God and were divinely moved in their dreams when they were but the vapours and reeks of their own flesh which their aspiring minds agitated them withall And Epiphanius applies the place to the Gnosticks whose fables and dotages the Apostle he saith reproves which were more like the talk of a man in a dream then well awake 2. Cap. 17. n. 7. And it is likely that both the Jewish and Christian dreamers have faln into this spiritual phrensie by that same heat which I before spoke of whereby they perswaded themselves too early that they were Saints When this meets with a melancholy temper and a selfish disposition it is no hard matter to beget in them an opinion of near converse with God or Angels For when that fierce humour works and boils up all experience tells us that it puts men into high and big conceits if they be of a proud nature And then their religious inclinations and affections determine the workings of this melancholy fancy to matters concerning God and his Son and Holy Spirit These motions they may take to be from a divine power because they are so great and because they are so much different from what they feel when in their ordinary temper And this self-love may make them conceit likewise that none are like to receive from God such inspirations sooner then themselves who have such a love to him and presuppose that they are so much in his affections Now I hope there are not many at this time of this conplexion in Religion but when there are you have two remarkable characters given of them by Saint Jude in that verse They are given to the grossest sensualities and are likewise turbulent and seditious persons By which they make it plainly appear that Christ is not in them who was holy meek and peaceable and makes all those to be so on whom his Spirit breaths 3. But there are others of a lower form who confidently talk of the mind of God likewise made known to them and are altogether busied in their fancies about the glorious times that are ensuing The Jews do not more expect their Messiah and think to be made great men by him then these wait to see Christ come to reign or at least themselves advanced to sit upon thrones to govern the Nations They take themselves to be the candles that are to enlighten all the darker places of Holy Writ They are as familiarly acquainted with Daniel as others are with the Proverbs of Solomon They understand St. Johns Revelation as well as they do his three Epistles And I shall not much disbelieve them in this particular for their Religion hath nothing to do with that love and sweetness that charity and humility which he commends While they fancy themselves Kings with Christ they neglect his government in their souls which should keep under all their head-strong passions quell their rebellious affections tame their wild natures and restrain their brutish desires which would indeed make that new world of things which all good Christians pray for They conceit a gorgeous pompous scene of things a secular and worldly greatness an overflowing tide of prosperous events while they neglect that poverty of spirit that lowliness of mind that meekness patience long-suffering and such like Royal graces as make Christians conquerours over the world and victors of all their enemies And therefore they are to be accounted among those whose religion is only words and great brags arising from an high conceit of favour with God who loves those that will be guided by his will and ruled by his Laws better then those that would fain fulfill prophecies and pour out some of his vials upon the earth 4. This religion is indeed Filia vocis as the Jews called their last kind of Revelation the daughter of a voice yet not of Gods but of their own They thunder and rattle in the world as if they would bring the heavens about our ears and pour down the clouds upon us but it is a tempest of their own raising and a storm which their blustering passions and boisterous affections make in themselves No whisper nor thunder neither from heaven nakes men irreligious proud contemptuous disobedient bitter cruel and full of black zeal These are the breathings of the evil spirit the belches of the bottomless pit These inspirations smell of Sulphur they stink of fire and brimstome The true Religion leads a man to a solicitous enquiry after that which God hath revealed for the reforming of himself and erecting the Government of Christ in his soul And the ruling over himself keeping dominion over his lusts is more desirable to him then reigning in pomp and state a thousand years upon the earth The power of Religion makes a man to know the certainty of those words of truth which lead him to the life of God but never makes men talk like infallible Prophets what scene of things must next take its turn and what piece of the Revelation must next come upon the stage All these pretences to expounding Revelations and Prophesies and Secrets of Providence may be but a fancy and the licourish desire that is in men to be medling with them may be but such a thing as Eves appetite to the Tree viz the fruit of Pride and curiosity But the Doctrine of Christ is plain full and certain and the desire in a mans soul after the knowledge of it and being acquainted with it must be the fruit of the good spirit of God which leads a man to the life and power of godliness giving him a great command over himself and all worldly affections making him to be good not in word and notion but in deed and truth 5. But it is time to leave this sort of men who are meer talkers of God and who only give him their good word as we ordinarily speak commend him and speak well of him but care not to be so well acquainted with him as to be made like him who complement with him and speak him fair to his face who pretend to friendship with him and to be of his secrets and will be as near him as he pleaseth so be it that he will do them no good nor make any alteration in their souls Let me only annex to this another False Religion very near of kin to it which consists in a great out-cry against Antichrist and all his adherents This word Antichrist is of that nature that it may be prest to serve any design and it is become such a Mormo to vulgar people that their hairs stand up an end and they run away from the face of it as if they were out of their little wits The more too blame they who upon every occasion fright them with it as unadvised people do their children with bugbears which makes them of such a timerous nature that they fear all things which they never saw before though never so good and necessary for them But in the ordinary sense
as they did to cause their voice to be heard on high not regarding either their mournful howlings or their clarnorous petitions whereby they thought to stir him up to help them And by the Prophet Jeremiah he tells them cap. 14. 12. that when they fast he will not hear their cry For he that turns away his ear from hearing the Law even his prayer shall be an abomination Prov. 28.9 If men will not hear God he will not hear them yea he cannot give ear unto them For the things that they love and embrace are such necessary causes of the evils under which they groan and so inconsistent with the mercies that they desire that unless God alter the nature of things or change the method of his proceedings in the government of the world he cannot hearken to their petitions Either he must change his mind or they must change theirs or their prayers be unanswered And therefore unless they heartily renounce their sins and throughly discharge their iniquities all their prayers for sending mercies and for removing miseries are a piece of meer non-sense incoherent ignorant stuff which will be returned with such shame upon them as if he had thrown the dung of the sacrifices in the face of those that brought them 4. When men bear a love to those sins the evil consequents of which they desire may be prevented or remedied that they may not ruine them they are as ridiculous and unsuccessful as if a man should beg health while he continues in his riotous and intemperate course of living It is as if we should desire that the effect may cease while the cause remains in act that God would not be angry though we continually provoke him and that he would not hate us though we do not love him Let a man raise his confidence by what arts he pleaseth and speak with a boldness in his prayers as though he would command heaven and have what he would of God yet he cannot have a true faith that he shall be heard unless he utterly abandon in heart and resolution whatsoever is incompatible and cannot stand with the things that he desires We may call our Fasts by the name of dayes of prayer as we commonly do but though we should pray from morning until night though the whole Nation should cry to God that he would bow the heavens and come to save us though it should be with a voice that would rend the clouds and seem to make way for him to come down to our rescue yet if we be in love with our sins the causes of our trouble we have put in such a strong Caveat such a barr to our suits and petitions in the Court of heaven that we can obtain no audience And therefore some Heathens were wiser then these sottish children of Israel as Jer. calls them 4.22 for when Niniveh was afraid of Gods Judgements they not only proclaimed a Fast and cryed mightily to the Lord but they turned every one from their evil way and the violence that was in their hands Jonah 3.5 8. It is a prudent saying of Cyril of Alexandria Fasting is a choice thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayer is profitable and of great benefit In Isa 58.3 it is to humble our souls in Gods eyes but it is most absurd for those that come in this manner to obtain mercy to provoke the divine Law-giver in another way by not loving to do his commands 5. But so willing are men to deceive themselves that though sometimes they go a little further yet they suffer their prayers to fall short of heaven When men have made their faces sour with fasting they begin sometimes to look angrily upon their sins and to take up some resolutions to be revenged on them And therefore they beg the divine grace to destroy them and beseech him to send his Spirit to purge their souls from them But then as if they had no mind to be heard they resolve to be at no trouble nor pains themselves about this great business They leave all to the care of God whom they would have so far to concern himself in our affairs as not to expect that we should be such creatures as he made us They sit still and wait for an unheard of power from above as if divine Faith were a relyance on God to carry such by force to heaven who have no list to walk in the way thither Such prayers have a perfect likeness to the requests of the man in the Fable to Hercules when his cart stuck fast in the mire who would neither prick forward his Oxen nor lay his own shoulders to the wheels nor unload the waggon but cast all upon the strength of his God expecting that he should come and draw it out And such an answer as was returned to that silly swain will very well befit such petitioners O bone disce pigris non flecti numina votis Praesentesque adhibe quùm facis ipse Deos. Learn Good Sir that God is not moved by lazie desires and sluggish wishes but that thou shalt then find thy God present when thou thy self art busie about thy work It is help that we beg and that supposes we are active though infirm Assistance we crave and that implyes our endeavours though ineffectual unassisted They are in all regards therefore idle prayers which careless sinners put up for divine aid and strength seeing they cannot speak common sense nor know the meaning of their own language They ask succour against their enemies but either they mean nothing or else victory without fighting and if that be it they mean it is as if they asked nothing because there is no such thing to be granted O that all men would at last learn to labour for that after which they seem to long and not make a perpetual trade of praying much and doing little or nothing Let us not meerly run from one Church to another from private Fasts to publick from common to extraordinary devotions for this was the manner of the heathen people who when they could not prevail by their daily sacrifices and prayers betook themselves to more laborious but unsuccessful devices We read of Moab in Isa 16.12 that when he was weary in the high places he came to his sanctuary to pray but he could not prevail i. e. when they had tired themselves with petitions for deliverance after the ordinary form that was used they went to the most holy place in the Land where their great god Chemosh was worshipped and there they doubted not but to speed But as they prevailed not because they did nothing at all but pray no more shall we of whom they are a perfect picture while we have confidence in our repeated prayers without a real reformation This kind of faith which men cherish in themselves is the most horrid infidelity greater then which the worshippers of Chemosh or Baal could not be guilty of For they believe not him at all who
many c. Or if we render it with others Did not be who is one make it i. e. the covenant of marriage and he hath abundance of spirit still to breath into our seed And wherefore did that one make that order that a man should cleave to his wife but that he might have a godly seed and therefore take heed what you do in putting away your wives and taking others for hereby you offend him that breaths the spirit of life into us Or if we take it as others interpret it their wickedness is still argued to be the greater because they boasted that they were the children of Abraham Now Did that one i. e. the first of your family do so of whose spirit we are the residue and what did that one he sought a godly seed he put not away Sarah though she was barren which to you would seem a just cause nor matched with an Idolater that he might have issue Or if we receive that rendring of the words which the learned De Dieu prefers above all the rest it argues them of great inhumanity and that they had not common good nature in them which makes the sin still greater No one would do thus that had but any reliques of the spirit of God in him and therefore much less they that seek a godly seed as you pretend to do You see that he might well call this covering violence with his garment ver 16. because it was such a wrong to those that by the Laws of God and nature deserved better at their hands To spread ones garment or ones skirts over a woman is a phrase in holy writ for to marry her Ruth 3.9 Ezek. 16.8 By taking therefore of a strange woman into their society which was engaged before to another they did as it were marry to violence and contract a relation with injustice Or as the forenamed author thinks it should be translated Violence covered their garments i. e. when as they ought still to have cast their garments of love and protection over their wives violence and wrong did cover those garments their marriage was an act of injustice and their skirts which they spread over strangers were all over stained with cruelty hard-heartedness and oppression 5. And Zachary tells us by way of prophesie what should be in after times toward the end of this Nation and what manner of Rulers should be over the people He compares their Shepherds i. e. Governours as I have shewn before unto young Lyons who do not use to protect but to devour the sheep Zach. 11.3 And he calls the people the flock of slaughter ver 4. whom he is bid to instruct either because they were to be destroyed by the armies of their enemies or because they were a prey unto their Governours According as it follows ver 5. Their possessors slay them and they hold themselves not guilty Yea to such a confidence were they arrived in these sins that they Bless God for the riches which they had got in this sort They had some devotion you see left though no honesty nor goodness God is intituled to all wicked possessions and acquisitions that he may make them good and defend them against all the clamors of men and the suits of their own conscience And it seems the people were very bad also for ver 6. he threatens them that he would have no more pitty on them then their Rulers had but let them destroy one another by seditions and at last deliver them all into the