minde doth assent unto this or that not because it is true in it self but because the truth is clear because it is manifest unto us Of things in themselves most certain except they be also most evident our perswasion is not so assured as it is of things more evident although in themselves they be lesse certain It is as sure if not surer that there be spirits as that there he men but we be more assured of these than of them because these are more evident The truth of some things is so evident that no man which heareth them can doubt of them as when we hear that a part of any thing is less than the whole the minde is constrained to say This is true If it were so in matters of Faith then as all men have equal certainty of this so no Believer should be more scrupulous and doubtful than another But we finde the contrary The Angels and Spirits of the Righteous in Heaven have certainty most evident of things spiritual but this they have by the light of glory That which we see by the light of Grace though it he indeed more certain yet it is not to us so evidently certain as that which sense or the light of Nature will not suffer a man to doubt of Proofs are vain and frivolous except they be more certain than is the thing proved and do we not see how the Spirit every where in the Scripture proving matters of Faith laboureth to confirm us in the things which we believe by things whereof we have sensible knowledge I conclude therefore that we have less certainty of evidence concerning things believed than concerning sensible or naturally perceived Of these who doth doubt at any time Of them at somtime who doubteth not I will not here alledge the sundry confessions of the perfectest that have lived upon earth concerning their great imperfections this way which if I did I should dwell too long upon a matter sufficiently known by every faithful man that doth know himself The other which we call the certainty of adherence is when the heart doth cleave and stick unto that which it doth believe This certainty is greater in us than the other The reason is this The faith of a Christian doth apprehend the words of the Law the promises of God not onely as true but also as good and therefore even then when the evidence which he hath of the Truth is so small that it grieveth him to feel his weakness in assenting thereto yet is there in him such a sure adherence unto that which he doth but faintly and fearfully believe that his Spirit having once truly tasted the heavenly sweetness thereof all the world is not able quite and clean to remove him from it but he striveth with himself to hope against all reason of believing being setled with Iob upon this unmoveable resolution Though God kill me I will not give ever trusting in him For why This lesson remaineth for ever imprinted in him It is good for me to cleave unto God Psal. 37. Now the mindes of all men being so darkned as they are with the foggy damp of original corruption it cannot be that any man's heart living should be either so enlightned in the knowledge or so established in the love of that wherein his Salvation standeth as to be perfect neither doubting nor shrinking at all If any such were what doth lett why that man should not be justified by his own inherent righteousness For Righteousness inherent being perfect will justifie And perfect Faith is a part of perfect Righteousness inherent yea a principal part the root and the Mother of all the rest so that if the Fruit of every Tree be such as the Root is Faith being perfect as it is if it be not at all mingled with distrust and fear what is there to exclude other Christian vertues from the like perfections And then what need we the righteousness of Christ His Garment is superstuous we may be honourably cloathed with our own Robes if it be thus But let them beware who challenge to themselves a strength which they have not left they lose the comfortable support of that weakness which indeed they have Some shew although no soundness of ground there is which may be alledged for defence of this supposed-perfection in certainty touching matters of our Faith as first that Abraham did believe and doubted not secondly that the spirit which God hath given us to no other end but only to assure us that we are the Sons of God to embolden us to call upon him as our Father to open our eyes
what it is to sit in the shadow of death A grieved spirit therefore is no argument of a faithless minde A third occasion of mens mis-judging themselves as if they were faithless when they are not is They fasten their cogitations upon the distrustful suggestions of the flesh whereof finding great abundance in themselves they gather thereby surely unbelief hath full dominion it hath taken plenary possession of me if I were faithful it could not be thus Not marking the motions of the Spirit and of Faith because they lye buried and over-whelmed with the contrary when notwithstanding as the blessed Apostle doth acknowledge that the Spirit groaneth and that God heareth when we do not so there is no doubt but that our Faith may have and hath her private operations secret to us yet known to him by whom they are Tell this to a man that hath a minde deceived by too hard an opinion of himself and it doth but augment his grief he hath his answer ready Will you make me think otherwise than I finde than I feel in my self I have throughly considered and exquisitely sifted all the corners of my heart and I see what there is never seek to perswade me against my knowledge I do not I know I do not believe Well to favour them a little in their weakness let that be granted which they do imagine be it that they be faithless and without belief But are they not grieved for their unbelief They are Do they not wish it might and also strive that it may be otherwise We know they do Whence commeth this but from a secret love and liking which