Rom. 12. 11. 3. Zeal is that which carries our Devotions up to Heaven As Wings to a Fowl Wheels to a Chariot Sails to a Ship so is Zeal to the Soul of Man Without Zeal our Devotions can no more ascend than Vapours from a Still without fire put under it Prayer if it be fervent availeth much but a cold Sute will never get to Heaven In brief Zeal is the Chariot wherein our Alms our Offerings and all the good works we do are brought before the Throne of God in Heaven No Sacrifice in the Law could be offered without fire no more in the Gospel is any Service rightly performed without Zeal Be zealous therefore lest all thy works all thy endeavours be else unprofitable Rouze up thy dull and heavy Spirit serve God with earnestness and fervency and pray unto him that he would send us this fire from his Altar which is in Heaven whereby all our Sacrifices may become acceptable and pleasing unto him AND thus I come to the next thing in my Text Repentance Be zealous and repent Repentance is the changing of our course from the old way of Sin unto the new way of Righteousness or more briefly A changing of the course of sin for the course of Righteousness It is called also Conversion Turning and Returning unto God This matter would ask a long discourse but I will describe it briefly in five degrees which are as five steps in a Ladder by which we ascend up to Heaven 1. The first step is the Sight of Sin and the punishment due unto it for how can the Soul be possessed with fear and sorrow except he Understanding do first apprehend the danger for that which the Eye sees not the Heart rues not If Satan can keep sin from the Eye he will easily keep sorrow from the Heart It is impossible for a man to repent of his wickedness except the reflect and say What have I done The serious Penitent must be like the wary Factor he must retire himself look into his Books and turn over the leaves of his life he must consider the expence of his Time the employment of his Talent the debt of his Sin and the strictness of his Account 2. And so he shall ascend unto the next step which is Sorrow for sin For he that seriously considers how he hath grieved the Spirit of God and endangered his own Soul by his sins cannot but have his Spirit grieved with remorse The Sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit Neither must we sorrow only but look unto the quality of our Sorrow that it be Godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the quantity of it that it be Great We must fit the plaister to the wound and proportion our sorrow to our Sins He that with Peter hath sinned heinously or with Mary Magdalen frequently must with them weep bitterly and abundantly 3. The Third step of this Ladder is the Loathing of sin A Surfiet of Meats how dainty and delicate soever will afterwards make them loathsome He that hath taken his fill of sin and committed iniquity with greediness and is sensible of his supersinity or abundance of naughtiness and hath a great Sorrow for it he will the more loath his sins though they have been never so full of delight Yea it will make him loath himself and cry out in a mournful manner with S. Paul Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death 4. The fourth step is the leaving off Sin For as Amnon hating Tamar shut her out of doors So he that loaths and hates his Sins the sight the thought the remembrance of them will be grievous unto him and he will labour by all good means to expel them For true Repentance must be the consuming of sin To what purpose doth the Physician evacuate ill humors if the Patient still distempers himself with ill diet What shall it avail a man to endure the launcing searching and tenting of a wound if he stay not for the cure So in vain also is the Sight of sin and the Sorrow for and Loathing of Sin if the works of darkness still remain and the Soul is impatient of a through-cure And therefore as Amnon not only put out his loathed Sister but bolted the door after her as it is said in the forequoted place So must we keep out our sins with the Bolts of Resolution and Circumspection Noah pitched the Ark within and without Gen. 6. 14. So to keep out the waters and a Christian must be watchful to secure all his Senses External and Internal to keep out sin 5. The Fifth and last step is the Cleaving unto God with full purpose of heart to walk before him in newness of life All the former Degrees of Repentance were for the putting off of the Old man this is for the putting on of the New For ubi Emendatio nulla Poenitentia necessariò vana saith Tertullian de Poenit. c. 2. Where there is no Reformation there the Repentance must needs be vain and fruitless for as he goes on caret fructu suo eui eam Deus sevit i. e. hominis saluti it hath not its fruit unto holiness nor the end everlasting life Rom. 6. 22. And thus have I let you see briefly What Repentance is Will you have me say any more to make you to affect it as earnestly as I hope by this time you understand it clearly Know then that this is that which opens Heaven and leads into Paradise This is that Ladder without which no man can climb thither and therefore as S. Austin saith Mutet vitam qui vult accipere vitam Let us change our life here if we look for the Life of Glory hereafter Let us leave the old way of sin for the new way of righteousness and to apply all to my Text Let us change our course of Lukewarmness for a course of fervency in God's service our dull and drowsie Devotions for a course of Zeal Be zealous and Repent AND thus I come to the Third thing I propounded namely the Connexion and dependance of these latter words Be zealous therefore and Repent upon the former As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Many things might be here observed but I will name but one which is this That Repentance is the means to avoid and prevent God's Iudgments For as Tertullian in his de Poenitentia observes * Qui poenam per judicium destinavit idem veniam per poenitentiam spospondit He that hath decreed to punish by Iustice hath promised to grant pardon by Repentance And so we read in Ieremy 18. 7. When I shall speak saith the Lord there concerning a Nation or Kingdom to pluck up to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from evil I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them And in Ezekiel 18. Repent and turn
Blind zeal which wants knowledge 3. Turbulent zeal which wants love and moderation 1. The First of these Hypocritical zeal is a meer blaze and shew of fervency without any true and solid heat It is nothing but the Vizor of zeal looking a squint one way but tending another pretending God and his Glory but aiming at some private and sinister end Such was the zeal of Iehu who marched furiously and his word was The Lord of hosts Come said he to Ionadab and see my zeal for the Lord but his project was the Kingdom Iezabel proclaimed a Fast as out of an Extasie of zeal that God should be blasphemed but her aim was Naboth's vineyard So in Acts 19. Demetrius the Silver-Smith and his fellows cry Great is Diana of the Ephesians but meant the gain they got by making of her Silver Shrines vers 24. This Zeal is soon descried by the proper Character it hath namely an affectation of having their works seen of men which is said of the vain-glorious Pharisees in Matt. 6. be it by ostentation of their zealous deeds like Iehu or by the excess of affected gestures sighs and other like actions falling within the view of men Not but that a true zeal doth shew it self vehement even in external actions but it is the straining of them beyond measure which argues the Heart to be guilty of emptiness within 2. The Second kind of False zeal is Blind zeal Ignis fatuus or Fools fire leading a man out of the right way when men zealously affect evil things supposing them to be good or are eagerly bent against good things supposing them to be evil Such was the Zeal of the Iews of whom S. Paul witnesseth that they had a zeal of God that is in the matters of God but not according to knowledg And with this Zeal was he himself once carried when he persecuted the Christians with an opinion of doing God good service as the phrase is Iohn 16. 2. I verily thought saith he with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus of Nazareth And such is the zeal of simple and devout Sectaries who blindly run after some person they esteem without knowing themselves either why or whither This kind of zeal is like to metal in a Blind horse that will speed to fall into a pit or to break his neck The counsel I would give for avoiding this kind is to look before we leap and see our way clearly before we run 3. The Third kind of False zeal is Turbulent zeal which S. Iames calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter zeal a kind of Wildfire transporting a man beyond all compass of Moderation namely when in the excess of our heat we either outgo the bounds of our place and calling or use undue Means or wayes or overshoot the limits of Love and Charity whether to God or our Neighbour For howsoever Zeal be an excess of our affections in the things of God yet must this excess never break over the banks either of our vocation or in choice of Means out-bound the Rule of God's Law as theirs most certainly doth who endeavour to colour their Religion by the Massacres of Princes overturning of Kingdoms breach of Oaths and almost all bands of humane Society Such was the Zeal of Saul when he slew the Gibeonites forgetting the Oath which the Princes of the Congregation had made unto them Iosh. 9. 