the Spirit to preach the Word in Asia II. And for the Conviction of the unbelieving World They had diversities of gifts and different Administrations To one was given the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge to another Faith to another the gift of Healing to another Miracles Prophesies Discerning of Spirits The gift of Tongues As it is in the words which I quoted God bare them witness with gifts of the Holy Ghost and with Signs and Wonders and that he did so far that I shall be justified by Christ himself if I shall affirm that the Apostles after his death did greater miracles then he himself did in his life Of the same kind with our Saviours some they performed by means having an appearance of greater strangeness Christ healed by his touch his word his spittle Peter by his Shadow Paul by Handkerchiefs taken from his body But one great thing there was wherein they exceeded The Great and Manifest and frequent Effusions of the Spirit the Reception of it upon themselves the communication of it to others by Prayer Preaching Laying on of Hands By these it was that the unbelieving world was convinced and even Simon Magus himself It is by the power and Vertue of those effusions that we are here met together at this time that the World continues Christian at this day And these are some of those standing means and Arguments whereby the proneness of our hearts to infidelity may be overcome and faith may be begotten confirmed recovered at this day These are therefore to be revolved Exhort one another dayly To come therefore to a Conclusion My text it self is an Application by way of Exhortation Exhortations are enforced by Reasons of Duty and Concernment and these I have hitherto endeavoured to lay before you If indeed there were no Sinfulness in Infidelity Or if in such times as ours it were excusable If there were no danger of falling into it or no means left to remedy or prevent it it would then indeed be to little purpose to Exhort men to beware But if the state of all these things is otherwise if that be plain and evident agreeable to Scripture to Reason and to Experience if the Speaker hath not beaten the Air nor the heaters been careless and inattentive I know not what can be required to enforce and sharpen the exhortation If the time would suffer it and I were speaking to a Common or Injudicious Auditory I might think my self concerned after all that hath been spoken to the understanding to Apply my discourse to your affections I should take unto me the various forms of Application used in this Epistle I would Reprove Rebuke Exhort I would cry aloud and would not spare I would lift up my voice like a Watchmans trumpet warning you from the Lord concerning the Spirit of irreligion and infidelity which is said to have overspread the land I would take to my self a Lamentation yea it should be for a Lamentation for the Professors of Infidelity and the Infidelity of Professors every where But I may not now be permitted to enlarge upon these things I may only pray to God to give you understanding in all things and beseech you earnestly to consider what hath been spoken Concluding in the words of the Text Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Exhort one another dayly FINIS Die Jovis 11 o Octobris 1666. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That the thanks of this House be given to the Lord Bishop of Exon. for his Pains in the Service he performed in Preaching a Sermon before the Peers in the Abby-Church at Westminster yesterday being the day appointed by His Majesty for Fasting and Humiliation in consideration of the late Dreadful Fire which wasted the greater part of the City of London And that his Lordship be and is hereby desired to Print and Publish his said Sermon John Browne Cler. Parliam A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abby-Church at Westminster October 10 th M. DC LXVI BY SETH then Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by A. C. for James Collins at the Kings Arms within Ludgate near St. Pauls 1672. A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINISTER ECCLES xi 9. But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Rejoyce O young man c. THE great and general design of the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel is to bring men to Christianity not in the outward profession but in the true spirit and power thereof to the end they may be justified and sanctified and finally saved through Christ for ever The Particular design of this Dayes Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God in Consideration of his Judgments especially that late one in consuming with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us To compass both these designs whereof the later is subordinate to the former I know no better expedient than to reason a while upon that important argument suggested in the Text. Who can think upon the Conflagration of our late Glorious City and not call to mind the great and terrible day of Judgment Who can think seriously of Judgment and not be compelled to come in driven to Christianity that he may be saved from the wrath to come The great Instructor and Example of Christian Preachers he who saith of himself that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize found no means so powerful to perswade men to Christianity as to reason upon this argument as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment and then whilst that was warm upon their hearts to make them a tender of