they have of those things that are believed No man can love things which in his own opinion are not And if they think those things to be which they shew that they love when they desire to believe them then must it needs be that by desiring to believe they prove themselves true Believers For without Faith no man thinketh that things believed are Which argument all the subtilty of infernal powers will never be able to dissolve The Faith therefore of true Believers though it hath many and grievous down-falls yet doth it still continue invincible it conquereth and recovereth it self in the end The dangerous conflicts whereunto it is subject are not able to prevail against it The Prophet Habakkuk remained faithful in weakness though weak in Faith It is true such is our weak and wavering nature we have no sooner received Grace but we are ready to fall from it we have no sooner given our assent to the Law that it cannot fall but the next conceit which we are ready to embrace is that it may and that it doth fail Though we finde in our selves a most willing heart to cleave unseparably unto God even so farr as to think unfeignedly with Peter Lord I am ready to go with thee into Prison and to death yet how soon and how easily upon how small occasions are we changed if we be but a while let alone and left unto our selves The Galatians to day for their sakes which teach them the truth of Christ are content if need were to pluck out their own eyes and the next day ready to pluck out theirs which taught them The love of the Angel to the Church of Ephesus how greatly enflamed and how quickly slacked the higher we flow the nearer we are unto an ebb if men be respected as mere men according to the wonted course of their alterable inclination without the heavenly support of the Spirit Again the desire of our ghostly enemy is so incredible and his means so forcible to over-throw our Faith that whom the blessed Apostle knew betrothed and made hand-fast unto Christ to them he could not write but with great trembling I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie for I have prepared you to one Husband to present you a pure Virgin unto Christ but I fear lest at the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your mindes should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. The simplicity of Faith which is in Christ taketh the naked promise of God his bare Word and on that it resteth This simplicity the Serpent laboureth continually to pervert corrupting the mind with many imaginations of repugnancy and contrariety between the promise of God and those things which sense or experience or some other fore-conceived perswasion hath imprinted The word of the promise of God unto his People is I will not leave thee nor forsake thee upon this the simplicity of Faith resteth and is not afraid of famine But mark how the subtilty of Satan did corrupt the mindes of that Rebellious generation whose Spirits were not faithful unto God They beheld the desolate state of the desart in which they were and by the wisdom of their sense concluded the promise of God to be but folly Can God prepare a Table in the Wildernesse The word of the promise to Sarah was Thou shalt bear a Son Faith is simple and doubteth not of it but Satan to corrupt this simplicity of Faith entangleth the mind of the Woman with an argument drawn from common experience to the contrary A woman that is old Sarah now to be acquainted again with forgotten passions of youth The word of the promise of God by Moses and the Prophets made the Saviour of the World so apparent unto Philip that his simplicity could conceive no other Messias than Iesus of Nazareth the Son of Ioseph But to stay Nathaniel left being invited to come and see he should also believe and so be saved the subtilty of Satan casteth a mist before his eyes putteth in his head against this the common conceived perswasion of all men concerning Nzaareth Is it possible that any good thing should come from thence this stratagem he doth use with so great dexterity that the minds of all men are so strangely bewitched with it that it bereaveth them for the time of all perceivance of that which should relieve them and be their comfort yea it taketh all remembrance from them even of things wherewith they are most familiarly acquainted The people of Israel could not be ignorant that he which led them through the Sea was able to feed them in the Desâ—rt but this was obliterated and put out by the sense of their present want Feeling the hand of God against them in their food they remember not his hand in the day that he delivered them from the hand of the Oppressour Sarah was not then to learn That with God all things were possible Had Nathaniel never noted how God doth chuse the base things if this World to disgrace them that are most honourably esteemed The Prophet Habakkuk knew that the promises of Grace protection and favour which God in the Law doth make unto his People do not grant them any such immunity as can free and exempt them from all chastisements he knew that as God said I will continue for ever my