15 18 19. And such was the zeal of Iames and Iohn in the Gospel when to vindicate the honour of Christ they would have Fire to come down from heaven to consume a whole Village of Samaria Such also was Peter's zeal when he cut off Malchus his ear The former outwent the limits of Love and Charity the last the limits of his Vocation As Clocks whose Springs are broken overstrike the hour of the day So this mad and untempered Zeal the measure of Moderation Thus I have briefly described these False fires that by the Law of contraries we may know who is the true Zealot whom God approveth namely He whose Spirit is in Fervency and not in Shew for God and not for himself guided by the Word and not with humours and opinions tempered with Charity and free from head-strong violence This is that Zeal which our Saviour calls for in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be zealous therefore This is that Zeal which whoso wants in him God hath no pleasure but will spue him out of his Mouth as it is said in vers 15. a little before my Text. But why will you say should this zeal be so needful or why may we not worship God without it Let us therefore now see the Reasons and Motives which do evince and prove it needful and should urge us to it 1. First therefore I will seek no further than my Text where the want of Zeal is reckoned for a Sin a Sin to be repented of Be zealous and Repent Is not that needful without which all our works are sinful But Vertue you will say consists in a Mean and not in Excess and why should not Piety also I answer The Mean wherein Vertue is placed is the Middle of different kinds and not the Middle or Mean of degrees in one and the same kind Vertue so it be Vertue is at the best in the highest degree and so is Religion in the highest pitch of Zeal 2. It is the Ground-rule of the whole Law of God and of all the Precepts concerning his Worship That we must love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our Soul with all our Mind and with all our Strength What is this else but to love him zealously to worship him with the highest pitch of our affections and the uttermost strain both of Body and Soul For he is the Soveraign and chiefest Good what Love then can suite to him but the very top and Soveraignty of Love All things in God are Supreme his Power his Knowledg his Mercy and therefore he cannot truly be worshipped unless we yield him whatsoever is Supreme in ourselves a supremacy of Fear a supremacy of Hope a supremacy of Thankfulness For whom then should we reserve the top and chief of our affections for our gold for our Herodias c How can we offer God a baser indignity will he endure that any thing in the world should be respected before him or equalled to him The Lord our God is a jealous God and will not suffer it Let therefore all the Springs and Brooks of our affections run into this Main and let no Rivulet be drawn another way If Zeal be good in any thing it is most required in the best things and if in any thing it be comely to work with all our might Eccles. 9. 10. certainly in the service of God it is most comely Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord
apud Persas aureum caput arietinum pro diademate gestare as appears from Ammian Marcellinus l. 19. The clear understanding of these and many other particulars in those Chapters depends altogether upon History By all which it is manifest how necessary it is for the full understanding of several parts of Scripture to be acquainted as the Author was with the Original Languages ancient Versions the Genius and Idioms of the Scripture-style and also with History and the ancient Customes both of the Iews and others without which it would be a fruitless attempt even for such as otherwise are of good abilities to undertake to give a pertinent and satisfying account of the forementioned and other the like passages of Scripture And as for those who though they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and bring not forth the Fruits of the Spirit would engross the Spirit wholly to themselves as the Iews did the Messias to their Nation to the excluding of the Gentiles and ignorantly despise all humane Learning and means of Knowledge what has been said may abundantly check their vain confidence such Scriptures as I have instanced in and others of the like nature being not to be explain'd without skill in the learned Languages History and Antiquity which is not to be had but by a studious converse with the best Authors except they will say that such skill and knowledge is infused and that the particular Events and Res gestae at large treated of in Books are made known to them by extraordinary Revelation which yet they are so wary as not to pretend to as they are also so wise as not to pretend to the Gifts of Tongues or Interpretation of Tongues those Gifts of the Spirit not unusual in the Apostles Age. 3. His diligent enquiry and happy insight into the Oriental Figurative Expressions and Prophetick Schemes throughout the Scripture For he observ'd that there were especially in the Writings of the Prophets certain Symbols Emblems and Hieroglyphical representations which were no less familiar to those Eastern Nations than our Poetical Schemes and Pictures are to us and that the true meaning of these Symbols was to be found out by some such means as these as 1. By comparing those several places of Scripture where they occur and observing what they use to stand for or what their uniform signification and notion is in such places which may be farther cleared as by considering the fitness and analogy between those Symbols and the Things represented by them so likewise by attending to some Plainer expressions in the Context which are a certain Key to the understanding of those that are Figurative and Emblematical Thus what in Ier. 4. 23. is figuratively describ'd The Earth is without Form and void 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words used Gen. 1. 2 of the old Chaos and the Heavens have no light is the same with what is plainly express'd in the Context The whole Land is spoiled The whole Land shall be desolate And that in Haggai 2. 6 21. I will shake the Heavens and the Earth is explain'd by the words immediately following Thus in Zech. 11. 2. The Cedar is fallen the defenced Forest is come down is no other than that which is plainly set down in the same verse The mighty or the Nobles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are spoiled But in Dan. chap. 7. and ch 8. and in Apoc. 17. much of the Visions is there explain'd and the Symbols therein are render'd out of the Prophetical style afterwards into more easie and familiar sense 2. By observing how these Oriental Symbols are interpreted and render'd into plainer expressions by the Chaldee Paraphrasts who may justly be presum'd to know best what was meant thereby in those Countries as for example when the Prophets frequently speak of the Sun 's being darkned in its going forth the Moon not giving her light and elsewhere of the Stars falling from Heaven upon the Earth a phrase not to be understood Literally the Targum renders these and the like Prophetick strains in words that signifie the diminution of the Glory and Felicity of the State and the Downfal of the Grandees and Chiefs therein Sun Moon and Stars being put according to the Prophetick style for the Higher Powers Princes and Peers those Great Lights shining in the Firmament of the Political World Thus also when the Prophets denounce God's Iudgments to come upon all the Cedars and Oaks Esay 2. and when the Firre-trees and Oaks are bid to howl Zech. 11. the Targum in stead of mentioning these tall and goodly Trees has 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes of the People and Rulers of Provinces 3. By consulting such Authors as had collected any Fragments and Remains of the ancient Onirocriticks as Apomasar or Achmetes the Arabian published by the learned Rigaltius had of the Onirocriticks of the Indians Persians and Egyptians concerning which I need not enlarge the Author having inserted some pertinent Extracts thereof together with his judgment of their fitness to illustrate the meaning of the Prophetical Representations in his Commentary upon the Apocalyps p. 451. and elsewhere By which Onirocriticks it may appear what the Eastern nations did commonly suppose to be signified by such Symbols 4. His observing things in distant places of the Apocalypse to Synchronize and belong to the same time whence he was well assured That it was a false Hypothesis and a fundamental Error in any Commentators to think That all the Prophecies and Visions in this Mysterious Book are placed in such an order as is agreeable to the order of time wherein they were fulfill'd or That the Events succeeded one another in the same Series and order as the Visions do and consequently for them to frame their Interpretation of the Visions according to that deceitful Hypothesis and not according to that safe guidance and light which the Synchronisms afford must needs expose them to manifold mistakes from first to last and encumber the whole work with such Difficulties Inconsistencies and Incongruities in applying the Prophecies to History and Events as cannot possibly be excus'd and remov'd by all their wit were it greater than it is Of such consequence it is for all that would interpret the Apocalyptick Visions to take heed to the Apocalyptick Synchronisms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use S. Peter's expression as unto a light that shineth in a dark place Otherwise their whole Fabrick of Annotations will be but as a Building without a sure Ground-work and Foundation an House built upon the Sand which is but a fluid and uncertain bottome a Pile of private Fancies slight Conceits and weak Conjectures And though there may be some things therein which may have a shew of Learning and a seeming Concinnity to the injudicious and unskilful in the Prophetick Style yet the main of their performance for want of attending to this and the other means of knowledge mention'd in the foregoing particulars will
