I shall enter no further upon this inquiry only I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently and inquired Where is your Church of England since you have no Unity for your Ecclesiastick head of Unity your Bishops are gone And if we should be desirous to verify their argument so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy We should too much advantage Popery and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world But blessed be God who hath restored that Government for which our late King of glorious memory gave his blood And that me thinks should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom For my part I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr S. Cyprian Si quis cum Episcopo non sit in Ecclesia non esse He that is not with the Bishop is not in the Church that is he that goes away from him and willingly separates departs from Gods Church and whether he can then be with God is a very material consideration and fit to be thought on by all that think Heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction and the importune desire of rule can countervail However I have in the following papers spoken a few things which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudiced and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal only that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand and are born together only every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can by humility and love by prayer and by Obedience It is at the best very difficult but they who oppose themselves to Government make it harder and uncomfortable But take heed if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking thou wilt be the loser And for us we can only say in the words of the Prophet We will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people But Our comfort is in God for we can do nothing without him but in him we can do all things And therefore We will pray Domine dabis pacem nobis omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis God hath wrought all our works within us and therefore he will give us Peace and give us his Spirit Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith A Consecration Sermon Preached at DVBLIN Luke XII 42. And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THese words are not properly a question though they seem so and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interrogative but hypothetical and extends who to whosoever plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshould of him God requires a great care because he hath trusted him with a great imployment Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in my Text Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it now and in all generations of men as long as this Family shall abide on earth that is the Apostles and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship were to be furnished with the same power and to undertake the same charge and to give the same strict and severe accounts In these words here is something insinuated and much expressed 1. That which is insinuated only is who these Stewards are whom Christ had whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church they are not here named but we shall find them out by their propeâ— dirâ—ction and indigitation by and by 2. But that which is expressed is the Office it self in a double capacity 1. In the dignity of it It is a Rule and a Government whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshould 2. In the care and duty of it which determines the government to be paternal and profitable iâ— is a rule but such a rule as Shepherds have over their flocks to lead them to good pastures and to keep them within their appointed walks and within their folds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the work to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Matthew calls it meat in the season that which is fit for them and when it is fit meat enough and meat convenient and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong wholsom dyet 3. Lastly Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation The Steward that does so and continues to do so till his Lord find him so doing this man shall be blessed in his deed Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of these in order â— Who are these Rulers of Christs Family for though Christ knew it and therefore needed not to ask yet we have disputed it so much and obeyed so little that we have changed the plain hypothesis into an intangled question The answer yet is easy as to some part of the inquiry The Apostles are the first meaning of the Text for they were our Fathers in Christ They begat Sons and Daughters unto God and were a spiritual paternity is evident we need look no further for spiritual Government because in the paternal rule all power is founded They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the Spirit and they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministery They had the keyes of this house the Stewards Ensign and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church then for the first planting and if it was necessary that
ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions and to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandements and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise they will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agedo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practise but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talke something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Undivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie he feels this unintelligible mysterie and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysics can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best learning and Christianity is the best institution and the Spirit of God is the best teacher and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismisse you from this attention Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective Let us now try Gods Method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villaine the opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the publick But this is a sure Rule