and using all men as Brethren both near and dear unto us supposing Christ to love them tenderly so as they keep the profession of the Gospel and joyn in the outward communion of Saints Whereof the one doth-warrantize unto us their Faith the other their love till they fall away and forsake either the one or the other or both and then it is no injury to term them as they are When they separate themselves they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not judged by us but by their own doings Men do separate themselvs either by Heresie Schism or Apostasie If they lose the bond of Faith which then they are justly supposed to do when they frowardly oppugn any principal point of Christian Doctrine this is to separate themselves by Heresie If they break the bond of Unity whereby the Body of the Church is coupled and knit in one as they doe which wilfully forsake all external Communion with Saints in holy Exercises purely and orderly established in the Church this is to separate themselves by Schism If they willingly cast off and utterly forsake both profession of Christ and communion with Christians taking their leave of all Religion this is to separate themselves by plain Apostasie And Saint Iude to expresse the manner of their departure which by Apostasie fell away from the Faith of Christ saith They separated themselves noting thereby that it was not constraint of others which forced them to depart it was not infirmity and weaknesse in themselves it was not fear of Persecution to come upon them whereat their hearts did fail it was not grief of torment whereof they had tasted and were not able any longer to endure them No they voluntarily did separate themselves with a fully settled and altogether determined purpose never to name the Lord Jesus any more nor to have any fellowship with his Saints but to bend all their counsel and all their strength to raze out their memorial from amongst them 12. Now because that by such examples not onely the hearts of Infidels were hardned against the Truth but the mindes of weak Brethren also much troubled the Holy Ghost hath given sentence of these Backsliders that they were carnal men and had not the Spirit of Christ Jesus lest any man having an overweening of their Persons should be overmuch amazed and offended at their fall For simple men not able to discern their Spirits were brought by their Apostasie thus to reason with themselves If Christ be the Sonne of the Living God if he have the words of Eternal life if he be able to bring Salvation to all men that come unto him what meaneth this Apostasie and unconstrained departure Why do his Servants so willingly forsake him Babes be not deceived his Servants forsake him not They that separate themselves were amongst his Servants but if they had been of his Servants they had not separated themselves They were amongst us not of us saith Iohn and Saint Iude proveth it because they were carnal and had not the Spirit Will you judge of Wheat by Chaff which the winde hath scattered from amongst it Have the Children no Bread because the doggs have not tasted it Are Christians deceived of that Salvation they look for because they were denyed the joys of the life to come which were no Christians What if they seemed to be Pillars and principal Upholders of our Faith What is that to us which know that Angels have fallen from Heaven Although if these men had been of us indeed O the blessedness of a Christian man's estate they had stood surer than the Angels that had never departed from their place Wherein now we marvel not at their departure at all neither are we prejudiced by their falling away because they were not of us sith they are fleshly and have not the Spirit Children abide in the House for ever they are Bond-men and Bond-women which are cast out 13. It behoveth you therefore greatly every man to examine his own estate and to try whether you be bond or free children or no children I have told you already that we must beware we presume not to sit as Gods in judgement upon others and rashly as our conceit and fancy doth lead us so to determine of this man he is sincere or of that man he is an Hypocrite except by their falling away they make it manifest and known that they are For who art thou that takest upon thee to judge another before the time Judge thyself God hath left us infallible evidence whereby we may at any time give true and righteous sentence upon our selves We cannot examine the hearts of other men we may our own That we have passed from death to life we know it saith St. Iohn because we love the Brethren And know ye not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates I trust Beloved we know that we are not Reprobates because our Spirit doth bear us record that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is in us 14. It is as easie a matter for the Spirit within you to tell whose ye are as for the eyes of your Bodie to judge where you sit or in what place you stand For what saith the Scripture Ye which were in times past Strangers and Enemies because your mindes were set an evil works Christ hath now reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to make you holy and umblameable and without fault in his sight If you continue grounded and established in the Faith and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Collos. 1. And in the third to the Colossians Ye know that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of that Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. If we can make this account with our selves I was in times past dead in Trespasses and Sinnes I walked after the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr and after the Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience but God who is rich in mercy through his great love wherewith he loved me even when I was dead hath quickned me in Christ. I was fierce heady proud high-minded but God hath made me like the Childe that is newly weaned I loved pleasures more than God I followed greedily the joyes of this present World I esteemed him that erected a Stage or Theatre more than Solomon which built a Temple to the Lord the Haâ—p Viol Timbrel and Pipe Men-singers and Women-singers were at my Feast it was my felicity to see my Children dance before me I said of every kinde of vanity O how sweet art thou in my Soul All which things now are crucified to me and I to them Now I hate the pride of life and pomp of this world now I take as great delight in the way of thy Testimonies O Lord as in all Riches now I finde more joy of heart in my Lord and Saviour than the Worldly-minded-man when his Wheat and Oyl do much abound