a free and chearful exercise of Christian Charity it is absolutely necessary that he retrench and cut off all needless expences either about Apparel or Diet Building or Sports and Recreations c. Otherwise Frequent or Expensive Treatments Pride and Curiosity about Attire and Dressings will soon make Charity bare and cold make it look pale and meagre and at last quite starve it Where much is laid out upon Back or Belly there will be but little spared for Beneficence Where a man through his Voluptuousness and Sensuality finds himself too dear for himself so that it becomes difficult to maintain his deliciousness it will be thought too grievous to maintain good works for necessary uses as the Apostle speaks Tit. 3. Such a one will be greedily scraping for himself that he may have to consume upon his Lusts rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to distribute proportionably to his estate to him that needeth Where so much is solemnly offer'd in Sacrifice as especially at great Feasts to that false God the Belly and the best and fattest is offer'd up and withall the sweetest for large Drink-offerings to that mortal and perishing God there will be but little reserv'd for the Sacrifices of communicating and doing good with which the Eternal and only true God is well pleased But Christian Religion as it designs to cherish and advance every thing that is worthy lovely and useful for the good of man is excellently prepar'd and accommodated to secure the Grace of Charity by obliging to Modesty and Humility sober Frugality and Temperance and in order thereunto to the subjugating of all inordinate Affections to the resolute denying of the clamorous cravings and impetuous desires of the Sensitives Powers the subduing whereof is a great instance of Spiritual Valour inward Health and Strength as on the contrary it is a great Imperfection and Weakness and withal a dishonourable thing for one that owns the name of Christian not to have power over his Sensual appetites but to have impatient desires vehement affections for such or such delicacies and as vehement delights in them to be over-curious and studious for pleasing his Appetites to be enslaved to his Palate enslaved to Wine and serving various pleasures as the Apostle describes the temper of some unworthy Christians Besides it argues a man not to have had so true a Gust of the powers of the world to come nor to be as he ought affected with the Hope of those pure and permanent Felicities in the Future Life which Christianity over and above the present ease and pleasure that accompanies Humility and Temperance here hath more fully brought to light and set before us For were these cordially believed they would work in men a generous disregard of those Sensual enjoyments which too many such is the courseness of their Temper count their Felicity making themselves hereby like the Beasts that perish who if this were Felicity enjoy as much or more of it than Man himself To conclude If men are not so much under the Power of Religion as to deny the solicitations of their inordinate Appetites and bring in subjection the Flesh with the Passions and Lusts thereof to the Spirit they do but Parrot-like and as they are taught talk of Self-denial and Mortifications and being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lovers of Pleasures rather than Lovers of God and their Neighbour they plainly and in reality deny the Power of Godliness though they may have the Form of it Whereas if they were under the power and energy of Religion they would find themselves throughly furnished and chearfully dispos'd to every good work So true a Friend is Frâ—gal Temperance so hurtful an Enemy is a Delicious Soft and Luxurious as well as the Covetous humour to that Divine Amiable and universally-Beneficial Grace of Charity 40. And now having spoken of his Charity or Love towards men it aptly falls into this place that we should observe something of his Love towards God wherein yet we need not be so large as in the former Instances for what we have already observ'd of his Character doth abundantly prove it His Meekness Patience Christian Prudence and Moderation and those Two bright Graces of the Greatest magnitude his Humility and Charity are pregnant evidences and real demonstrations of the Love of God dwelling in him Where these Fruits of the Spirit grow and flourish it 's a sure sign that such a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rooted in Love To be Meek and Patient Humble and Lowly in spirit to have an Heart full of Charity and melted into all compassionate endeavours for the good of others even of Enemies these are higher and harder things than to talk of Religion to say Lord Lord to shew much love with their mouth to abound in the external observances of Religion for so did the Pharisees who therefore by their outward specious profession gain'd a great reputation of Sanctity from the world but yet of them our Saviour Christ pronounces freely and smartly I know you that ye have not the Love of God in you a startling and grievous word to the Pharisees then and the like it would be to the Pharisaick Christians to be told so now In brief He testified his Love to God in that which is the most eminent and genuine expression of it viz. an Entire Sincere Uniform and Constant Obedience to his Commandments For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments or according to those two main Characteristicks of the Pure and Vndefiled Religion in S. Iames in Vnspottedness from the world and Charity to the poor and desolate What 's less than this is but Lip-devotion religious Courtship insignificant and empty Complements And whereas he observ'd that too many seem'd to make conscience of the Duties of the First Table but had little or no care of the Duties of the Second he had respect unto both For said he None can be truly Religious towards God that is not truly Honest in his conversation towards his Neighbour Thus he believ'd and thus he practis'd 41. But to superadd some other particular Instances of his Love to God He farther shew'd the Tenderness of this Affection by the Zeal he had for the Honour of God and by the dear regard he express'd to every thing wherein he thought the Divine Interest was concern'd He could in no wise brook the bestowing Religious Worship upon Creatures and therefore with a just severity he would equal the practices of the present Roman Church in their Saint-worship and Image-worship with those of the Israelites in following the ways of Ahab and Ieroboam and constantly asserted That the Great Apostasie or Antichristianism did as to one main part thereof consist in Spiritual Fornication or Idolatry Nor need any Protestant be disturb'd at the word Antichristian or Antichrist so frequently used by our Author when he has to do with the Roman
long S. Paul speaking at first to that mixt multitude assembled in the Synagogue consisting partly of Iews and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the worshipping Proselytes he compellates them both distinctly in these words v. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience By the former meaning the Iews by the latter the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile-worshippers Of this kind of Converts as I have in part already intimated were in our Saviour and his Apostles time very many in every Nation and Citie where the Iews lived and had their Synagogues yea far more in number than of that other sort of Proselytes which were circumcised The reason being because it was the more easie condition and not so prejudicial to their outward liberty as the other inasmuch as they might notwithstanding still live and converse with their friends kindred and Countrey-men bear office and enjoy honours among them as Naaman the Syrian did who was of this kind which the other might not do These impediments being out of the way The hope of the Resurrection from the dead and the Reward of the life to come were powerful Inducements to draw many to the worship of that God who only among the Gods at that time promised this reward to such as worshipped and served him and no other which was the bait wherewith the Iews allured them and that to their own no small emolument this kind as it were to recompence their want of Circumcision seeming to have been very bountiful towards their Nation as may be gathered both from Cornelius who is said to have given much alms to the people namely of the Iews and from the Story of that Centurion Luke 7. 