frighted Fly vexing themselves with their own reflexions They are cruel in their bargains unmerciful to their tenants and proud as a Barbarian Prince They are for all their fine words impatient of reproof scornful to their Neighbours lovers of money supream in their own thoughts and submit to none all their spiritual life they talk of is nothing but spiritual fancy and illusion they are still under the power of their passions and their sin rules them imperiously and carries them away infallibly Let these men consider there are some men think it impossible to do as much as they do The common swearer cannot leave that vice and talk well and these men that talk thus well think they cannot do as well as they talk but both of them are equally under the power of their respective sins and are equally deceived and equally not the servants of God * This is true but it is equally as true that there is no necessity for all this for it ought and it may be otherwise if we please For I pray be pleased to hear S. Paul Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh There 's your remedy For the Spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit there 's the cause of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that ye may not or cannot do the things ye would That 's the blessed consequent and product of that cause That is plainly As there is a state of carnality of which S. Paul speaks in my Text so that in that state a man cannot but obey the flesh so there is also a state of spirituality when sin is dead and righteousness is alive and in this state the flesh can no more prevail than the Spirit could do in the other Some men cannot choose but sin for the carnal mind is not subject to God neither indeed can be saith S. Paul but there are also some men that cannot endure any thing that is not good It is a great pain for a temperate man to suffer the disorders of Drunkenness and the shames of Lust are intolerable to a chaste and modest person This also is affirmed by S. John Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him So that you see it is possible for a good man not to commit the sin to which he is tempted but the Apostle sayes more He doth not commit sin neither indeed can he because he is born of God And this is agreable to the words of our Blessed Saviour A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit and a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit that is as the child of Hell is carried to Sin pleno impetu he does not check at it he does it and is not troubled so on the other side a child of God is as fully convinced of righteousness and that which is unrighteous is as hateful to him as Colocynths to the taste or the sharpest punctures to the Pupil of the eye We may see something of this in common experiences What man of ordinary prudence and reputation can be tempted to steal or for what price would he be tempted to murder his friend If we did hate all sins as we hate these would it not be as easy to be as innocent in other instances as most men are in these and we should have as few Drunkards as we have thieves In such as these we do not complain in the words of my Text What I would not that I do and what I would I do not Does not every good man overcome all the power of great sins And can he by the Spirit of God and right reason by fear and hope conquer Goliath and beat the sons of the Giant and can he not overcome the little Children of Gath or is it harder to overcome a little sin than a great one Are not the temptations to little sins very little and yet are they greater and stronger than a mighty grace Could the poor Demoniack that liv'd in the graves by the power of the Devil break his iron chains in pieces and cannot he who hath the Spirit of God dissolve the chains of sin Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things saith S. Paul Satis sibi copiarum cum Publio Decio nunquam nimium hostium fore said one in Livie which is best rendred by S. Paul If God be with us who can be against us Nay there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Paul We are more than Conquerers for even amongst an army of Conquerours there are degrees of exaltation and some serve God like the Centurion and some like S. Peter some like Martha and some like Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all good men conquer their temptation but some with more ease and some with a clearer victory and more than thus Non Solum viperam terimus sed ex ea antidotum conficimus we kill the Viper and make treacle of him that is not only escape from but get advantages by temptations But we commonly are more afraid than hurt Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us so we read the words of the Apostle but S. Chrysostoms reddition of them is better for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a perfect passive and cannot signifie the strength and irresistibility of sin upon us but the quite contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the sin that is so easily avoided as they that understand that language know very well And if we were so wise and valiant as not to affright our selves with our own terrors we should quickly find that by the help of the Spirit of God we can do more then we thought we could It was said of Alexander Bene ausus est vana contemnere he did no great matter in conquering the Persian because they were a pitiful and a soft people only he understood them to be so and was wise and bold enough not to fear such images and men of clouts But men in the matter of great sins and little do as the Magicians of Aegypt when Moses turned his rod into a Serpent it moved them not but when they saw the Lice and the Flies then they were afraid We see that by the Grace of God we can escape great sins but we start at Flies and a bird out of a Bush disorders us the Lyon in the way troubles us not but a Frog and a Worm affrights us Remember the saying of S. Paul Christ came to redeem to himself a Church and to present it pure and spotless before the Throne of Grace and if you mean to be of this number you must endeavour to be under this qualification that is as Paul laboured to be void of offence both towards God and towards Man And so I have done with the second Proposition It is necessary that all sin great and little should be mortified and dead in