hands of the King that oppressed them who should be so far from taking any pastoral care of them that he should only slay and devour them as you may read v. â—6 6. And some understand by that King the Roman Caesar to whom they made themselves a prey by such sins as those I have been treating of That long Captivity which indures to this day had its way prepared by their avarice and cruelty as those acquaint us upon whom the spirit of prophecy was again poured forth For our Lord coming and reproving the chief of that generation when he lived for devouring widdows houses for extortion rapine and blood for covetousness and oppression for being without natural affection and the like sins while they made long prayers and pretended a great deal of sanctity and religion He declaring also that faith judgement mercy and the love of God were more to be regarded then their strict observation of dayes and the multitude of sacrifices They out of a great zeal for their religion which they thought he did not speak honourably enough concerning most shamefully put him to death I believe they took themselves to be very religious persons and were zealous in what they did only their zeal was not equally dispensed nor conveyed alike through the whole body of duties that God commanded Their heat was like the flushing in mens faces or the burning in their hands which we do not take to be an argument of a good temper but rather a sign that there are obstructions as the ordinary language calls them in the body so that there is not a free motion of the vital blood in all the parts I mean they spent so much zeal in a few things that they left no warmth of affection for other most necessary duties In those things their heat was staid and stopt which made them of an extraordinary high colour and to have the repute in the world of very great Saints and most vertuous persons Yea they themselves gazed so much upon this flame that they took no notice how cold they were in matters of common honesty but they committed all iniquity in a comfortable belief that they were good men and most beloved of God Their great zeal for the Sabbath and such like matters made them take themselves for pious and devout persons but the partiality and particularity of it whereby it remained there confined made them really to be such as our Saviour calls Hypocrites which appellation they took in such disdain that they conspired his death who would not let such as they pass for godly men 7. And are Christians to this day more reformed who have inherited their promises I wish I could say that we are as free from covetousness rapine and unmercifulness as the Pharises were from Sabbath-breaking and Idolatry R. D. Kimchi upon Hos 2.19 20. hath confessed a great deal of that truth which I have endeavoured to illustrate but I can only wish that the latter part of his gloss were found as true as the former part hath proved He saith those words cannot have a compleat sense till the time of the Messiah and that God uses the word betroth three times because of the 3. captivities after which God doth as it were marry them to himself but in the dayes of the Messiah after a more excellent manner then in former times For when they came out of Aegypt he did not betroth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did not bear it moderately and use it with a humble mind but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and behaved themselves in an injurious contumelious manner towards those who were shipwrackt in the storm 10. That God is the avenger of all such the Jews you have seen are a notable example though they stood in a nearer relation to him then the rest of the world And by often woful experience it seems some of them grew so sensible of it that there is a saying upon record of some wise men among them to this sense When Gods eares are shut against all mens praiers he will hear the cry of the poor needy and oppressed Quando vastata fuit domus sanctuarij omnes portae clausae fuerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excepta porta oppressionis i. e. when the Temple was destroyed there was no gate open for the prayers and petitions of any to enter but only the gate for the petitions of the oppressed which they say is never shut V. Lex Talmud Vocah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This they prove as Buxtorf hath noted out of Amos 7.7 which they render thus And he shewed me and behold the Lord stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the wall of defraudation or oppression i. e. I suppose of Samaria or Jerusalem Cities full of violence and in his hand were defraudations i. e. prayers against defrauders petitions of those who complained of oppression and unjust dealing of which we have heard they were extreamly guilty And then God saith ver 8. that though he had spared them twice upon the petition of Amos ver 3.6 yet now that these petitions of the poor came to him he would not again pass by them any more And seeing the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in this place only they have some colour for this interpretation I conceive they took the signification of it from a word that is of near sound and differs but in a letter viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes sighing and groaning which oppression you know causes Even in Israel you see if this interpretation be true where they had faln from God he would not exclude the suits of such persons but take their request into his hands and let them have a favourable answer See Ecclesiast 21.5 and 35. ver 13 14 15 17. c. in the former of which places there are these remarkable words A prayer out of a poor mans mouth reacheth unto the eares of God and his judgement cometh speedily But I am not much concerned to dispute the truth of this gloss seeing the thing it self which it asserts is otherwise put out of all doubt and this very Prophet Amos presently after saith as we noted before that these are such works as God cannot forget to punish Chap 8.7 and there is such particular notice taken also of the shedding innocent blood as an iniquity that he will not pardon 1 Kings 24.3 4 And therefore leaving this to obtain what credit it can get with those that are better skilled in that language then my self I shall conclude this chapter with a brief relation of those causes which are assigned by the Greek historians of the destruction of their Empire and delivery of them unto the power of the Turks 11. And I shall go no further then Mart. V. Pag. 55. Crusius his notes upon that political history of Constantinople which he set forth where he observes these causes as most notorious amongst others 1 the Injustice and Oppression of their Emperors as he instances in Michael Parapinatius Anno 1075. and Alexius Comnenus Anno 1084. who thought himself not to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the Father as we speak but the Lord of the common wealth He there notes several unjust acts of his which gave his people such discontent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when the Turks came into Asia many chused rather to submit to them then bear the oppression of the Emperor any longer So Choniates saith in his life whose words are these The cruel and inhumane Barbarians seemed to be fuller of compassion kindness and humanity then our selves 2 He takes notice of the Idleness and voluptuousness of the same Princes which commonly is fain to maintain it self by rapine and violence from whence it came to pass that when the Turks broke in with their forces they were more fit to sit and spin with girls at home then take their arms into their hands and fight with enemies in the field as the same Choniates saith 3. The perversity covetousness of those that chose the Emperor who minded only their own profit and made no reckoning of a valiant and ancient Roman spirit So that an infant as the same author speakes in his swadling bands was as good as any else to be promoted if it would promote their own private designes 4. Civil-wars and the ambitions of great men which made them sometime fall off from the Emperors 5 the malice of some men against their private enemies made them invite the Turks to come and take their revenge who were easily allured by the goodness and riches of the country to imbrace such motions 6 Covetousness and the love of riches which made them that they would not pay garrison soldiers and so the places were quit The very navy was neglected through parsimony and so the Islands were lost And he or some other observes that the Citizens in the last siege would not give a supply of necessary charges for the defence of the City complaining of their poverty when as there were vast treasures found in their houses when it was taken 7 The insolencies and wrongs that the souldiers were luffered to offer to their friends which made the Historian say that they were not like to atchieve any thing who went to the war loaded with curses and tears for their Viaticum in their march 8. Treachery and perfidiousness to their enemies for they kept not faith with the Turks which much incensed their anger against them 9 A general neglect of Government in so much that he saith no care was taken to punish vice antient Fabricks fell to the ground the coyn was adulterated and false money stamped and a great loosness there was in their apparrel which one thing he saith wise men lookt upon to fignifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the alteration of the Government and dissolution of the Kingdom I may add the 10th though not so near to my present subject and that was the dissentions and differences that were among other Christians so that they could not give them relief But how should such differences have been and still remain in the world if there were that love to mercy kindness and justice that God by his Prophets and his son called for Let all Christians consider how they are concerned in these things and let them learn both by antient and later stories of indubitable
did in their example And the Apostle tells us in Tit. 1 ◠6. that they of the circumcision for of them he speaks ver 10. did profess to know God though in their works they did deny him By their very name they of the circumoision we may learn that their Religion consisted in outward not in inward things and that it was in the flesh and letter not in the heart and spirit But yet for all this they were great professors of the most excellent skill in divine matters and of the highest sanctity and purity above all other men For the word know signifies an insight into the deepest mysteries and also a piety beyond the common strain According as Clemens Alexanarinus often uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or knowers for the most spiritual and holy persons in opposition to fleshly and brutish men and for persons of more recondite and abstruse learning in sacred writ in opposition to those that are but of a vulgar apprehension In short they are in his language men of a perfect vertue and knowledge Now this great and illustrious name many vile men arrogated to themselves taking upon them to be the most pure and refined of all other whilest they lived in a sensual manner And some of the Jews it seems were of this party who though they were like other of the people of Crete lying lazy and gutling sots Crete ver 11. yet they gave out that they above all others were acquainted with God and had his secrets committed to them Yea so zealous they were that they made a considerable party in the world and by their clamour and noise decrying all others they made many weak Christians doubt whether they were not in the right way and maintained the best religion For they were a very confident sort of men and those that looked with a kind of disdain and scorn upon the rest of the world so that the humble and meek servants of Jesus Christ lest they should be out-braved by impudence and taken for a company of silly sneaks were fain to rebuke them sharply ver 13. and to use some severity toward them You may see this more plainly if you read but Rom. 2.17 18 19 20. where the Apostle tels us what the boasts and braggs of the Jews were concerning their knowledge and how they lookt upon all others as children and fools that must be taught by them 2. But the best of these mens Religion was only big words and loud talk concerning God as the Apostle tells us in the same Tit. 1.10 where he calls them Vain talkers Though some of them knew much yet they did nothing but tell others of it with a mixture of their own idle dotages And a great many of them knew the meaning of nothing they said but right or wrong poured out Texts of Scripture as fast as they could 1 Tim. 1.7 and others amused the vulgar minds with a great deal of mystical stuff and Cabalistical conceits which the Apostle calls Jewish fables Tit. 1.14 Men of large imaginations and wide mouths of quick fancies and nimble tongues to the former of which their Religion owed its procreation and begetting to the latter its birth and exclusion to the sight of the world 3. Such a Wordy religion there is still in the world and it makes the greatest noise of all others because it is a Sound The men who profess it hold no gift greater then that of talking and they had need be thankfull that they are not dumb for if they were there would appear no more of Religion in them then in an old Statue of some antient Saint But though their religion be but wind yet they are blown up with their own breath into a conceit of Sanctity And though they have not so much as some Jews viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 an exact draught of the Bible in their minds yet these smatterers in Christian Doctrine can make a shift to babble others and themselves into a belief of their great attainments It is ordinary to hear men talk so long of the beauty and glory sweetness and preciousness of Christ that they beget in themselves as well as their hearers a perswasion that they are mightily in love with him There is nothing but glory and lustre and splendor and such shining language when they speak of God they gild him with beams and rayes and have none but golden and silver and other rich expressions concerning him which makes them think that they are rapt in admiration of his excellencies If they speak of Christ they paint him in Solomons language White and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands with a head of fine gold Cant. 5.10 11. locks bushy and black as a raven c. If of the Church you shall have a discourse set with all the gemms and pearls and pretious stones that can be found in the twenty first chapter of the Revelation If of communion with God then you may hear of the bed of Solomon that is paved with love Cant. 3.10 and covered with purple and sustained with pillars of silver for the daughters of Jerusalem Who would not be ravished that hears of all these delicate fine things what heart can chuse but be taken with all this beauty and bravery And how can we think that it is not enough to transport the man himself into heaven to see others so moved and drawn by him And yet all the while this goodly do is made the man may not know himself what he means by all these expressions They make a fine noise and run smoothly off the tongue but they are little better as they handle the matter then non-significant expressions to themselves and others I shall not now add how many new words are minted and huddled together to supply the want of solid matter Nor how many mens tongues are tipt with good words which they have heard from the discourses of others but shall only say this that these men talk of God either in such words as have no fulness of sense in them but are devoid and empty of all true life or else in such words whose sense and life they have no feeling of in their souls 4. And yet I have told you of the best that can be found of this sort of religion There are others that mind not so much this fluency and abundant language but their greatest care is to speak so that they may not be understood but admired by the rabble as great Sophi's and men of a more then ordinary elevation I wish this had been the religion only of some in the first times who made a great deal of stir about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the fulness the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the depth and as Irenaeus saith scraped up many Scripture phrases many holy words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were scattered here and there and made up a body of nonsense
Goodness fills their souls Which makes them modest and humble blushing and bashfull before his face reverent and composed solemn and sedate in their speech unto him Serious in their zeal and zealous in their repetitions understand in what they ask and earnestly desirous to receive it And above all they know that an holy life is most pleasing unto God whereby they do continually bespeak his favour and are alwayes sending up Orators to the throne of grace to bring down more blessings upon them 7. And if any one have a list to enquire into the bottom of this deceit I believe he will find that many mens prayers are but a piece of Art which they have learnt by imitation of others whose language and affection they most admired from whom they have borrowed such feeling expressions as won their souls to some endeavours to be like them I have sometimes thought that an hypocrite is rather a counterfeit of a Christian then of Christ for he doth not so much shape himself according to what he reads of him as what he sees in them He is but their Ape and never more discovers himself then when he labours to imitate their zeal and to come up to the height of their piety As Apes are never more like themselves then when they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Lucian somewhere speaks put on the face and garb of Noble men so the higher strains of devotion they endeavour to personate the more their affectation and fulsome forcedness appears Or as the deeper any women paint the more plainly is their dissembled complexion seen so the more colours these men lay on and the greater ruddiness of zeal they would attain unto the more is their ugliness revealed and the false beauty of their holiness laid open to the world As it is in those Meteors which they call parelia when two Suns appear together besides the great light of heaven Cap. 13. nat quaest the one saith Seneca is simulacrum Solis the picture or image of the Sun the other is simulacrum imaginis the picture or image of the eimage so it is in this case a good man is the image of Christ the Sun of righteousness but an hypocrite is only the image of the good man not of Christ having only a picture of his righteousness And yet these pictures and images of Christians may seem to some to excell the coppy and be more admired then good and religious people As a picture in a room is by Art so drawn that it seems to look upon every one in it on whatsoever side you stand whereas a living man doth look but one way so these artificial pieces have a more notable way of looking graciously upon the multitude then real Christians have who appear most lovely to those that have the spirit of life ruling in them 8. And if these Artists have an active fancy and a natural heat it will much promote their good opinion of themselves because their devotions will be beyond the vulgar strain For a quick fancy can administer very apt words and fluent expressions that shall not justle one against another but run off very smoothly and there is a kind of charm in dainty words well put together which roll off the tongue without any rub in their way The natural heat also when it makes the animal spirits boil and leap up to a great height can produce some affections and passions answerable to that sreedom of language which will have still more of ravishment and transportation in it By the power of Imagination likewise being thus heated and chafed unusual thoughts may be raised up and the mind may be filled with new notions which men may take to be an argument of their being under the power of the Spirit and their praying without a form may seem to them to be a token of the power of godliness But when this heat abates and they cease to be tickled with such affections then these men grow pittifull creatures and have no religion at all unless they can comfort themselves with what they hear others also talk of that they are under desertion and make this as much a sign of grace as they did their former enlargements 9. It must likewise be considered that the beginning and continuance of this devotion is to be imputed to the natural conscience which men have of some duty owing unto God and of some recompense that they stand bound to make him for their neglects of it Though this conscience when it is once awakned cannot be satisfied unless they do something to please him yet it rests commonly in that which is easie and agrees best with their natural dispositions and least contradicts their inbred lusts and desires Now where there is that nimble fancy which I spoke of and that voluble tongue and spirits that can soon take fire by any motion there is nothing more accommodated to the end of giving them satisfaction then prayer because such people are naturally forward to talk and can both with ease and pleasure make long speeches unto God And when they have prayed themselves into a good opinion of their holiness and favour with God then as soon as their morning devotions are past they may securely lie all day long in hatred malice covetousness injustice and such like sins as though they had consecrated and craved a blessing upon all their Actions Lib. 1. Essayes chap. 56. And so Mount aigne tells us that there was a young Prince who when he went about any leud and unchaste design would alwayes go into that Church which was in his way both as he went and as he returned from his filthiness this was told him by a great person as an instance of special and singular devotion But let any impartiall man tell me saith he to what purpose he invoked and called on God for his divine favour having his mind wholly bent to sin and his thoughts set on lasciviousness And yet thus it is every man calls upon God it matters not for what the covetous the ambitious the theef all pray God to succeed their enterprises which is just as if a Cut-purse should call in justice for his aid and as if we should call God to witness to a lie And there he adds this golden saying Verily it seemeth that we make no other use of our prayers then of a company of gibberish phrases or as those that imploy holy and sacred words about witchcraft and magical effects and that we magine their effect dependeth on the contexture or sound or succession of words or on our countenance For mans soul being full fraught with lusts and nothing touched with repentance they headlong present unto him those heedless words that memory affordeth their tongue by which they hope to obtain an expiation of all their offences 10. I shall hereunto annex briefly another way of deceiving mens selves which is by a whining puling kind of religion that many have taken up I
yielding to temptations to covetousness deceit and unlawfull gain or on the contrary very fearfull to fail in a ceremony but worshipping the flesh and living loosely An Hypocrite is much imployed in little things and busied about the shadow and bark of religion be it what it will If religion be pompously gloriously cloathed then he will strive to be most ceremonious costly and chargeable in his devotion so that we may say of him as the Philopher said of a finical but empty Lawyer homo in causis agendis bene vestitus a neat man in his Religion one that pleads with God in gorgeous apparrel But on the contrary if men take to a side that loves to be sordid and slovenly and as careless as they can in all outward decencies none shall more fiercely decry all ceremonies nor more prophane all that was before accounted holy And so in all other matters the most inconsiderable among them exercise their zeal and the weightiest exercise only their fancies and tongues 5. A Sixth thing to be noted in them is that they would be just in one thing that they might be unjust in another v. 23. They would pay their tithes to the Priests that this might cover all their acts of rapine and covetousness among the people And they did not only pay them but were very scrupulous to pay them exactly as if they would not wrong one of a Cummin seed or a Speer of mint or as we say of the hair of one head when as they neglected judgement if any causes came before them they shewed no mercy to the poor and kept no faith in their Covenants and promises It concerns a man to be very punctual with some persons and in his ordinary intercourse to keep to rules of justice else he would be hissed out of the world and he would have no opportunity to deceive a simple or unwary soul Much less would he be able when he stretches his conscience to do a base action to take himself still for a godly man if he did not at other times deal fairly And therefore he is fain also to imitate the Pharisee in a Seventh quality and that is to do some great act of Charity to excuse himself from a constant exercise of it It is like that these hypocrites which our Saviour speaks of paid the tythe which was due every third year for the use of them that were in need Deut. 14.28 as well as the yearly dues to the Ministers of God in the Temple And this great and expensive charity they thought perhaps so highly of that they never reproved themselves for their miserable and wretched covetousness at all other times As many men now whose fingers are very stiff may chance to draw their purse-strings at some solemn time or when they are much moved with a good Sermon of Alms-doing who at other seasons have hearts as hard as flints to the crying necessities of their Brethren Much of the Religion of men and their charity also knows its times and daies if they be observed God lends them they think the rest of their lives to dispose of as they please themselves 6. And lastly they would not stick to do more then they were commanded that they might neglect Gods express Commands For many think that the tythe of every herb which they paid Luke 11.42 was not due by the Law but they could be content to over-do in this case that they might do nothing in others to give these free-will offerings that they might have their own wills in greater matters so false is the heart of men that they think an excess in what pleases them will satisfie for all their defects in that which is most pleasing unto God As to keep whole daies of prayer is far more grateful to some then to keep a continual watch over themselves in all their dealings and converses with others and in all their own inward thoughts and desires They will leave no stone unturned to find out an Art or device to save themselves from the trouble of Mortification and self-denial They will wriggle every way rather then be strait and upright as God made them Any labour or pains they will take to shift off the great Commandments of loving God with all their hearts and souls and strength and loving their neighbours as themselves 7. The more need there is that men should be earnestly urged to search into their hearts and examine them well about these things lest there lie hid any of this leaven under many seeming actions of Godliness Take heed lest you wink at some evil affection which you bear a particular respect unto and let it scape untouched when you profess to cleanse your selves Beware lest you cast only a favourable look upon some duties of Religion and look asquint upon the rest or take no notice of them Labour to remove all obstructions that Zeal may have a free passage through the whole frame of your souls and that you may be equally spirited to every duty of Religion And I shall commend these two things as of singular use and advantage to keep our hearts from self deceit First Let men suspect themselves when they are moved with an extraordinary heat and feel a great zeal agitating of them in some one thing which they undertake upon the account of Religion Let them presently begin to ask themselves how they stand affected to all the rest and to feell how their pulse beats in all things especially in the most spiritual actions Or else it is a thousand to one that this zeal will betray them into hypocrisie and they will place all their religion in it And therefore search well if there be not some externall inducement which thou dost not observe some corrupt end at the bottom some willingness to spare a foul and nasty desire which makes thee so zealous in that particular thing which may be as a covering for thy coldness in other matters Be not cheated by thy self into a belief that thou art religious when thou bearest not a love to all Gods Commandments but labour impartially and conscienciously to carry thy self to every duty alike and then thou maist be well perswaded of thy sincerity in Religion 8. And Secondly Let every man observe what it is that he is most in danger to neglect when his Spirit is forwardly carried towards one thing There is alwaies some one duty more then others that a partial zeal is apt to devour Be sure therefore to take heed and beware of covetousness while you cry out against profaneness Be as carefull to maintain love in your heart to your Brethren as you are to observe them reprove them or to make them of your mind Be as humble lowly and poor in spirit as you are ready to distribute to relieve the poor or despise the world Labour to be in as great charity with your enemies to love them pray for them and bless them as you are willing and perhaps forward
to hazzard your selves in a good cause Be as consciencious in following the Ministers Doctrine as in paying of him his tithes and speaking well of him As zealous in doing as you are in hearing as carefull to use Gods grace as to beg it to live to God as to pray to him And Saint James gives us the reason Jam. 1.22 That we shall otherwise deceive our own souls We shall have only so much religion as will serve to cozen our selves as many a man doth who hears Gods word and prayes and is much affected but makes no conscience of laying it to his heart by serious consideration and working of it into the frame of his spririt that he may live according to it CAP. XXIV 1. The distinctions which the Pharisees had to elude Gods commands 2. One more notable then the rest that if they kept one precept well they need not keep all others 3. The fleshly Christian hath his jugling tricks He distinguishes between the letter and the Spirit of a duty 4. Or saith he follows Providence 5. Or that he hath an Impulse 6. Or he pleads Necessity 7. Or that he doth it for Gods glory 8. Or hath liberty from Free-grace 9. Or from the Examples of good men 10. We must not believe every pretender 11. Observe how they change and turn about 12. Especially how loth they are to suffer and how impatient under it 1. BUT you may well wonder how men so knowing as they were should overlook the most necessary things which are so legible in the Book of God and perswade themselves that they were pious notwithstanding such palpable neglects Sure these men had a most notable wit which could invent such cunning distinctions as should allow them to break all Gods Commandments while they seemed to keep them And so they had as our Saviour tells Mat 23 16 17 c. where you may see that they did absolve men even from their oaths that were made by holy things viz the Temple and the Altar if they were not made by that which they most loved the Gold and the Gift It is so senseless a distinction whereby they freed men who had solemny sworn as our Saviour plainly proves to them that we cannot but think it was invented by gross covetousness and yet with a shew of devotion to God in preferring the Gold that was brought to his treasury and the gifts to his Altar above all other things in sacredness And so they defeated another command concerning the giving of honour to our Parents by making a vow that all they got should be as a Sacred thing to their parents i. e. it should be as unlawfull for them to have any of their goods as to enjoy that which was devoted to God For so they that are best skilled in the Jewish learning do expound that place V. J. r Coch. in duns Tit. Talmud cap. 7. Sanhedr Mat. 15.5 though some of the Fathers as I have already said think that it speaks of consecrating their goods to the treasury of God This was a rare way to be rich by vowing not so much as to give their parents a mite of their goods and a great piece of religion no question they thought it to keep such a vow when they had made it This was a subtile Art to be covetous and under a religious tye both together 2. But these are no more then trifles in compare with that transcendent trick which absolves a man at once from as many duties as he pleases That rare device was this That if a man observed but one command well it was not absolutely necessary that he should keep the rest Vid Tit. Maccoth cap. 3. So R. Chanania saith that God would have Israel increase in merits and therefore it was that he multiplied so many precepts It was not absolutely necessary that they should observe them all but they should merit exceedingly if they did For so Maimon observes in his Comment upon that place cited in the margin If any of Israel keep one of the six hundred and thirteen precepts as he ought out of love and without a mixture of worldly designs he shall have a portion in the world to come Many evasions will mens own lusts and desires suggest to them for the casting off the weight of any duty that lyes upon them but this is such a notorious gloss that by it they might slip their necks from the yoke of every command but that which they could be content to practice 3. And you must not think the fleshly Christian is at a loss for the like distinctions interpretations and glosses for to serve the dear interest of his sins Loth he is to break a Law unless he seem to himself to keep it and therefore here his wit steps in and offers its help to salve his conscience and his profit or pleasure both together I shall take the liberty to instance in a few which are easie to observe because I doubt men will make a shift to understand nothing that concerns them by all that I say unless I descend to particulars First therefore if a man have use for a sin as suppose the breaking of an oath he can distinguish between the Letter and the Spirit of it He can easily perswade himself that he keeps the prime meaning which is according as he pleases to have it though he go contrary to the sound of the words and the sense in which men commonly understand it And thus those persons in New England who made so great a disturbance See Mr. Welds relation An. 1636. evacuated and blotted out the whole body of Christian precepts and did not leave so much as the Pharisees who thought obedience to one precept at least to be necessary saying That the letter of all the Scriptures were for a Covenant of works but the Spirit of them held forth a Covenant of free grace This was a rare answer when they were urged with several places of Holy Writ that proved the necessity of Sanctification and inward righteousness which they turned out of doors under the pretence of letting in Christ If it were said that we must become new creatures the Answer was ready that by the new creature is meant Christ and therefore we must only get into Christ If it were said we must be holy as God is holy this was the return that Christ is our sanctification and that there is no inherent righteousness in us but only in him And whereas the Scripture saith Blessed are the poor in Spirit c. they said a man might have all grace and yet want Christ This was the secret sense the Spirit of the Scriptures That we need do nothing and Christ hath done all This was holding forth naked Christ as they called it so naked indeed that it is a shame to speak of it 4. If men cannot attain to this height of secret intelligence which the old Gnosticks likewise boasted of but they must acknowledge that
sense which we receive of Gods precepts then they have another little device to save them the labour of yielding obedience and that is called Providence which is able to justifie any action against the Authority of Gods word If they have something to accomplish which is contrary to Law and Justice and their conscience boggles at it then because they have a mind to keep friends with God if he be content upon fair terms they will intitle him some way or other to it and they will not do it except his Providence lead them to it And this hath been swallowed for very sweet doctrine by some Grandees as I am well assured That a man may follow providence against a precept And so a theef I have often times thought who going by an house sees the door open and a fair plate inviting of him no body within to deter him may stand and admire at this strange providence that he should come in that nick of time when all things concur together to justifie his theft to which he hath so loud a call And if he should at that time be thinking of another thing and this plate likewise should happen to have his name upon it how should he chuse but hold up his hands and say that he was lead to it by the hand of heaven I would have any one to tell himself how his case differs from this who when a great many things usually meet together to make up a temptation for it is nothing else to draw him to do an unlawfull action he saith that Providence hath so ordered it he did not intend it but that he hath a call And truly I believe he hath a call from his own importune and bawling defires and Providence I know disposes of all things and often sets us in such circumstances as we shall be tryed how we will behave our selves and prove us how we will do our known duty 5. But if this fail there is a third thing so powerfull that nothing can resist it and that is a secret impulse and inward motion mistaken for inspiration There is no act so guilty which this is not able to set a good face upon no cause so foul which this cannot justifie with a goodly pretence The Zealots among the Jews covered abundance of murders and other insolencies under the name of such a divine spirit as moved Phineas All the Jews had a tang of this fiery zeal and therefore rush like madmen with their stones upon St. Paul and others to vindicate their Law from the contempt which they imagined was cast upon it And so all men that are pricked forward and spurr'd on by their own ambitious covetous desires or their revengefull and angry passions may easily think that they feel some forreign impulse because they are thrust on by no small violence Their own longings are wings large enough to mount up their soul and carry them like an Eagle to his prey Their own desires can inspire them and impregnate their sails without any other spirit to breath upon them There is so much fire naturally within them that none need descend nor ascend to stimulate their souls to any beloved enterprise 6. But if men be not of so high spirits as to have a touch of Enthusiasm there is a fourth thing called necessity which hath no Law In Apolog. Tertullian indeed was so simple as to say in the name of the old souldiers of Jesus Christ that Nulla est necessitas peccandi quibus una est necessitas non peccandi there can be no necessity of sinning to them who have one necessity lying upon them of not sinning But there are blades now of a purer make and a sharper edge who cut asunder those Iron chains of necessity it self wherein those grosser souls were fettered Though it be necessary for such as us who follow the old steps not to sin yet it is necessary to them to sin but they think it not to be a sin because it is necessary But they had best look to it and consider who is the author of that necessity and not when they have run themselves into a strait think that God gives them leave to break an hedge Let them not think to escape better with all these pittifull shifts then a theef doth who when he hath rob'd a man of his money thinks it necessary for to make all sure to cut his throat It is a necessity which he himself creates and he must either make it good against the other of not sinning which is of Gods creating or else it is necessary that he suffer soundly both for sinning and for making it necessary to sin 7. And if it be said as it must That there is no necessity that they or any other men should be great or rich or live in the world and therefore they should not do an illegall action for the saving of life it self They have another distinction ready at hand which is That all is done for Gods Glory and we are not always to tread in the ordinary path to accomplish that A man may step out of his way for Christs sake and he is