4 5. whom the Iews besought our Saviour so instantly for alledging that he loved their Nation and had built them a Synagogue and therefore deserved that favour they sued for on his behalf NOW out of this Discourse besides the clearing of the passages afore-mentioned we may learn two things One How so many of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Apostles could so soon and so readily be converted to the Faith of Christ It was because they had already embraced the Principles which led thereunto For we are to take notice that the foundation of the Church among the Gentiles was laid of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had already embraced the worship of the true God had knowledge of his Promises believed and hoped for the life to come For was not S. Peter to whom the Instructions for this Embassage were first given sent first to Cornelius a Centurion a Gentile of this order wherefore but that this might be for a pattern for them with what kind of men they were first to deal in this great work namely with such as were idonei Auditores Evangelii fit and capable hearers of the Gospel those which were puri puâ—i Gentiles mere Gentiles being not so as who knew nothing of the Principles requisite thereto This will appear if we consider well the tenour of the Apostles Sermons to such Gentiles as they converted which we shall observe to presuppose that they already knew the true God and the promise of Eternal life to such as worshipped him and so had no more to learn but the way and means now revealed by God for attainment thereof which was by the Gospel of Iesus Christ. The other thing we may learn is What was the true state of the Question which the Apostles met to decide in the Council at Ierusalem Whether the Gentiles which believed in Christ were to be circumcised or not and so bound to keep the whole Law It was this to resolve that whereas all such as embraced the worship of the God of Israel conformed to one of these two kinds of Proselytes to whether of them the Gentiles which had or should receive the Gospel of Christ were to conform themselves whether to the Proselytes of the Covenant or to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Proselytes of the Gate S. Peter standing up in the Council demonstrates it to be the will of God that they should conform to the latter and not to the first and that upon this ground Because that Cornelius the first Christianed Gentile unto whom himself was sent by Divine Commission was no circumcised Proselyte but a Proselyte of the Gate or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a worshipper only yet received he no Commission to circumcise him yea the Holy Ghost as he was Preaching fell upon him and his houshold being uncircumcised as it did upon those of the Circumcision whereby it appeared that God would have the rest of the Gentiles which embraced the Faith to be after the pattern of Cornelius and to have no more imposed upon them than He had And accordingly the Council defines That no other burden should be laid upon them but only to abstain from pollutions of Idols from bloud from things strangled and from fornication and as some Copies have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to do that to others which they would not should be done to themselves that is they should as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observe the Precepts of the sons of Noaâ— which here by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are briefly reckoned up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISCOURSE IV. 2 PETER 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto Iudgment c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Iudgment of the great Day THese two places are brought to prove That the Devils or Evil spirits are now in Hell before the Day of Iudgment Which I cannot see how it can possibly stand with the rest of the Scripture which testifies every where that they have yet their mansion in the Air and here about the Earth where they tempt seduce and do all the mischief they can to mankind hence their Chiestain Satan is styled The Prince of the power of the Air that is of the Aiery Dominion or Princedom Therefore hither they were with their Prince exiled from Heaven and no further nor shall be until the Day of Iudgment And of this I shall speak at this time First to clear these Texts which seem to make for the contrary secondly to enquire what was the opinion of the Ancients about this point As for this place of S. Peter and that imitation thereof in the Epistle of S. Iude I can believe the translation of neither Piscator not conceiving how that of S. Iude especially because of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternal could be reconciled with other Scripture and
faculty or Melancholia and Mania which they describe and distinguish thus Both of them to be when the Understanding is so disturbed that men imagine speak and do things which are most absurd and contrary to all reason sense and use of men but their difference to be in this that Melancholia is attended with fear sadness silence retiredness and the like Symptoms Mania with rage raving and fury and actions sutable which is most properly styled Madness Now when I say that those Daemoniacks in the Gospel were such as we call Mad-men understand me to mean not of Deliration ex vi morbi or of simple dotage but of those two last kinds Melancholici and Maniaci whereunto add morbus Comilialis or falling sickness and whatsoever is properly called Lunacy Such as these I say the Iews believed and so may we to be troubled and acted with evil Spirits as it is said of Saul's Melancholy that an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him and therefore passing by all other Causes or Symptoms they thought sit to give them their Name from this calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An occasion of the more frequent use of which expression in our Saviour's time and the ages immediately before him than formerly had been may seem to have been given by the Sect of the Saddâ—cees which after the time of Hyrcanus had much prevailed and affirmed as S. Luke tells us that there was no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit To affront and cry down whose error it is like enough the Pharisees and the rest of the right-believing Iews who followed them affected to draw their expressions wheresoever they could from Angels and Spirits as presently they did in the Acts when S. Paul awakened their faction in the Council saying I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee c. We find no evil say they in this man but if a Spirit or an Angel hath spoken unto him let us not fight against God Having thus sufficiently stated and explicated my Assertion now you shall hear what grounds I have for the same First therefore I prove it out of the Gospel it self and that in the first place from this Scripture which I have chosen for my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath a Devil and is mad Where I suppose the latter words to be an explication of the former Secondly I prove it out of Matth. 17. 14 15. where it is said There came to our Saviour a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he is Lunatick and sore vexed for oft-times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water That this Lunatick was a Daemoniack it is evident both out of the 18. verse of this Chapter where it is said Our Saviour rebuked the Devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour as also out of the 9. of the Gospel of S. Luke V. 39. where it is said of the self-same person Lo a spirit taketh him and he suddenly crieth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruising him hardly departeth from him By comparing of these places you may gather what kind of men they were which the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemoniacks Now I come to other Testimonies And first take notice that the Gentiles also had the like apprehension of their Mad-men whence they called them Larvati and Cerriti where Larvati is as much as Larvis id est Daemonibus acti so Festus Larvati saith he furiosi mente moti quasi Larvis exterriti And for Cerriti they were so called quasi Cereriti hoc est à Cerere percussi And therefore you may remember that when Menaechmus in Plautus feigns himself mad and talks accordingly the Physician who was sent for to cure him asks the old man who came to fetch him whether he were Larvatus or Cerritus If the Gentiles thought thus of their Mad-men should we think it strange the Iews should I could tell you here that the Turks conceit of their Mad-men is not unlike this but that they suppose the Spirit that works in them to be a good rather than an evil one But I let this pass My next Testimony shall be out of Iustin Martyr who in his second Apology ad Antoninum to prove at least to a Gentile that the Souls of men have existence and sense after death brings for an Argument their Necromancy and their callings up the spirits of the deceased together with other the like and in the last place this of Daemoniacks where by his description of them we may easily gather what kind of people they were which were so taken to be They also saith he which are seised upon by the Spirits of the deceased for such were these Daemonia taken to be and are cast and tumbled upon the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all call Daemoniacks and Mad-men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were all one as men then conceived Note here that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were taken to be the Souls of men deceased and that not among the Gentiles only but as may seem among the Iews also For Iosephus in his seventh Book De Bello Iudaico Chap. 25. mentioning these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon occasion of a certain Herb supposed to be good for them saith expresly by way of Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Daemonia are the Spirits or Souls of the worst sort of men deceased which are gotten into the bodies of the living I tell not this with a meaning to avouch it for true but only that you might understand how Iustin Martyr's argument proceeds to prove that Souls have existence after Death from the Daemoniacks My last proof is taken from those Energumeni which are all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so often mentioned in the Church-Liturgies in the ancient Canons and in other Ecclesiastical writings many Ages after our Saviour's being on earth and that not as any rare and unaccustomed thing but as ordinary and usual They were wont to send them out of the Church when the Liturgy began as they did the Poenitentes Auditores and Catechumeni which might not be partakers of the Holy Mysteries If those were not such as we now-a-days conceive of no otherwise than as Mad-men surely the world must be supposed to be very well rid of Devils over it hath been which for my part I believe not Nay that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possessed with the Devil or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemoniacks were such as I speak of Balsamon and Zonaras both in their Scholia upon the Canons of the Church will I think inform us For to reconcile two Canons concerning these Energumeni or possessed which seem contradictory one called of the Apostles in