governance to do alwayes that which is righteous in thy sight Have you any hope or any faith when you say that Prayer And if you do your duty as you can do you think the failure will be on Gods part Fear not that if you can trust in God and do accordingly though your sins were as scarlet yet they shall be as white as snow and pure as the feet of the holy Lamb. Only let us forsake all those weak propositions which cut the nerves of faith and make it impossible for us to actuate all our good desires or to come out from the power of sin 2. He that would be free from the slavery of Sin and the necessity of sinning must alwayes watch I that 's the point but who can watch alwayes Why every good man can watch alwayes and that we may not be deceived in this let us know that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness and every good employment is another great part of it and a laying in provisions of Reason and Religion before hand is yet a third part of this watchfulness and the conversation of a Christian is a perpetual watchfulness not a continual thinking of that one or those many things which may indanger us but it is a continual doing something directly or indirectly against sin He either prayes to God for his Spirit or relies upon the promises or receives the Sacrament or goes to his Bishop for Counsel and a Blessing or to his Priest for Religious offices or places himself at the feet of good men to hear their wise sayings or calls for the Churches prayers or does the duty of his calling or actually resists Temptation or frequently renews his holy Purposes or fortifies himself by Vows or searches into his Danger by a daily examination so that in the whole he is for ever upon his guards * This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger Wise men do not often cut their fingers and yet every day they use a knife and a mans eye is a tender thing and every thing can do it wrong and every thing can put it out yet because we love our eyes so well in the midst of so many dangers by Gods providence and a prudent natural care by winking when any thing comes against them and by turning aside when a blow is offered they are preserved so certainly that not one man in ten thousand does by a stroak lose one of his eyes in all his life time If we would transplant our natural care to a spiritual caution we might by Gods grace be kept from losing our souls as we are from losing our eyes and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence and the perpetual presence of Gods grace is our great security and that this Grace never leaves us unless we leave it and the precept of a dayly watchfulness is a thing not only so reasonable but so many easy wayes to be performed we see upon what terms we may be quit of our sins and more than Conquerors over all the enemies impediments of Salvation 3. If you would be in the state of the Liberty of the Sons of God that is that you may not be servants of sin in any instance be sure in the mortifications of sin willingly or carelesly to leave no remains of it no nest-egg no principles of it no affections to it if any thing remains it will prove to us as Manna to the sons of Israel on the second day it will breed worms and stink Therefore labour against every part of it reject every proposition that gives it countenance pray to God against it all and what then Why then Ask and you shall have said Christ. Nay say some it is true you shall be heard but in part only for God will leave some remains of sin within us lest we should become proud by being innocent So vainly do men argue against Gods goodness and their own blessings and Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Basil sayes they contrive witty arts to undo themselves being intangled in the periods of ignorant disputations But as to the thing it self if by the remains of sin they mean the propensities and natural inclinations to forbidden objects there is no question but they will remain in us so long as we bear our flesh about us and surely that is a great argument to make us humble But these are not the sins which God charges on his people But if by remains we mean any part of the habit of sin any affection any malice or perverseness of the Will then it is a contradiction to say that God leaves in us such remains of Sin lest by innocence we become Proud For how should Pride spring in a mans heart if there be no remains of Sin left And is it not the best the surest way to cure the Pride of our hearts by taking out every root of bitterness even the root of Pride it self Will a Physician purposely leave the Reliques of a disease and pretend he does it to prevent a relapse And is it not more likely he will relapse if the sickness be not wholly cured * But besides this If God leaves any remains of Sin in us what remains are they and of what sins Does he leave the remains of Pride If so that were a strange cure to leave the remains of Pride in us to keep us from being proud But if not so but that all the remains of Pride be taken away by the grace of God blessing our endeavours what danger is there of being proud the remains of which Sin are by the grace of God wholly taken away But then if the Pride of the heart be cured which is the hardest to be remov'd and commonly is done last of all who can distrust the power of the Spirit of God or his goodness or his promises and say that God does not intend to cleanse his Sons and Servants from all unrighteousness and according to S. Pauls prayer keep their bodies and souls and spirits unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus But however let God leave what remains he please all will be well enough on that side but let us be careful as far as we can that we leave none lest it be severely imputed to us and the fire break out and consume us 4. Let us without any further question put this argument to a material issue let us do all that we can do towards the destruction of the whole body of sin but let us never say we cannot be quit of our Sin till we have done all that we can do towards the mortification of it For till that be done how can any man tell where the fault lies or whether it can be done or no. If any man can say that he hath done all that he could do and yet hath failed of his duty if he can say truly that he hath endured as much
insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a law of righteousness and it is a law of the Spirit of Life and changes nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our Souls through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love James II. 24. You see then how that by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us that we are also justified by works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this justification is wrought by Faith without works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul that this is not wrought without works S. James is as express for his negative as S. Paul was for his affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom faith was imputed for righteousness and therefore not by works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this that S. James uses the very same argument to prove that our justification is by works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac Now which of these sayes true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recals us to live the life of Jews while one sayes I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtile arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes but because the great end of Faith the design the definition the State the Oeconomy of it is that all believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles to understand the question and the duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with allegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righâ—eousness and Works be pleased to consider that the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous in so much that in the Latin Concordances of S. Hieroms Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less than twenty two several senses and acceptations of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them To which if out of my own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in works for by works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of works it sometimes means the works of the Law sometimes the works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to recieve the favour and the grace of God Now since our good works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as to need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense for by such works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of works But because we came into the world to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin and to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Fathers will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this obedience therefore when works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore
the worthiness of the Thing In the first you see the case can have no difference because the thing it self is but one There is but one Authority in the world and that is God's as there is but one Sun whose light is diffused into all Kingdomes But is there not great difference in the Thing commanded Yes certainly there is some but nothing to warrant disbobedience for whatever the thing be it may be commanded by man if it be not countermanded by God For 1. It is not required that every thing commanded should of it self be necessary for God himself oftentimes commands things which have in them no other excellency then that of Obedience What made Abraham the friend of God and what made his offer to kill his Son to be so pleasing to God It had been naturally no very great good to cut the throat of a little child but only that it was Obedience What excellency was there in the journeys of the Patriarchs from Mesopotamia to Syria from the land of Canaan into Egypt and what thanks could the sons of Israel deserve that they sate still upon the seventh day of the week and how can a man be dearer unto God by keeping of a Feast or building of a Booth or going to Jerusalem or cutting off the foreskin of a boy or washing their hands and garments in fair water There was nothing in these things but the Obedience And when our blessed Lord himself came to his Servant to take of him the Baptisme of Repentance alas he could take nothing but the water and the ceremony for as Tertullian observes he was nullius poenitentiae debitor he was indeed a just person and needed no repentance but even so it became him to fulfil all righteousness but yet even then it was that the Holy Spirit did descend upon his holy head and crown'd that Obedience though it were but to a ceremony Obedience you see may be necessary when the law is not so For in these cases God's Son and God's Servants did obey in things which were made good only by the commandement and if we doe so in the Instances of humane Laws there is nothing to be said against it but that what was not of it self necessary is made so by the authority of the Commander and the force of the Commandement But there is more in it then so For 2ly We pretend to be willing to obey even in things naturally not necessary if a divine command does interpose but if it be only a commandement of man and the thing be not necessary of it self then we desire to be excus'd But will we doe nothing else We our selves will doe many things that God hath not commanded and may not our Superiors command us in many cases to doe what we may lawfully doe without a commandement Can we become a law unto our selves and cannot the word and power of our Superiors also become a law unto us hath God given more to a private then to a publick hand But consider the ill consequents of this fond opinion Are all the practices of Geneva or Scotland recorded in the Word of God are the trifling Ceremonies of their publick Penance recorded in the four Gospels are all the rules of decency and all things that are of good report and all the measures of prudence and the laws of peace and war and the customes of the Churches of God and the lines of publick honesty are all these described to us by the laws of God If they be let us see and read them that we may have an end to all questions and minute cases of Conscience but if they be not and yet by the Word of God these are bound upon us in the general and no otherwise then it follows that the particulars of all these which may be infinite and are innumerable yet may be the matter of humane Laws and then are bound upon us by the power of God put into the hands of man The consequent is this that whatsoever is commanded by our Superior according to the will of God or whatsoever is not against it is of necessity to be obey'd 3ly But what if our Princes or our Prelates command things against the Word of God what then Why nothing then but that we must obey God and not man there 's no dispute of that But what then again Why therefore saies the Papist I will not obey the Protestant Kings because against the Word of God they command me to come to Church where Heresy is preached and I will not acknowledge the Bishops saith the Presbyterian because they are against the discipline and