mightily beholden you may think unto him that he will sin even against his conscience for his honour What can he do more for Christ then sacrifice his very soul and damn himself to make him glorious Sure Christ will catch hold on such loving friends of his and not suffer them to fall into that damnation which they ventured at seeing it was for him Just as Polititians when they do unwarrantable actions think to excuse them with the Reason of State and pretence of common Good So do other men think to shelter all their evil doings under the wings of Christ and drown the voice of their impieties with loud cryes for the Glory of God for the Glory of God As those Statesmen will break their faith and their oaths and at the rate of their honesty purchase the common welfare so do these men transgress all Gods Laws and will pawn their very souls upon it that all is done for the Divine honour As if God had need of mens sin or we could tell what is his interest better then himself I am something angry at this vile abuse of his holy name for I can make no better sense of mens actions then this That though God hath told us what is his mâ—â—d and pleasure yet they will instruct him and teach him what is more for his benefit and shew him a way that he thought not on for the advancement of his glory 8. But perhaps there is no such thing as sin in them and we poor creatures know not the mysterie of that great phrase Free-grace There is a singular priviledge that we know not of contained in those words to do evil As if it was called Free-grace because it made them free from all Law or by an Antiphrasis because it makes them slaves to all their own lusts and worldly affections
their cause to see if they will be on their side and to make them able to oppose all adversaries And then imagining that it sounds altogether that way that they would have it they come to be as zealous and fierce for their opinion as other men are for holy living and no man can urge a divine command more peremptorily then they will do their doubtfull Opinions This they make their religion and to cry up these particular perswasions is taken to be earnestness for God and his cause But while they dispute of God they do not know him and while they wrangle about Justification they remain unsanctified and while they contend about the extent of Christs redemption they take care that themselves shall have no great benefit by it Just as the Philosophers disputed about the nature of Honesty while they should have lived honestly spent their time in debating what the Form of Vertue was while they should have done vertuously So do men now dispute about the nature of Faith Hope and Charity till they leave themselves no time to exercise and put in practice any of them Nay as for Charity citius hanc reperias inter Idiotas quam inter hos qui sine fine disputant as Erasmus well saith you shall sooner find this among vulgar people then among those who dispute without end 10. All those therefore who are subject to this disease which I doubt is too common must mind the true end for which God gave us this Holy Book which was not to fill our heads with curious Notions but our hearts with holy and devout affections not to teach us nice and subtill distinctions but to tell us plainly how to distinguish beeween good and evil not to make us able combatants against all opinions that swarm in the world but to arm us against all the lusts of the flesh which most abound and war most against the soul And we must have no other end in studying of this divinity but ut mutemur ut rapiamur ut afflemur ut transformemur in ea quae discimus that we may be changed that we may be rapt and snatcht away from our selves that we may receive the breath of heaven that we may be transformed into the things that we learn And then we have profited much not when we can dispute more sharply but when we can live more exactly not when our wits are more acute but when our hearts are more dull to all earthly things not when we are more confident of our knowledge but when we are less proud angry covetous voluptuous and subject to any other vice This kind of Philosophy as the same Erasmus speaks is in affectibus situm verius quam in syllogismis In Paraclesi vita est magis qaam disputatio c. Seated in the Affections rather then in syllogisms it is a life rather then a disputation an inspiration rather then learning a transformation rather then a subtil reason Come therefore whoever thou art that readest the word of God with some pious dispositions Orans magis quam argumentans transformari studens potius quam armari praying rather then arguing and with a mind to be transfigured rather then to be armed Then shalt thou find that true felicity which is desired by all and the true way to attain it which is known but by a few Thou shalt find both Doctrines and Examples giving thee an absolute form of life and instructing thee how to be as good as thou canst desire But if thou readest the Scripture only to fight against others not thy self to satisfie thy mind in disputable points rather then to know the unquestionable wayes of holiness and intendest to express what thou knowest rather in syllogisms then in thy life and good talk rather then good deeds thou art not like to be a Christian The divine spirit loves not to dwell in contentious souls Truth uses not to be found in the midst of a scuffle nor loves she to lie in a mind that is set round only with thorny notions and perplexed distinctions Study therefore how to live the life of God become a Babe and bring a lowly mind or else a worse thing will come of it then thy being deceived For the world will be filled with a noise of Religion without any substance of it and it will be embroiled with a factious zeal under the name of spending mens selves for Jesus Christ And what though others may account thee but a pittifull wretch who art not of their way nor well able perhaps to fight for any opinion Thou art a conquerour glorious enough if thou fallest under no vice nor submittest thy self to the will of any lust though thou art inferiour to others and art overcome in craft and confidence Conclusion 1. All this hath been said only to warn us lest we be Hypocrites and do not know it 2. Let none take occasion hereby to call Piety by the name of Hypocrisie 3. Though it is common with prophane men so to do 4. Who are too bad to be mended by discourses 5. And some of them as hypocritical as the Pharisees 6. For there are several sorts of Hypocrites 7. Some of which are prophane 8. And others take no more then a natural pleasure in reading of these Truths 1. YOU have seen what whited sepulchres the Pharisees were and what a goodly appearance they made in the outside when they were no better then charnel houses or rather stinking graves within And now for a Conclusion of this Discourse you may observe That those Sepulchres to which our Saviour compares them were Whited on purpose Mat. 23.27 that the people might see them before they came near to them and so take heed of being defiled and polluted by them For the Jews as a very learned man observes thought themselves to be made unclean by touching of a grave as well as of a dead carkase V. Pocock Not. Miscell in Port. Mos and therefore because the tombs were hidden sometimes by the long grass which he makes the meaning of that place Luke 11.44 they brusht them over with lime so that strangers who passed that way might not unawares stumble upon them and contract a le-gall defilement And just so doth our Saviour point out the Pharisees in their colours both that men might take heed how they dealt with them and that they might avoid their hypocritical temper not taking that for godliness which had so much secret wickedness lurking under it And for the same reason it is that I have treated thus particularly of the false Religion that is among us that so all men seeing wherein Hypocrisie doth consist may fly away from it as the Jews did from a dead body or a grave and may walk in the plain old path of all reall and unfeigned holiness 2. And considering that this was my end I hope none that reads me will be so prophane as to make use of all that hath been said to the