of the world be blessed What was here acted else but the Mystery of Christ's Passion to wit That the promised seed should make all the Nations of the world blessed by becoming a sacrifice for sin which that it might be the more evident the Place is also designed the region of Mount Moriah there Abraham was bid to offer his â—on Isaac even where Messiah who was then in the loins of Isaac was one day to be offered upon the Cross. The Second prediction in the Law of Messiah's suffering death was by the slaying of Beasts for atonement of sin in their Sacrifices which were nothing else but shadows and representations of that Offering upon the Cross which Messiah was one day to make of himself for the sins of the world Which Mystery of the end of those Legal sacrifices was shewed in the former story of Abraham's offering Isaac For when he had now brought his son to the place appointed and had built an Altar and was now ready to stay him as he was commanded the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand and shewed him a Ram caught in a thicket by the horns which Ram Abraham took and offered for a burnt-offering in stead of his son to signifie that the offering of the Blessed seed was yet to be suspended and that God in the mean while would accept the offerings of Bulls and Rams as a pledge of that expiation which the Blessed seed of Abraham in the loins of Isaac should one day make And thus much for the Law Now I come to the Prophets wherein I find Three evident Prophecies That Messiah should suffer death The first is that famous one the 53. of Esay the whole Chapter through I will not repeat it all but some two or three passages thereof Verse 5. He was wounded saith the Prophet for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Ver. 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Ver. 8. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken Now that this Prophecy was one of those by which the Apostles used to prove this Verity appears by the stroy of the conversion of the Eunuch Acts 8. unto whom Philip coming whilst he was in his Chariot reading this place of Scripture and he thereupon asking Philip of whom the Prophet spake these words the Text tells us that Philip began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Iesus The Second place in the Prophets which foretells That Christ should suffer is that in the ninth of Daniel who pointing out the time of Messiah's coming by Seventy weeks limits his count not at his Birth but at his Suffering as the most principal moment of his story From the going out of the commandment saith he to restore and build Ierusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks And after sixty two weeks shall Messiah be cut off What can be more plain than this A Third place in the Prophets is to be found Zachary 12. 10. where at the time when the Iews shall be converted Christ is brought in speaking in this manner I will pour out saith he upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced Hence it follows that the Iews should have pierced Messiah before they received him to be their Redeemer And that this place also was one of those applied by the Apostles to this purpose appears by S. Iohn's twice alledging it Once in his Gospel when a Souldier with a Spear pierced our Saviours side Then saith he was fulfilled that Scripture which saith They shall look upon him whom they pierced Again in the beginning of his Revelation Behold saith he he cometh in the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him Now for the Third division of Scripture the Psalms the chief at least and principal place there which I dare warrant is that of the 16. Psalm v. 9 10. quoted both by S. Peter and S. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles My â—lesh shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave neither suffer thine Holy One to see corruption For David as S. Peter and S. Paul say was buried and his body saw corruption therefore it cannot be spoken of him but of Messiah in the person of David as a Type in whose loyns Messiah was Now then if Messiah's body were to be laid in the grave it follows he was to die and to be in the state of the dead AND thus I have done the First part of my task and proved That Messiah was to suffer death according to the Scriptures namely foretold in that Threefold division of Scripture mentioned here by our Saviour the Law the Prophets and the Psalms Now I come to prove the other part That it behoved him also to rise again the third day according to the Scriptures And this was first foreshewn in the same story of Isaac wherein his sacrifice or suffering was actedâ— For from the time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt-offering Isaac was a dead man but the third day he was released from death This the Text tells us expresly that it was the third day when Abraham came to Mount Moriah and had his son as it were restored to him again which circumstance there was no need nor use at all to have noted had it not been for some Mystery For had there been nothing intended but the naked story what did it concern us to know whether it were the third or the fifth day that Abraham came to Moriah where he received his son from death Now that I have not misapplied this figure S. Paul is my witness who expresly makes this release of Isaac from slaughter a figure of the Resurrection For thus he speaks of this whole story Hebrews 11. 17 18 19. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten Son Of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure The same was foreshewed by the Law of Sacrifices which were to be eaten before the third day some Sacrifices were to be eaten the same day they were offered but those which were deferred longest as the Peace-offerings were to be eaten before the third day The third day no sacrifice might be eaten but was to be burnt If it were eaten it was not accepted for an atonement but counted an abomination namely to shew that
bread that he giveth us meat to eat and cloaths to put on and yet which of you all will not use the means to get these things because else you cannot look that God should give you his blessing Do you not know when you are sick of a bodily disease that if you be healed God must heal you God must restore you to your former health and yet which of you all will not seek unto the Physician and use all means that can be gotten Do you not know when you are in danger that God must deliver you and yet would you not laugh at him that in such a case should sit still and say God help me and never stir his finger to help himself Are you thus wise in these outward things and will you not be as wise in things spiritual It is needful you should use the means to obtain God's blessing in things concerning your Body and is it needless in things concerning the good of your Soul It is true indeed that of your selves you are not able to turn from your evil ways unto the Lord your God but you are able I hope to use the means whereby God's Spirit works the conversion of the heart This Sun the Lord makes to shine both upon the evil and the good this Rain he showres down upon the just and unjust What though thou canst not believe of thy self yet thou canst use the means of believing What though thou canst not of thy self will or do the thing which is good yet mayest thou use the means whereby God gives the grace of willing and doing good Wouldest thou then have God to enable thee with the grace and power of his Spirit use the means wherein the Spirit of God is lively and mighty in operation sharper than any two-edged sword and entreth through even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit Meditate continually in the Law of God be diligent to hear the Word both read and preached attend to Exhortation to Instruction and as Ioab said unto his army going against the Aramites Be strong and let us be valiant for our people and for the cities of our God and let the Lord do that which is good in his eyes so say thou unto thine own Soul I will firmly resolve and with all the power I have endeavour to use the means appointed by our God and let the Lord do that which is good in his eyes Nay then fear not thou shalt see the salvation of the Lord he will give thee a new heart and put a new spirit within thee he will take away thy heart of stone and give thee an heart of flesh that thou mayest walk in his statutes and keep his Commandments and thou shalt be one of his people and he will be thy God Observe in the second place That a true and unfeigned Faith in Christ which is the knowing him here mentioned brings forth obedience to his Commandments Christ we must know is not only a Priest to reconcile us but also a King to be obeyed by us These two as they are inseparable in him a Priest but a Kingly Priest a King but a Priestly King so must the acknowledgment of them be in his servants Whosoever therefore receives him as a Priest for atonement of his sin must also submit unto him with loyal obedience as a King We can never truly acknowledge him the one but we must also yield him the other For Christ will not be divided by us we must if we will have him take him whole otherwise we have no share in him at all This is that Faith we say justifies and no other but such a Faith as this which adheres unto Christ Iesus both as a Priest and as our Lord and King And therefore do our Adversaries most unworthily and wrongfully charge us That we condemn Good works or hold a man may be in Christ or in the state of grace though his life be never so wicked because we hold as S. Paul does we are justified by Faith and not by the works of the Law Gal. 2. 16. Observe thirdly That the Act of Faith which justifies is the Receiving or Knowing of Christ not as some erroneously conceive an Assurance or Knowing we know him For Assurance of being justified is no way a Cause or Instrument but a Consequent of Iustification A man must be first justified before he can know or be assured he is justified For this Assurance or Certification you may see in my Text comes in the third place not in the first wherein you may observe these three things to have this order 1. Knowing or owning Christ which is Faith 2. Keeping his Commandments which is the Fruit and evidence of a true Faith then in the third place comes Assurance For by this we are sure we do know him if we keep his Commandments The Object must be before it can be known the Sun must be risen before she can be seen So hath every one his interest in Christ before he can know he hath it Nay he may have it long before before he knows he hath it For it is not only a consequent but a separable consequent neither presently gotten and often interrupted For though it be necessary the Sun should be risen before she can be seen yet she may be long up before we see her and often clouded after she hath shined This I observe for the comfort of those who are troubled in mind and tempted to despair because they see not the light of God's countenance shining in their hearts My fourth Observation and the chief in the Text is this That he that walks in the ways of God and makes conscience to keep his Commandments may hereby inâ—allibly know he knows Christ that his Faith is a true Faith and that he shall be saved everlastingly This is the main and principal Scope of the Text and so plainly therein expressed that it needs no other confirmation But the Reason is plain For Good works are the fruits of Faith and a Godly conversation is the work of God's holy Spirit Whomsoever Christ accepts as a Servant he gives the token of his Spirit the Grace which enlivens and quickens the Heart and Will to his Service in a new and reformed conversation Even as the heat of the Fire warmeth whatsoever comes near unto it so the Spirit of Christ kindles this Grace in every Heart that Faith links unto him the Fruit whereof is that infallible Livery whereby every one that wears it may know himself to be his Servant A Tree is known by its fruit the workman is known by his work whosoever them shews these works and brings forth these fruits hath an infallible argument that the Spirit of God the earnest of his Salvation dwells in his heart that his Faith is a true and saving Faith that his believing is no presumption no false conceit no delusion of the Devil but the true and certain motion of God's own
Daemon-gods of the Nations for Christ's Monarchical Mediation excludes all other Mediators and Daemons not that the wooden Idol was ought of it self but that the Gentiles supposed there dwelt some Daemon therein who received their sacrifices and to whom they intended their services Thus may this place be expounded and so the use of the word Daemon in the worst sense or directly for a Devil will be almost confined to the Gospel where the subject spoken of being men vexed with Evil spirits could admit no other sense or use and yet S. Luke the best-languaged of the Evangelists knowing the word to be ambiguous and therefore as it were to distinguish it once for all doth the first time he useth it do it with an explication Chapter 4. verse 33. There was saith he a man in the Synagogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having the spirit of an unclean Daemon Thus much of the word Daemonium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture whereby I hope it appears that this place of my Text is not the only place where the word is used according to the notion of the Gentiles and their Theologists But you will say Did any of the Fathers or Ancients expound it thus in this place If they had done so the Mystery of iniquity could never have taken such footing which because it was to come according to divine disposition what wonder then if this were hidden from their eyes Howsoever it may seem that God left not his spirit without a witness For as I take it Epiphanius one of the most zealous of the Fathers of his time against Saint-worship then peeping took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text for a Doctrine of worshipping dead men You may read him in the seventy eighth Heresie towards the conclusion where upon occasion of some who made a Goddess of the blessed Virgin and offered a cake unto her as the Queen of Heaven he quotes this place of my Text concerning them saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English sounds thus That also of the Apostle is fulfilled of these Some shall apostatize from the sound Doctrine giving heed to Fables and Doctrines of Daemons for saith he they shall be worshippers of Dead men as they were worshipped in Israel Are not these last words for an Exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what will you say doth he mean by the Dead worshipped in Israel I suppose he means their Baalim who as is already shewed were nothing else but Daemons or Deified Ghosts of men deceased yet he brings in two examples besides one of the Sichemites in his time who had a Goddess or Daemoness under the name of Iephtah's daughter another of the AEgyptians who worshipped Thermutis that daughter of Pharaoh which brought up Moses Some as Beza would have these words of Epiphanius to be a part of the Text it self in some copy which he used But how is that likely when no other Father once mentions any such reading Nay it appears moreover that Epiphanius intended to explain the words as he quoteth them as he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sound Doctrine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erroneous spirits by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fables and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving heed to Doctrines of Daemons by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worshipping Dead men Otherwise we must say he used either a very corrupt copy or quoted very carelesly But grant that Epiphanius read so Either this reading was true and so I have enough because then the Apostle with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. should expound himself by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mean the Deifying of the dead Or it was not the original reading but added by some or other for explication sake and so it will follow that those who did it made no question but that the words there contained some such thing as worshipping of the dead Therefore take it which way you will it will follow that some such matter as we speak of was in times past supposed to be in this Text and Prophecy CHAP. VII Why those words in the description of the Mystery of Godliness Received into Glory are set last That praying to Saints glorified as Mediators and Agents for us with God is Idolatry For the proof of this several Grounds are laid down To be prayed to in Heaven and to present our Devotions to God and to deal as an Agent and Mediator between us and him is a Prerogative appropriate to Christ a Flower of his Glory and Exaltation to sit at God's Right hand a Royalty incommunicable to any other That none but Christ our High Priest is to be an Agent for us with God in the Heavens was figured under the Law in that the High Priest alone had to do in the Most holy place and there was to be Agent for the people That though Christ in regard of his Person was capable of this God-like Glory and Royalty yet it was the Will of God that he should purchase it by suffering an unimitable Death This proved from several Testimonies of Scripture Saint-worship is a denial of Christ's Prerogative Bread-worship in the Eucharist to what kind of Idolatry it may be reduced How Saint-worship crept into the Church NOW I come to the Second point to maintain and prove That praying to Saints glorified as Mediators and Agents for us with God is justly charged with Idolatry For this is the hinge whereupon not the Application only of my Text but the Interpretation thereof chiefly turneth For this is that which I told you in the beginning that my Text depended upon the last words of the former chapter and verse Received into glory which were therefore out of their due order put in the last place because my Text was immediately to be inferred upon them The like misplacing and for the like reason see Heb. 12. 23. where in a catalogue or recension of the parts of the Church Christ the Head and the sprinkling of his bloud is mentioned in the last place and after the spirits of just men because the next verses are continued upon this sprinkling of Christ's bloud Ye are come to the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Iudge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect And to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel whereas the right order should have been◠First God the Iudge of all secondly Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant and thirdly in the last place the Spirits of just men made perfect Agreeably therefore to this dependance of my Text I am to shew That the Invocation of Saints glorified implies an Apostasie from Christ and a denial of his Glory and Majesty whereunto he is installed by his Assumption into heaven to sit at the right hand of God Which before I do I
Times But whether your meaning were not That for God to be robbed of such a Sacrifice was a great Sacrilege I know not And by Mr. B. I heard as from your self the practice of Bishop Andrew's Chappel was that which first cast you upon such a way so as from thence to observe the course and practice of Antiquity But in my poor judgment it is very strange that a matter of such importance as you seem to make it should have so little evidence in God's Word and Antiquity and depend merely upon certain Conjectures That which you style your Conjectura de Gogo Magogo in my poor judgment is more rational by far and yet the matter thereof you know to be very strange but it prevails very much with me That Declaration of the Palsgrave's Churches since I came home I have seen I remembered your Censure of it as a laxe thing Others passe other judgments upon it on my knowledge and those Divines were accounted in those days as grave and learned Divines as most in Christendom Indeed the matter of Bowing at hearing the name of Iesus is nothing pleasing to some in these times But how doth B. A s. reading in Antiquity serve his turn for that Cornelius à Lapide is a Papist and a Iesuit he saith ad nomem Iesu in S. Paul is no more than ad Iesum I know it is the Father's pleasure that as we honour the Father so we should honour the Son and all the world shall never bring me to shew more reverence at the hearing of the name of Iesus then at the hearing of the name Iehovah and when we are as we should be intent upon our religious comportment before God according to the inward adoration in spirit that we should watch when a word comes to perform outward obaisance in my judgment is very strange And I remember how faintly Mr. H. carries himself in this and others in pleading for it most of all urge this that no body is troubled about it but now more than enough must yield or suffer I never had experience of the practice till now and that makes me the bolder to write as I do Yet whatsoever we shall be put unto I am glad that I have such liberty to confer with you thereabouts I am lately grown acquainted with my Lord of Armagh being encouraged to write unto his Grace about the matter of the Sabbath which I willingly apprehended and acquainted him with all my Grounds whereupon I proceeded and he justifies them all I intreated also help in Antiquity about the Notion of a Sabbath given to the Lord's-Day and he profest unto me that he never inclined his mind to observe that in all his reading and added this reason For he never thought to see such times as these to call into question Whether the Moral Law contains Ten or but Nine Commandments And Dr. Reynolds being ask'd what he thought of Beza's judgment concerning the Sabbath made no other answer but this You know the Commandment Thus have I made bold to write freely as to my dear friend I doubt not but whensoever I am put unto it I shall find you the readier to afford me your best satisfaction for certainly I will neglect no means to keep me out of the paw of the Lion as well as I can I commend you to the grace of God and with many thanks for your love and free communication of precious things I take my leave ever resting Newbury March 20. 1636. Yours to love and honour you Will. Twisse EPISTLE LXXI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's several Expostulations together with his judgment of Mr. Potter's Discourse touching the Number of the Beast 666. Worthy Sir I Have received yours and heartily thank you for the Book you sent me which I find to be no laxe but a nervous close and well-composed Discourse as written by an abler hand than Voetius or any Dutch-man of them all yea I believe the ablest in that argument now living Concerning Mr. Potter's Discourse before I tell you my opinion I find I have some things else to answer and such as press me so hard as I cannot deny them the first place especially one of them which complains much of being mistaken As that I bad you hearing Prayers in our Master's Closet to stand up at Gloria Patri I 'le assure you you were mistaken My words were We stand up or They stand up I know not certainly which intending only to have you take notice of our manners and fashions as I did also the night before when they bowed at the name Iesus in the Creed I confess indeed when I saw you so suddenly to alter your posture I had some suspicion lest you misunderstood me and repented me I had spoken and thought of it sometimes afterward Yet mine was but doubting I would yours had been so too For why would you suppose me to be so uncivil as to speak unto a stranger and my better in degree in such a rude manner or note as you call it Surely in this you were to blame Nay I do not remember that ever I bad any one little or great either to stand up at Gloria Patri or how at the name Iesus or to conform to other the like posture all days of my life however my opinion hath been concerning them The plain truth is I had a desire to have talked with you about these things and to have acquainted you with something I had that way which now I find your mind so averse I shall never do For this end it was that I ever anone put you in mind to observe our postures and now and then at other times in our discourse touch'd upon something of that kind to have given occasion of conference about those matters And the rather I desired it because I had declared my self so far in my Letters unto you formerly as I thought might require more to be added to prevent such scruples as might arise from thence You may remember what hint I gave you in our Gate-house the first night concerning that place in Daniel And he shall think to change Times and Laws and they shall be given into his hand for a time times and half a time I would fain have entred with you upon that Scripture and told you I had some Notion thereabout which some friends of mine had termed Dog and Cummin-seed c. As for my Sermon at S. Marie's if I could have enjoyed you privately sine arbitris which I much but in vain desired in all probability you had been together with some other things better acquainted with some of the Contents thereof And as for preaching for Bowing to Altars if my memory fail me not the word Altar unless in citing a place of Scripture was never mentioned in my whole Discourse Sure I am there was no Bowing spoken of either with respect to it or to the Communion-Table but only of Bowing in general without any
Bloud of Christ namely That as Water washeth away the filth of the Body so the Bloud of Christ cleanseth us from the guilt and pollution of Sin And there is no question but the Bloud of Christ is the Fountain of all the grace and good communicated unto us either in this or any other Sacrament or Mystery of the Gospel But that this should be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Counter-part or thing figured by the Water in Baptism I believe not Because the Scripture which must be our guide and direction in this case makes it another thing to wit the Spirit or Holy Ghost this to be that whereby the Soul is cleansed and renewed within as the Body with Water is without So saith our Saviour to Nicodemus Iohn 3. 5. Except a man he born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And the Apostle in the words I have read parallels the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost as Type and Counter-type God saith he hath saved us that is brought us into the state of salvation by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost where none I trow will deny that he speaks of Baptism The same was represented by that Vision at our Saviour's Baptism of the Holy Ghost's descending upon him as he came out of the water in the similitude of a Dove For I suppose that in that Baptism of his the Mystery of all our Baptisms was visibly acted and that God sayes to every one truly baptized as he said to him in a proportionable sense Thou art my Son in whom I am well pleased And how pliable the Analogy of Water is to typifie the Spirit well appears by the figuring of the Spirit thereby in other places of Scripture As in that of Esay I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the day ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring where the latter expounds for former Also by the discourse of our Saviour with the Samaritan woman Iohn 4. 14. Whosoever saith he drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up to everlasting life By that also Iohn 7. 37. where on the last day of the great Feast Iesus stood and said If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith that is as the Scripture is wont to express it for otherwise there is no such place of Scripture to be found in all the Bible out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this saith the Evangelist V. 39. he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Nor did the Fathers or ancient Church as far as I can find suppose any other Correlative to the Element in Baptism but this of this they speak often of the Bloud of Christ they are altogether silent in their Explications of this Mystery Many are the Allusions they seek out for the illustration thereof and some perhaps forced but this of the Water signifying or having relation to the Bloud of Christ never comes amongst them which were impossible if they had not supposed some other thing figured by the Water than it which barred them from falling to that conceit The like silence is to be observed in our Liturgy where the Holy Ghost is more than once parallel'd with the Water of Baptism washing and regeneration attributed thereunto but no such notion of the Bloud of Christ. And that the opinion thereof is novel may be gathered because some Lutheran Divines make it peculiar and proper to the followers of Calvin Whatsoever it be it hath no foundation in Scripture and we must not of our own heads assign significations to Sacramental types without some warrant thence For whereas some conceive those two expressions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sprinkling of the bloud of Christ and of our being washed from our sins in or by his bloud do intimate some such matter they are surely mistaken For those expressions have reference not to the Water of Baptism in the New Testament but to the rite and manner of sacrificing in the Old where the Altar was wont to be sprinkled with the bloud of the Sacrifices which are offered and that which was unclean purified with the same bloud whence is that elegant discourse of S. Paul Heb. 9. comparing the Sacrifices of the Law with that of Christ upon the Cross as much the better And that whereas in the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almost all things were purified with bloud V. 22. so much more the bloud of Christ who offered himself without spot to God cleanseth our consciences from dead works V. 14. But that this washing that is cleansing by the bloud of Christ should have reference to Baptism where is that to be found I suppose they will not alledge the water and bloud which came out of our Saviour's side when they pierced him for that is taken to signifie the Two Sacraments ordained by Christ that of Bloud the Eucharist of Water Baptism and not both to be referred to Baptism I adde because perhaps some means fancies are corrupted therewith that there was no such thing as sprinkling or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Baptism in the Apostles times nor many ages after them and that therefore it is no way probable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sprinkling of the Bloud of Christ in S. Peter should have any reference to the Laver of Baptism Let this then be our Conclusion That the Bloud of Christ concurs in the Mystery of Baptism by way of efficacy and merit but not as the thing there figured which the Scripture tells us not to be the Bloud of Christ but the Spirit AND so I come to my other Quaere From what property or use of Water the washing therewith is a Sacrament of our new Birth for so it is here called the washing of regeneration and our Saviour saies to Nicodemus Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God For in every Sacrament there is some analogy between what is outwardly done and what is thereby signified therefore in this But what should it be It is a thing of some moment and yet in the Tractates of this Mystery but little or seldom enquired after and therefore deserves the more consideration I answer This analogy between the Washing with water and Regeneration lies in that custome of washing Infants from the pollutions of the womb when they are first born For this is the first office done unto them when they come out of the womb if they purpose to nourish and bring them up As therefore in our natural birth the Body is washt with water from the pollutions wherewith it comes besmeared out of the
matrix so in our second birth from above the Soul is purified by the Spirit from the guilt and pollution of sin to begin a new life to God-ward The analogy you see is apt and proper if that be true of the custome whereof there is no cause to make question For the use at present any man I think knows how to inform himself For that of elder times I can produce two pregnant and notable testimonies one of the Iews and people of God another of the Gentiles The first you shall find in the sixteenth Chapter of Ezekiel where God describes the poor and forlorn condition of Ierusalem when he first took her to himself under the parable of an exposed Infant As for thy nativity saith he in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all no eye pitied thee none to do any of these things unto thee to have compassion on thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born Here you may learn what was wont to be done unto Infants at their nativity by that which was not done to Israel till God himself took pity on her cutting off the navel-string washing salting swadling Upon this place S. Hierome takes notice but scarce any body else for ought I can yet find that our Saviour when speaking of Baptism he sayes Except a man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God alludes to the custome here mentioned of washing Infants at their nativity The other Testimony and that most pertinent to the application we make I find in a story related by Plutarch in his Quaestiones Romanae not far from the beginning in this manner Among the Greeks if one that were living were reported to be dead and funeral obsequies performed for him if afterward he returned alive he was of all men abominated as a prophane and unlucky person no man would come in his company and which was the highest degree of calamity they excluded him from their Temples and the Sacrifices of their Gods It chanced that one Aristinus being fallen into such a disaster and not knowing which way to expiate himself therefrom sent to the Oracle at Delphos to Apollo beseeching him to shew him the means whereby he might be freed and discharged thereof Pythia gave him this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What women do when one in childbed lies That do again so maist thou sacrifice Aristinus rightly apprehending what the Oracle meant offered himself to women as one newly brought forth to be washed again with water From which example it grew a custome among the Greeks when the like misfortune befel any man after this manner to expiate them They called them Hysteropotmi or Postliminio nati How well doth this befit the Mystery of Baptism where those who were dead to God through sin are like Hysteropotmi regenerate and born again by Water and the Holy Ghost These two passages discover sufficiently the analogy of the washing with water in Baptism to Regeneration or New birth according as the Text I have chosen for the scope of my Discourse expresseth it namely That washing with water is a Sign of spiritual Infancy forasmuch as Infants are wont to be washed when they come first into the world Hence the Iews before Iohn the Baptist came amongst them were wont by this rite to initiate such as they made Proselytes to wit as becoming Infants again and entring into a new life and being which before they had not That which here I have affirmed will be yet more evident if we consider those other rites anciently added and used in the celebration of this Mystery which had the self-same end we speak of viz. to signifie spiritual Infancy I will name them and so conclude As That of giving the new-baptized milk and honey ad Infantandum as Tertullian speaks ad infantiae significationem so S. Hierome because the like was used to Infants new-born according to that in the 7. of Esay of Immanuel's infancy A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse evil and chuse good Secondly That of salt as is implied in that of Ezekiel Thou wast not washed with water nor salted with salt Thirdly That of putting on the white garment to resemble swadling All these were anciently especially the first used in the Sacrament of our Spiritual birth out of reference to that which was done to Infants at their Natural birth Who then can doubt but the principal rite of washing with water the only one ordained by our Blessed Saviour was chosen for the same reason to be the element of our initiation and that those who brought in the other did so conceive of this and from thence derived those imitations DISCOURSE XVIII IOSHUA 24. 26. And Ioshua took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Story whereupon these Words depend is this Ioshua a little before his death assembled all the Tribes of Israel at Shechem or Sichem there to make a solemn Covenant between them and the Lord To have him alone for their God and to serve no other Gods besides him Which they having solemnly promised to do saying The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey Ioshua for a testimony and monument of this their stipulation erects in the place a great Stone or Pillar under an Oak which was by or as the Hebrew hath it in the Sanctuary of the Lord. Of this Oak or rather collectively Quercetum or Oaken-hold of Sichem is twice mention made elsewhere in Scripture For this was the place where Abram first sate down and where the Lord appearing unto him he erected his first Altar in the Land of Canaan after he came out of Haran thither as we read Gen. 12. 6. in these words And Abram passed through the Land unto the place of Sichem unto the Oak or Oak-grove of Morch where the Lord appeared unto him saying Unto thy seed will I give this Land and there he builded an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him And what place more fit for Abraham's posterity to renew a Covenant with their God than that where their God first made his Covenant with Abraham their Father Again it was this place where in the after-times of the Iudges◠one hundred and seventy years after the death of Ioshua the Sichemites made Abimelech the base son of Ierubbaal or Gideon King as we read Iudg. 9. 6. that all the men of Sichem gathered together and all the house of Millo and went and made Abimelech King by the Oak of the Pillar which was in Sichem The words are