scepter of Jesus Christ and the Independent hates Parochial meetings and is wholly for a gathered Church and supposes this to be the practice Apostolical and I will not bring my Child to Baptisme saith the Anabaptist because God calls none but believers to that Sacrament and I will acknowledge no Clergy no Lord no Master saith the Quaker because Christ commands us to call no man master on the earth and be not called of men Rabbi And if you call upon these men to obey the Authority God hath set over them they tell you with one voice with all their hearts as far as the Word of God will give them leave but God is to be obey'd and not man and therefore if you put the Laws in execution against them they will obey you passively because you are stronger and so long as they know it they will not stir against you but they in the mean time are little less then Martyrs and you no better then Persecutors What shall we doe now for here is evidently a great heap or disorder they all confess that authority must be obey'd but when you come to the trial none of them all will doe it and they think they are not bound but because their Opinions being contrary cannot all be right and it may be none of them are it is certain that all this while Authority is infinitely wronged and prejudiced amongst them when all fantastick Opinions shall be accounted a sufficient reason to despise it I hope the Presbyterian will joyn with the Protestant and say that the Papist and the Socinian and the Independent and the Anabaptist and the Quaker are guilty of Rebellion and Disobedience for all their pretence of the Word of God to be on their side and I am more sure that all these will joyn with the Protestant and say that the Presbyterian hath no reason to disobey Authority upon pretence of their new Government concerning which they do but dream dreams when they think they see visions Certain it is that the biggest part of dissenters in the whole world are criminally disobedient and it is a thousand to one but that Authority is in the right against them and ought to be obey'd It remains now in the next place that we inquire what Authority is to doe in this case and what these Sectaries and Recusants are to doe for
great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in matters of Religion and questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King divines And since God hath blessed us with so good so just so religious and so wise a Prince let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination For Wisedome saith By me Princes rule by me they decree justice and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency and is as the spirit of the most High God 4. Let no man be too busy in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldome gets good to himself but seldome misses to doe mischief unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Laertius Will a son contend with his father that 's not decent though the son speak that which is right he may possibly say well enough but he does doe very ill not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior whether it be good or no for the very commandement can make it not only good but a necessary good It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden then these necessary things said the Council of Jerusalem and yet these things were not necessary but as they were commanded to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary but the commandement came authority did interpose and then they were made so 5. But then besides the advantages both of the spirit and the authority of Kings in matters of question the laws and decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteem'd as a final sentence in all things disputed The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God this tels what Rulers he means Rulers Ecclesiastical and what of them whose faith follow they must praeire in articulis they are not masters of your faith but guides of it and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obey'd said our blessed Saviour These words were not said for nothing and they were nothing if their authority were nothing For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private The publick is far the better the daughter of God and the mother of a blessing and alwaies dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the trial it hath been subjected to the Prophets tried and searched and approved the private is yet to be examined The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed the private is various and multiform as chance and no man can follow him that hath it For if he follows one he is reproved by a thousand and if he changes he may get a shame but no truth and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses God told them that they were Prophets of an inferior rank then Moses was God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions but the Ruach hakkodesh the publick spirit of Moses their Prince that was higher and what then wherefore then God said were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses plainly teaching us that where there is a more excellent spirit they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit that is of a Subject speaking against the spirit and the laws of the Church In heaven and in the air and in all the regions of spirits the spirit of a lower order dares not speak against the spirit of an higher and therefore for a private spirit to oppose the publick is a disorder greater then is in hell it self To conclude this point Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy and not by the Laws who would endure them and yet why may they not doe that as well as any Ecclesiastic person preach Religion not which the Laws allow but what is taught him by his own private Opinion but he that hath the Laws on his side hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him and can never want a great measure of justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws and the customes of the country are the results of wise counsels or long experience they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit and nothing of this can be said of private Religions for they break the Peace and trouble the Conscience and undo Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdome of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place if we cannot doe what the Laws command we will suffer what they impose and then all is well again