the Gospel This is the great advantage and use the Apostle makes of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear saith he before the Judgment-seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Upon these Considerations I shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory if without affectation of Science I shall in a practical and familiar way of reasoning indeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls and search out the ground of this aversness Is it because we do not believe a Judgment to come or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment Is it because we never consider who it is before whom me must appear or what things will be charged on our account Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into our remembrance What ever it be we may perhaps hear of that
corner-stone wherefore by these the present Question is to be decided If any men at any time taking upon them the sacred name of Christians have swerved from the Rule of their Profession and acting contrary to the Spirit of Christ have made that holy Name to be blasphemed it is reason that they be esteemed the utter enemies of Christianity and that they themselves should bear their condemnation but to charge their exorbitancies upon that Profession which they have prophaned and injured is such an injustice as cannot consist with moral honesty or Philosophical ingenuity So then hîc Rhodus hîc saltus As Saint Paul 1 Cor. xv 14 17 20. concerning the Resurrection of Christ If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain and your faith is vain but now is Christ risen so I If within the compass of those Foundations which I have mentioned be found any colour or shadow of license for any person whatsoever upon any pretence whatsoever to entrench upon the power of lawful Magistrates if any warrant at all for open Rebellion or privy Conspiracies for murthering or deposing of Princes or absolving Subjects from their Allegiance then let Kings cease to be our Nursing Fathers and Queens to be our Nursing Mothers let David look to his own house let the Light of our Eyes the Breath of our Nostrils the Restorer of Religion the Defender of our Faith look rather first to defend himself It will then be reasonable to expect that the Kings of the earth should stand up and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ that they should break their bonds in sunder and cast their cords from them then our Preaching is vain and your Faith is vain But now indeed the case is otherwise and that evidently What the Laws of men could never do with all their Temporal Rewards and Punishments in that they are weak that Christianity in the true Spirit of it performs to the utmost height that is conceiveable The Foundation of Government and Obedience is deeply and firmly rooted in the Foundation of our Religion And if the Scripture cannot be broken if it be true that Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one jot of it shall pass away it is as true that the Ordinances of the Sun and Moon shall fail before this Ordinance shall be dissolved For if by the Principles of our Religion we are obliged to believe concerning the Books of the Old Testament that they have been delivered by holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. i. 21. then the holy Ghost hath said By me Kings reign c. Prov. viii 15. If Christ be the Son of God the Son of God hath said Render to Caesar the things which are Caesars Mat. xxii 21. If the Holy Spirit did overshadow Peter and the rest of the Apostles then Peter overshadowed and filled with the Spirit commands us in the Name of God to submit our selves to every Ordinance of man 1 Pet. ii 13. If Saint Paul were called to be an Apostle by the miraculous appearance of our Lord Christ after his Ascension and was by him immediately instructed in the pure and genuine spirit of Christianity then Saint Paul's Theory concerning Government is an authentick Christian Theory whereby the Doctrines and practises of Christians are to be judged and that Theory is delivered in the seven first Verses of this Chapter Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers c. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation I call it a Christian Theory of Government because it is a brief and comprehensive Scheme whereby all Questions concerning Obedience and Government may according to Christian Principles he resolved The whole discourse of the Apostle consisteth of two general parts First A strict Injuction Secondly Effectual Motives First The Injunction in the first words Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers c. Secondly The Motives in the words following which are taken from I. The Original and Institution of Government it is ordained of God hence follows II. The Sinfulness of Resistance They resist the Ordinance of God And III. The Danger of it They shall receive damnation Which is again enforced by IV. The End of Government in respect of evil and good men Out of all which follows V. The necessity of subjection Wherefore ye must needs be subject And VI. The nature of that necessity it is not of prudence but of Conscience After all which the Apostle like a legitimate Demonstratour resumes his Proposition and concludes it with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 7. Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour The words which I have chosen contain in them the danger of resistance to the Civil Powers They relate both to the Antecedent and Subsequent part of the Apostle's Discourse and are as efficacious towards the pressing of the Injunction of Obedience as it is possible for words to express or men to conceive The strongest and most operative Arguments upon men at least-wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Arguments of terrour The most terrible thing within the compass of humane apprehension is Damnation which imports besides the judgments of this life the eternal privation of the enjoyment of God utter darkness and everlasting burnings Those that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Those that resist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resistance is a Relative Act and it implies some person or thing to be resisted What then is the Correlate of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is delivered in the first Verse Those that resist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Authorities set over them Civil Authorities having jus Gladii the Authorities supreme or subordinate justly obtaining over them It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here used which signifie corporal strength and power but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Scripture distinguisheth from both the other From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke iv 36. and ix 1. 1 Cor. xv 24. Ephes. i. 21. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 25. It answers the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint translates by all the names of Legal Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is taken for the Persons of Governours as well as for their Power so Ephes. iii. 10. That to Principalities and Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might be known c. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Powers and the Rulers of this World Ephes. vii 2. So that we may not separate their Personal and their Politick capacity It remains that we enquire the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it is to resist in the Language of the Gospel Now 1. That to oppose by force is to resist it is so plain that I need not speak to it We meet both
the Apostles the Promulgers of the Gospel Wherefore it is to be believed The Antecedent of this Enthymem is the sum of what I shall deliver When the Pharisees said unto Christ thy Record is not true because thou bearest record of thy self I am one saith Christ that bear record of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me Moreover he tells the Disciples that the Comforter should testify of him And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning So that beside the Witness of the Apostles the Gospel had the Attestation of all the persons of the Trinity viz. of the 1. Father 2. Son 3. Holy Ghost 1. God the Father bore witness to his Son and that he did by 1. Visible Signs and 2. Audible Voices 3. by Mission of Angels 4. by Co-operating in his Miracles c. 1. At his Nativity a new Star appeared At his Baptism they saw the heaven opened and the Spirit sent from the Father in the visible shape of a Dove and lighting upon him Before his Passion he was transfigured in their sight And At it the Sun was eclipsed when the Moon was full the Veil the Rocks rent so that the Centurion said Surely this man was the Son of God Bodies of Saints were seen of many All these were visible signs 2. As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Daughter of the Voice In his Baptism Lo a voyce from heaven Saying This is my beloved Son At his Transfiguration a Voyce came out of a cloud which said This is my beloved Son hear him A little before his death as he was Praying Father glorifie thy Name There came a voyce from heaven Saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again 3. For mission of Angels by the Father We find them still ready upon all occasions from before his Coming down to the time of his Ascension into Heaven Before his Conception the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary and to Mary before his Nativity to Joseph saying fear not Joseph At the time of his Nativity a whole Chorus appeared to the Shepherds In his Infancy an Angel appeared twice to Joseph admonishing him of his going to Egypt and his return from thence In his Adult age they ministred to him in his hunger Before his death they strengthned him in his Agony After it they rolled away the stone from his Sepulcher They declared his Resurrection and in his Ascension they stood by and foretold his coming again to Judgment Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing This same Jesus 4. The Father co-operated with him according to that of our Saviour The father worketh hitherto and I work c. These are some of the Attestations of the Father 2. Christ bore witness of himself And this he did by proving himself to be the Messiah viz. by fulfilling all the prophesies relating to the Person or Offices the Life and the Death of the Messiah His Generation was such as cannot be declared he was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah of the Family of David about 490 years after the return from Captivity When the Scepter was just now departed from Juda. He performed not only the Substance of the Prophesies but all the Circumstances foretold concerning the Life and Death of the Messiah 1. He was to be a Prophet and so he was The Spirit of the Lord anointed him to preach and he spake as never man spake He foretold many things to come they all bare him witness 2. He was to be a King and so he was His Name was Wonderful his Power was shewen throughout the universal System of the World the Angels good and evil the Heavens Elements Plants Fishes Brutes Health and Sickness Life and Death were all obedient unto his Word 3. He was to be a Priest and so he was He made an Atonement by his Obedience and by his sufferings to the least punctilio to the taking of a little Vinegar and when all things were fulfilled He cryed with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Moreover for the Justification of his Gospel and that he might leave no place for Infidelity he rose again from the dead appeared to many convinced them by all their Senses They saw him They heard him They felt his hands and his side They Eat and Drank with him They Conversed with him 40 dayes He was seen by more then 500 at once and lastly in the sight of Many of them he Ascended Visibly into Heaven These were some of the Testimonies which our Lord Christ bare to himself 3 The time would fail me if I should speak of all the Testimonies given by the Holy Spirit In his Conception to Mary fulfilling the Promise of Gabriel Before his Nativity to Zachary and Elizabeth in his Infancy to Simeon and Hanna in his Baptism to John I knew him not saith John but he that sent me to baptize said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and resting on him that is he and I saw the Spirit descending Throughout his whole Ministry till his Death the Spirit gave witness to him Moreover in his Resurrection he was declared the Son of God with power by the Holy Ghost After his Ascension the Holy Ghost fulfilled all his undertakings in that Grand Manifestation at Pentecost at the time and place which Christ had undertaken for A manifestation made to all the Senses and to men of every nation under heaven Parthians besides a Multitude of other Instances Such were the Attestations given to Christ the Author and finisher of our faith 2. And for the Apostles the Promulgers of it besides the Change of their Spirits from darkness to light Whereby they were led out of Ignorance and Infidelity into all Truth And from torpid and pusillanimous persons during thelife of their Master they became when he was dead the most active and magnanimousin the world I say besides this Change They had bestowed upon them All things necessary either for their 1. Own Assurance or for the 2. Conviction of the World Concerning the truth of the Gospel which they delivered 1. As for themselves besides the Conversation with their Master before and after his Resurrection they had 1. Apparitions of Angels And to one of them Christ himself appeared after he was ascended to his father 2 They had the Bath Kol Voices from Heaven In the 9 of the Acts we find a Voice from Heaven maintaining a Dialogue with Paul and at another time a voice saying to Peter Arise Peter Kill and Eat 3. They had extatical Visions Peter was in a trance Act 10. 10 19. Paul rapt up to the third heaven 4. They had monitory Dreams Paul saw a man in a Dream saying unto him Come into Macedonia and help us 5. They had Impulses of the Spirit So Paul was forbid by
Death the Sun was eclipsed the Moon being at the Full. To indicate the place of his Nativity at the time of his Birth a new Star was made on purpose Health and Sickness Life and Death and Hades gave in their testimonies by their obedience to his word Yet once more he shook the Heavens and sent down the Holy Spirit upon his followers he shook the Earth also he tore the Rocks and opened the Graves and at his powerfull voice the bodies of the Saints arose And lest it should be said He raised others but himself he could not raise As he finished the Great Mystery of Christianity by his Death so also he proved the truth of it by his Resurrection As he died for our Sins so he rose again for our Justification for our Justification is in the Belief of that and all other the Mysteries of Christianity These and many more are heads of Arguments which whoever duly considers and understands will certainly believe the Gospel propter veritatis Evidentiam 2. It remains only to shew that whosoever doth truly believe the Gospel shall infallibly be saved Propter Bonitatis or Virtutis Excellentiam Because it is the Power of God to salvation to every one that believeth In speaking of which Argument I need not go about to prove that the Power of the Gospel is the Power of God in which respect it is called the Hand or Arm of the Lord the Sword of the Spirit the Grace of God bringing Salvation and the like Neither shall I stand upon a Comparison of the Gospel with the Grecanical or Judaical Institutions a man may believe all that ever was written by Philosophers and yet doubt whether there is or can be such a thing as Salvation yea or no. A man may believe whatever is explicitcly and expresly delivered in the Law of Moses and yet not be saved But my intention is barely and nakedly this By a short Reflexion upon the Way and Method of the Actions of Mankinde and the Discoveries and Contents of the Gospel well known to those that hear me to manifest the truth of this Proposition That every man that believeth the Gospel i. e. that truly and actually abideth in that belief shall infallibly be saved Because whosoever frames his Actions according to the Rules and Principles the Precepts and Prescriptions of the Gospel shall infallibly be saved And because it is of the nature of man to frame his Actions according to his Actual and persevering Judgement and Belief The Nature and Essence of man consists in his Understanding and for a man not to follow the stedfast and constant the actual and final dictate of his Understanding is impossible in Nature and indeed implies a Contradiction He that believes that there is neither God nor Devil Heaven nor Hell Salvation nor Damnation And that he hath not an Immortal Soul i. e. a Soul to save such a man If at least he hath attained to those great accomplishments of Rudeness and Incivility will make it his business to fill up his measure of Debaucheries and Impieties will think it Brave perhaps and Witty to Blaspheme God and scoff at Religion will make it a matter of Gallantry and noble Courage and Resolution to challenge God to damn him or bid the Devil take him Body and Soul will spend his time in Revelling and Drunkenness in Chambering and Wantonness Expecting and hoping to die like a beast he will be sure to live like one And in conclusion will finde himself disappointed of this glorious hope this goodly noble manly expectation and that his Miscreancy and the errour of his Judgement hath betrayed him into eternal misery Whilest on the other side he that believes the Declarations and Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel will have his fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life He that firmly and stedfastly believes that the Soul which Actuates his body is an Immortal Being a subsistence which shall and must endure to all eternity That after Death he must appear before the Tribunal of God and Christ to answer for the things done in the body That from thence he shall be transmitted to a state either of Eternal Happiness or Eternal Misery either to be entertained in the Vision of God in the fellowship of Saints and Angels with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Or secluded from the sight of God and treated with the Devil and his Angels with torment unconceivable unexpressible and that to all Eternity This man if he might gain all the Profits and Honours and Pleasures if he might decline all the afflictions of this world will not lose his own Soul Frustra blanditiae venitis ad hunc frustra nequitiae venitis ad hunc Considering that light and momentany things bear no proportion to the exceeding weight and moment of those which are Eternal he will forthwith endeavour to lay hold upon Eternal Life and make haste to escape the Wrath to come And to that end he will devour all difficulties and neglect no means or opportunities He that believes that the only way to Happiness is the way to Holiness That without holiness no man shall see God That no unclean thing shall enter there That the Impious the Unjust the Intemperate the Lascivious continuing so shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This man will endeavour to purifie himself to mortifie all his carnal lusts and affections to cleanse himself from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Again he that believes and considers the Corruption and Impotence of his natural Condition and the design of Christs coming into the world what he hath already done and what he is still in doing for him How that himself and every man is by nature a childe of wrath that Sin reigns in his mortal body that he lies under a bondage from which he cannot redeem a Guilt from which he cannot acquit himself That no flesh is justified in the sight of God Whosoever I say doth believe this concerning himself and on the other side concerning Christ that to this end was he born and for this cause came he into the world that he might save sinners That the world through him might be saved That to this end and this end only he descended from Heaven This was the end of his Conversation upon Earth his Life and Doctrine his Preaching and Example This was the end of his Crucifixion Resurrection Ascension and Session at the Right hand of God That by the sufferings of his Life and the inestimable value of his Blood the world might be Justified and Redeemed from the Guilt of their sins rescued from the miseries of the world to come And that by the operation of his Doctrine and Example and the power of his Intercession the world might be sanctified Delivered from the Dominion of sin purified and prepared to be admitted to the
Vision of the most holy God Fruition of the Life to come I say that the man that firmly and stedfastly and actually believes these things will not nay indeed that he cannot neglect so great Salvation That he will not trample upon the blood of the everlasting Covenant or despise the Spirit of Grace or crucifie afresh the Lord of Glory and put him to an open shame But that for his continual cleansing from his past transgressions he will daily resort to the fountain which Christ hath opened for sin and for uncleanness offering and presenting his head and his heart his minde and his affections to the blood of sprinkling And that for the obtaining of preventing and following Grace to preserve him from lapsing for the time to come He will throw himself daily at the feet of that High-Priest which is sensible of his Infirmities and which sits at Gods Right hand making Intercession for him and with sighs and unutterable groans he will implore the Assistance of that Spirit which helpeth our infirmities And that continuing and persevering in this Course by the Grace of God which never faileth them that seek him he will certainly conform himself to the Commands of Christ and compose himself to his Example till at length he be transformed to his Image He will add to his Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and so onwards He will goe on from strength to strength untill he appear before God in Glory I say that such a man by denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts and living Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this present world will work out his Salvation with fear and trembling and in the end of his dayes will certainly and infallibly attain to the end of his hopes namely the Salvation of his Soul So that the Gospel is indeed the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation to all men It is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth TO come therefore to a Conclusion Judge now in your selves Brethren and judge Righteous Judgement Is this a Gospel which is to be despised A Dispensation whereof a Minister or a Christian ought to be ashamed Are the Mysteries of this Gospel to be derided and drolled upon To be travestied or turned into Burlesque or Macaronique Is this to be a Brave and a Gallant person A Spark and a Wit Or is it indeed to have never a spark of Wit or Gallantry Men Brethren and Fathers If the time and your patience and my strength would bear it I would take unto me boldness and freely speak unto you concerning the Gospel of our Saviour I would Reprove Rebuke Exhort I would severally and distinctly address my self to every sort and every Degree of those that hear me Ecclesiastical and Civil Young and Old Wise and Unwise Noble and Ignoble I would speak unto you young men of the Clergy that you would not be offended at the Mysteries of the Gospel or think it a matter of Wit or of Learning either to despise or to go about to mend them That you will neither be Drolled nor Disputed Cajoled nor faced out of your Religion or suffer the Mauvais hont the evil shame to be put upon you That you will not believe that it hath been only dull formality a want of the smartness of your Wit or depth of your Learning which hath retained your Fathers and Predecessors in the belief and the Profession of the plain and simple Articles of the Catholick Faith Be not deceived Brethren Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnona Be not seduced by those who pretending to remove the Scandal of the Cross of Christ which thing St. Paul counted an absurdity in Christianity would rob you of a most divine and excellent Religion and substitute in its place a rotten and depraved Philosophy Those I mean who never have been able with all their Wit Reason and Learning to explicate or comprehend the Mysteries or Mechanies of a Mite or of a Flea of a Plant or Stone or any one of the innumerable things which are before them and yet they take upon them to controul the plain literal designed and reiterated Declarations of Christ and his Apostles concerning the Mysteries of the Godhead Those who Grammaticizing pedantically and Criticizing spuriously upon a few Greek Particles or words would cozen the World of the benefit of the blood of Christ and Christ himself of his Divinity and put him off with a fantastical and Poetical Apotheosis I would speak unto you Fathers because ye have known the Father and the Son ye understand the effect and consequence of the Mysteries of the Gospel to the Salvation of men that ye will continue to strive earnestly to retain that faith which is thought by some to be upon the wing that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints I would speak unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wise men or Philosophers Paul speaking to the men at Athens puts them in minde of a saying of a Poet of their own I would call to your Remembrance a Saying of a Philosopher of our own a Philosopher of great renown which is to this effect That a profound consideration of the reason and comprehension of the circumstances of things a deep dose of Philosophy will make a man Religious And that the contempt of Religion is an infallible argument of one that is a smatterer only and half-witted I would speak unto ye Nobles that ye would be Noble as the Beraeans were That ye will search examine and consider whether the case of the Gospel be such as hath been represented yea or no And then I am sure ye will continue zealously and vigorously to support the Gospel I would take heart and courage and improve in an humble confidence so far as to prefer a Petition to King Lords and Commons the Noble the Mighty and the Wise that at this time especially they will be carefull of Religion and tender of the Interests of the Gospel I would humbly endeavour to bring to remembrance who it is by whom Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice And what it is to be Defender of the truly Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith I would endeavour to Demonstrate that neither Forts nor Castles Armies nor Navies Arms nor Ammunition Money nor Men to say nothing of Allies or Confederates or the Staff of Egypt are so powerfull a support of the Crowns of Princes as the Gospel Nay not as a few lines of this one Epistle of our High nosed Galilean as the Scoffers have been wont to call him duly imbibed into the Souls and Consciences of men namely that saying at the beginning of Chap. 13. Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no power but of God the Powers that be are Ordained of God And they that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnation the belief of this would be sure to compose the mindes of all Dissenters so as to keep peace and obedience at home And the belief