But first who ever did so that could help it And secondly this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery for what man did ever say the Laws were not good but he also said the Punishment was unjust And thirdly which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution he may think to please himself but he neither does or saies any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws Such men are like them that sail in a storm they may possibly be thrown into a harbour but they are very sick all the way But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharg'd in the Court of Conscience but there he is still a sinner and a debter For the law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment appointed by the Law falls on him only that hath sinned but an offending subject cannot with the fruit of his body pay for the sin of his Soul when he does evil he must suffer evil but if he does not repent besides a worse thing will happen to him for we are not tied to obey only for wrath but also for Conscience Passive obedience is only the correspondent of wrath but it is the active obedience that is required by Conscience and whatever the Subject suffers for his own fault it matters nothing as to his
season for it 2. Holinesse is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holinesse but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and uselesse and contentious and to one of these heads all Questions will return and therefore in all from Holinesse we have the best Instructions And this brings me to the next Particle of the generall Consideration For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God this new nature this vital principle within us it is that which is worth our learning not vaine and empty idle and insignificant notions in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbes and your flesh unfixed from its bones you are no better and no wiser If the Spirit of God be your Teacher he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God and become like to him and enjoy him for ever by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen and what is any man the more learned if he heares the disputes whether Adam should have multiplied Children in the state of Innocence and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many ages past and troubled themselves with tying and untying Knots like Hypochondriacs in a fit of Melancholy thinking of nothing and troubling themselves with nothing and falling out about nothings and being very wise and very learned in things that are not and work not and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God Mens notions are too often like the Mules begotten by aequivocall and unnaturall Generations but they make no species they are begotten but they can beget nothing they are the effects of long study but they can do no good when they are produced they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae the way of understanding If the Spirit of God be our Teacher we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good to be wise and to be holy to be profitable and carefull and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences more skill in the Scriptures more satisfaction in their doubts then can be obtain'd by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world And if the holy spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions to disturb the Church for interest or pride to resist Government in things indifferent to spend the peoples zeale in things unprofitable to make Religion to consist in outsides and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards No no the Man that is wise he that is conducted by the Spirit of God knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist then to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety for what for Religion no for the body of Religion not so much for the garment of the body of Religion no not for so much but for the Fringes of the garment of the Body of Religion for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren they are things or rather Circumstances and manners of things which the Soul and spirit is not at all concerned 3. Holinesse of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding not only as a Naturall medium nor only as a prudent medium but as a means by way of Divine blessing He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Here we have a promise for it and upon that we may rely The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recitall of his Creed found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner and by a very plain instrument it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to doe and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jewes revealing them to Babes not because they had less learning but because they had more love they were children and Babes in Malice they loved Christ and so he became to them a light and a glory St. Paul had more learning then they all and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth he was also the wisest and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent he had a divine light and excellent wisdome superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings And St. Paul though he went very far to the knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new lesson in a new School at the feet of one greater then his Gamaliel his learning grew much greater his notions brighter his skill deeper by the love of Christ and his desires his passionate desires after Jesus The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah 29.11 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is seal'd And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned He that is no learned man who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets cannot read Gods Book for want of learning For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision not the only one indeed but the common gate But beyond this there must be another learning for he that is learned bring the Book to him and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it if the Book be sealed if his eyes be closed if his heart be not opened if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline Humane learning is an excellent Foundation but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God For we may further observe that blindnesse errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime