a full and foul mouth as Solifidians and Nullifidians and to brand our Religion with that odious nickname Calva Calvini sides The bald faith of Calvin This they affirm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a bare and â—ald head and therein shew that they have not so much as one hair of honest men An impudent and shameless calumny purposely devised by him who is a lyar and the Father of it and most opprobriously and injuriously obtruded upon the Protestant party and reformed Churches The sounder part whereof (*) Sicut substantia sundamentum est omnium accidentium sic fides omnium virtutum donorum Bâ—navent Serm. de Sanclis Ex fide crumpurt â—â—ra opâ— a. Luther reverences Faith as a spiritual Dorcas that is full of good works with which it is evermore attended and accompanied as individual and inseparable companions And in case works be wanting they make no other account and reckoning of such a kind of Faith then a bare name without a thing a sign without a thing signified a shadow without a substance a body without a soul A dead faith as St. James makes out the comparison Jam. 2.26 For as the Body without the Spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also A meer Sceleton and carkass of it Faith indeed is a more inward and radical grace of a spiritual nature without flesh and bones as our Saviour concludes of every spirit But good works are Fides incarnata as Luther stiles them Faith manifested in the flesh which may be seen and felt of others And in this sense though somewhat beside it divers of the Ancients expound those words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.46 That is not first which is spiritual but that which is carnal referring it to faith and works and preferring works before it Not to enter the list of a comparison which of them should be the greater a question that sometimes happened amongst Christ's Disciples and yet a little to illustrate the matter by a similitude Faith is as the inward wheels of a Clock that move it and make it go Works are as the Hand or Fingen of the Dial which though it be no cause of motion yet is it an evident sign how the Clock goes within and outwardly points forth the hour of the day to the Traveller in the streets Thus is Faith discerned and descried by our Works Secondly To improve and encrease grace working is necessary for the improvement of grace received which though free y given yet must it be encreased by our pains and industry in renewing and repeating the several acts of it Even as the sire that came down from Heaven upon the Altar yet being once kindled it was maintained by the addition of new wood and fuel (k) Concil Nicen 1 part 2. cap. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though we receive grace without labour at the first yet can we not preserve it without labour say the blessed Fathers of the first Nicene Councel Thirdly To attain and gain salvation working is necessary for the attaining of salvation as a condition of an obligation as motion unto rest as the way to the end of the journey and the means unto the end For as in nature there can be no passage from one entream to another but by a middle that intervenes and comes between and so unites and joins them together No more can we be translated from a state of corruption to a state of happiness but by working as the means We must not look to commence in Heaven per saltâ—â—m to skip and leap into it neither nature nor grace allow it The greater part of the world would have glory without grace and happiness without holiness like to the Roman Dictator Sylla that had rather be sirnamed Foelix then Pius Fain would men receive the wages and yet not do the work but in vain and to no end For life eternal is resembled by a Crown which they alone wear that run yea so run that they may obtain And as the old Romans gave the obsidional Crown to him that had delivered a City from the siege of the enemy and that made of the grass and flowers of the besieged City Even so doth God reward men according to their works and sets them as a Crown upon their head Let this be granted as an undoubted truth that salvation is a reward yet such a reward as issues out of meer bounty and liberality no wages or due debt Nor is it given Propter factum sed pacium not for the worthiness of the deed done but by a (k) Bona opera non sunt causa rogni sed via regnandi Bernard de Liber Arbit promissory obligation and engagement by way of covenant working is the means whereby not the cause why we come to salvation and though it be stiled our salvation yet is it as Faith and Repentance are termed ours being in us but not of us and actions and passions denominate the subject and not the cause God only is the efficient cause and author and man the proper subject or object of it For though works be never so necessary in themselves both in regard of their presence and instrumental efficiency as a condition means and way ordained by God that we should walk in yet must we not set so high a rate upon them as if they were a suficient price for Heaven any way adaquate and equivalent in proportion to the recompence of reward This alone is fitly compared to the penny in the Gospel and money as the wise man speaks answers all things and is the measure and rule of all but is not to be bought and sold at all It was the sacrilegious errour of Simon Magus to conceive that the gift of God might be purchased with money and it hath a spice of his sin and may so pass for a kind of spiritual Simony to think that salvation which is the gift of God may be procured with our labour The Papists indeed have coined a counterfeit and base money of merit to buy Heaven withall and though it hath none of Gods image and superscription yet would they give that unto God which is none of Gods as if they were to truck and chaffer and barter with him by way of merchandise and to deal with him upon the strictest terms of commutative justice Hear them speak in their own language Opera bona mercatura regni coelestis saith Bellarmine Heaven is as due to good works as Hell to bad So Andradius Coster the Rhemists on the New Testament Let Andrew Vega that proud Jesuite as the foreman of the Jury give in the Verdict for all the rest Gratis non accipiam He will rather lose it then take it as a free gift Nor do the Papists offend more on the right hand then the * Canisius lib. 1. de corrupt verbi Dei cap. 10. Flaccians and the rigid Lutherans on the left who decree them as unnecessary as hurtful as
these Sermons which besell Theseus Ship that was so oft trimmed and dockt that very few of the first planks were left behind And it might be said of them as Lipsius sometimes spake of his Politiques Lips Polit. Praefat. Omnia nestra 〈◊〉 there is all new and nothing old in them But as for the publishing these Sermons and that is the second thing premised which were at first cut out onely for private use with Antoninus his Title in the front 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dedicated to no other then my self that which beckned them abroad into the World and invited them In Diaslyminis oras which might still have lain hid in Si omnino huic labori supersedissem optime fecissém juxta illud Flacci In sylvam ne ligna feras Aut enim eadem diceremus ex superfluo aut si nova voluerimus dicere clarissimo ingenie occupata sunt meltora Hieron Adv. Pelag. lib. 3. St. Hiorâ—ms judgment was some probable presumptions and persuasions that there was somewhat of Antient truth in them Those old Paths where is the good way commended by the Prophet Jeremy c. 6. v. 16. and being seconded with walking therein men may find rest to their souls All good is of a diffusive and spreading nature and communicative of it self and it is so much the better by how much it is more common And whereas the good of a single person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. l. 1. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovely and desirable of it self that of a City or Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saâ—th the Philosopher is of a more beautiful and divine nature And in a matter of common concernment where the good of others may be any way interessed and engaged I would not be thought over-nice and squeamish Nor treat my Mother the Church as the supercilious and superstititious Pharisees dealt most unnaturally with their natural Mother It is Corban that is to say a Gift by whatsoever thou maiest be profited by me Mark 7.11 A gift formerly consecrated to privacy and obscurity And so not to doe ought for my Mother ver 12. in a publick manner The great A postle St. Peter was very conscientious in the case and held himself obliged to premote the Churches welfare both by Word and Writing 2 Epist Pet. 1.13 15. I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have things alwaies in remembrance As if he had conceived the Triple Pasce given in charge by his Lord and Master John 21.15 16 17. to import this Threefold duty Pasce verbo Pasce exemplo Pasce scripto Feed by word Feed by Example Feed by Writing For though the Habet nescio quid latentis euergiae viva vox Hieron Epist ad Paul lively voice hath a secret energy and efficacy And a great part of the Sermon is wanting when it is only read and not heard as it was said of the Magna pars Demosthenis abest quod legitur potius quam auditur Valer. Maxi. lib. 8. cap. 10. Orations of Demosthenes Yet nevertheless Writing hath the advantage and peculiar priviledge in the duration and continuance The lively voice is as the refreshing influences of the rain and dew which soak and sink deep and both moisten and fat the Farth with their sorcible hear and warmth but Writing is as a Flight of Snow which though it 〈◊〉 much colder yet it lies longer upon the ground The Word preached reacheth only to a few and edifies the Hearers of the present Age but the Word printed is more extensive and enlarges and dilates it self to posterity And in that respect The Preacher saith Gregor in Ezek. Hom. 3. Gregory should be as the Smiths iron which not only heateth those that are neer but casteth sparkles a far off No sparkles of strife and contention no wild fire of Sedition to set on fire the Beacons in the Countrey or to cause a combustion in the City but only to afford light and heat to others Not commanding Fire to come down from Heaven to consume men as the Disciples of Christ transported with a Fiery zeal called for upon the heads of the Samaritans after Elias example Luke 9.54 but heaping coals of Fire upon mens heads in St. Paul 's sense Rom 12.20 To soften and melt them into contrition and conversion And of such a kind of Fire that speech of our Saviour may be understood Luke 12.49 I am come to send fire upon the earth and what will I if it be already kindled That is the fire which these Sormons bring along with them to enlighten knowledge and to enflame zeal and to borrow Saint Paul's Metaphor 2 Tim. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To blow up those dying sparkles that lay covered and raked up under the Embers of security And I shall send them into the World with the same charge wherewith Joseph dismissed his Brethren into the Land of Canaan Gen. 45.24 See that ye fall not out by the way And with the Commission of Christ to his Disciples Luke 10.5.6 Into what house soever ye enter first say peace be to this house And if the Son of peace be there it shall rest upon it If not it shall turn to you again And it is my earnest desire these Sermons may meet with such peaceable affections and dispositions in their reception and entertainment as may answer the candor and calmness of spirit wherewith they were composed and written I conclude all with that savory and sweet Prayer of St. Augustine wherewith he concludes that great work of his touching the Mystery of the Trinity August de Triniâ— lib. 15. cap. 28. Domine Deus quaecunque diâ—â— de â—uo agnoscant Tui Si quae de â—â—eo ta ignosee Tui O Lord God whatsoever I have written that is thine let those who are thine acknowledge it If any thing of mine own let thou and Thine be pleased to pardon it So he prays who remains Thine in our common Saviour JOHN RAMSEY SYLLABVS CONCIONVM OR A List of the Texts and Titles 1. THe Growth of Tares Matth. 13.30 Let both grow together until the Harvest 2. Lapis Lydius Or the Trial of Spirits 1 Joh. 4.1 Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God Because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 3. Agrippa Or the Semi-Christian Acts 26.28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian 4. The Inner-Temple 1 Cor. 3.17 For the Temple of God is Holy which ye are 5. St. Paul's Tacticks 1 Thess 5.14 Now we beseech you brethren Warn them that are unruly or disorderly 6. The Politick Reformation Isa 1.26 And I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Councellors as at the beginning 7. The Usurpation of the Priesthood Or the scourge of Sacriledge Numb
are spirits in their function and office Believe not every spirit that are assigned and deputed to a spiritual service and imployment Thus a Prophet and a spiritual man are Synonymous and signifie one and the same thing The Prophet is a fool the spiritual man is mad Hosea 9.7 If any man thinks himself a Prophet or spiritual 1 Cor. 14.37 In both which places a Prophet and a spiritual man are linked together and go hand in hand And in this sense is the word here used in the Text and the name of spirit is taken by way of Metonymy for such an one as boasts and brags of the gift of the spirit for the discharge of a Prophets duty (b) Calv. in Lecum Nomen spiritus Metonymice accipitur pro eo qui spiritus done se praeditum esse jacrat ad obeundum Prophetae munus as Calvin well observes upon the place And if we take a full view of the Text we shall then find that they who are termed Spirits in the beginning and the middle are styled false prophets in the latter end of the Verse so that these spirits are no other then false prophets And herein we may take notice of a concession and a caution of the Apostle 1. A Concession A concession in that he grants them the honour of their name the dignity of their high place and calling the excellency of their parts and gifts All which are but airy and empty vanities huskes without grain shels without kernels unless they be stufft with realities and substance of inward holiness Nomine illuditur cui res nomini subjecta negatur saith Tortullian An honourable name and a glorious calling is but a goodly mockery where the truth of the name is wanting This is St. John's concession in that he gives them their due style and title Tertul. adv Marcion lib. 1. and freely affords them the name of spirits yet believe them not this is his caution or admonition 2. A Caution But is it not the great and weighty work of the Spirit of God to perswade men unto faith Doth he not use all possible arguments and inducements to incline and move the assent of the will to believe And would St. John have us to be Infidels Believe not What must we meer Scepticks and Academicks in religion and hold nothing positively and dogmatically as an established and grounded certainty what must we be such neuters in the Church as the Roman Orator in the commonwealth when he thus proclamed his indifferency Quem fugiam scio quem sequar nescio Must we know what to deny and not know what to believe This is the unstable state of many too many great Clerks and Scholars who having run out their lives in the study of Controversies and School-divinity in canvasing of doubts and questions and in (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 21. in laudem â—â—banas fighting with those School-weapons pro and con they are far better at the con then at the pro. and as Hierom speaks of Lactautius d Vtinam tam nostra confirmare potuisset quam facile aliena destruit So are they more able to confute others then to resolve or satisfie their own consciences This is not the scope and purpose of St. John's caution 〈…〉 onely to interdict a double fault or errour â— Inconsideration â— Inconstancy of judgement 1. Lightness and giddiness 2. Vnsteadiness and fickleness of belief 1. The first error St. John prohibits is inconsideration of judgement lightness and giddiness of belief Try all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thess 5.21 To try all things is a point of spiritual wisedom and discretion To hold fast that which is good Vtinam tam facile vera invenire possem quam falsa convincere is the property of Christian constancy and perseverance And it is St. Paul's method and order first to try and then to trust whereas such is the preposterous course of many that they begin at the wrong end of St. Paul's precept whosuddenly take up an hold-fast opinion without any previous tryal or examination It was a notable piece of folly of them in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenag de Resurcarnis I have bought a Farm and I must needs go out and see it I have bought five yoak of Oxen and I go to prove them Luke 14.18 19. who by the rule of ordinary prudence should first have seen and proved ere they had concluded and struck up the bargain Such is the spiritual folly of the greater part who lay out their judgement as they suppose in buying the truth A double errour interdicted in the Caâ—tion and then make search and enquiry after it 1. Inconsideration or giddiness of belief But as it was the high commendation of the Heathen Emperor August in observing the rules of friendship Rarus ad meundas amicitias ad retinendas constantissimus that he was hardly drawn to enter the league of friendship but was most punctual and constant in the keeping of it Such should be the praise of an advised and wary Christian to be slow-paced in assent to those doctrines that are propounded but being once convinced of the truth he should not be more slow then sure and every way stedfast and immovable in their maintenance and just defence 2. A Second errour that Saint John forbids in these words believe not every spirit Inconstancy unsetledness is inconstancy of judgement unsteadinesse and ficklenesse of belief when men are meer whirlegigs in religion like unto Fanes and Weathercocks that are fastned to the tops and pinacles of the Temple and carried about with every wind That is St. Paul's metaphor Ephes 4.14 wavering and carried about with every wind of doctrine when men are now off and then on in their opinion now of this mind and forth with of another flust believing this spirit and soon after another And so ever spirit successively and in their turns Like unto the old Arrians who changed their faith every year and month (e) Eo processum est ut neque penes nos neque penes quenquam ante nos sanctum exinde aliquid atque invi labile perseveret Hil. cont Auxent Annuas menstruas de Deo fides decorn it is as St. Hilary tells them they took up a new faith every now your and every new Moon brought forth a new faith Their faith sometimes in the bull some 〈◊〉 in the Wane one while increasing another decreating and like the Moon in perpetual changes I cannot betten resemble these men thâ—â— to the Halcyon or Kings Fisher a Bird call'd by that name whose dead body being hung up in the house it flickers and moves to and fro and turns with the wind into every quarter Such Kings Fishers are there too too many in religion who are wheeled and hurried with every wind The wind of Soveraighty and Authority the wind of Honour and Presferment The wind
Spirit of God thus present is an Excellency without match or parallel A Praeludium of the joyes of Heaven and a fore-taste of future Happiness Like to that White Stone with a new Name engraven which to man knoweth but he that receiveth it Revel 2.17 And as it is observed of the City of Venice that none can imagine the surpassing beauty of the place but the native Citizens and Inhabitants no more can they conceive the ineffable happiness and comfort of a Christian in this respect who have not sensibly found it by experience nor shall a stranger meddle with it This is one of that (q) 1 Deus Homo 2. Mater Virgo 3. Fides cor Humanum Bernard in Vigil Nativit triple Union and Conjunction all which are singulariter mirabilia mirabiliter singularia Singularly wonderful and wonderfully singular in the judgement of Saint Bernard 1. God become Man 2. A Virgin and yet a Mother 3. Faith and Mans Heart incorporated into each other And it is not the least of the the three that the spirit of man should be as it were espoused and married to the Spirit of God That our blessed Saviour the High Priest of our profession should dwell in the Soul as in his Temple Such honour have all his Saints Secondly We may collect and gather the relative dignity of the Church in reference to the material Temple Relatively in reference to the material For Respublica non est in parietibus As he sometime spake Nor doth the Church consist in the outward frame and walls of the Temple And as great a difference there is betwixt the Church and the Church in point of excellency as betwixt senseless and living stones A Mason and a Minister the Mason builds the one but the Minister of God as a wise master builder is the Architect of the other Let there be granted to the material Temple that it is a consecrate place Holy ground yea the Beauty of holiness as the Psalmist calls it and a Sanctuary yet if that be the sanctuary which was the middle part of the temple the Church the saints are the Sanctum sanctorum the more inward part most holy of all other And if we herewith compare Solomons temple which was the perfection of beauty and the glory of the whole world wherat the Divel pointed as some conjecture in that temptation And he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them Mat. 4.8 that is the Temple of Jerusalem yet shall we find verified of the place which our Saviour affirms of the person A greater then Solomons Temple is here in my text And in all the royalty it was not cleathed like unto one of these living Temples For as it was not the Gold that sanctified the Temple under the Law but the Temple that sanctified the Gold so we read in the Gospel no more is it the outward pomp and bravery of the place that sanctifies the person but the inward sanctity of the person that sanctifies the comely beauty and decent apparrel of the place And as Cornelia the Mother of the Roman Gracchi spake of her children so may our Mother Church of her natural children in the faith Hi sunt ornamenta mea These are my chiefest ornaments As for their rich attire and costly furniture I mean in the extremity excess they were in a manner peculiar to the infancy of the Jewish Church being trained up under the Paedagogie and beggerly Rudiments of the ceremonial law which nevertheless were then made authentical by Gods ordinance both strict and punctual in their behalf and were typical in part Or else the blind devotion of succeding declining age cast them into the Churches Treasury with a liberal hand in the time of the Gospel and that in the palpable darkness of Popish ignorance and prevailing superstition Which escaped not the prudent observation and grave reproofe of some of their own party Witnesse that speech of (r) Calicibus contenta ligneis sacerdotibus ecclesia fruebatur aureis Walafrid Strab. de reb ecclesiae pag. 2â— Boniface Archbishop of Mentz That in the Golden age of the Church there were Wooden Chalices and Golden Priests but Golden Chalices were afterward transubstantiated into wooden Priests and empty sconces were graced with pretious mytres So that it formerly passed for a proverbial form in Bavaria and other parts of Germany (Å¿) Gum templa obsoura erant lucida corda tum lueida templa obscura corda Aventin dark Temples were enlightned with bright and cleer â—â—uning Hearts and light Temples were obscured with dark hearts I speak not this to derogate in the least measure either from the right ornament or due respect of Churches Which I shall alwaies esteem and magnifie as Jacob did his Bethel Gen. 28.17 Quam reverendus est hic locus How fearful is this place this is no other then the house of God this is the gates of Heaven Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sweetly St. Chrysostom So that heaven and the Temple seem to interchange names and are put promiscuously for each other Psal 11. â— The Lord is in his Holy Temple the Lords throne is in heaven And certainly this is one of the Epidemical diseases of the Nation Malum quod semper vit abitur et somper retinebitur Yea the opprobry and shame of our Religion that Temples are now ruinated and laid wast in many places and nor one stone left upon another or else they are converted into Barnes and Stables and the lay Patron like a greedy Harpy having seiz'd the tiths to his own use swallowed up Gods demaines and portion He contrives transformes the Church into a Barn as the fittest place An holy place for holy things to harbour and receive them Questionless these men are not eaten up with the zeal of Gods House as David was but rather cat it up as if the stones of the Temple at the request of the Divel were turned into bread These men I say are not of Davids stamp and strain yet they pray in Davids form Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord de praeterite for the time past And that I will seek after de futuro for Time to come And what is that not to behold the beauty of the Lord and to vifit his Temple with David But to dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of their life To dwell in a literal sence and to leave it as a Farm or manner House to their posterity This puts the difference betwixt the primitive devotion of our forefathers and the unheard of sacriledge of this latter age (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 1 Cor. 14. Hom. 36. the time was when houses were dedicated into Churches but now churches are prophaned into houses yea worse then houses which was the just complaint of St. Chrysostome Now are they made Dove-coats and cages of unclean birds And as
the Laity ye are the Temple and house of God and holiness becomes thy house for ever ye are Saints by calling 1 Cor. 1.2 Be not so by calling only your bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 Defile not these Temples with uncleanness or drunkenness neither carouse nor quaff in these vessels of your bodies as Belshazzar sometimes did in the consecrated vessels of the Temple Preserve ever more in these Temples the laver of Repentance for the washing away of sin The Altar of burnt offering for the mortifying and sacrificing of it kindled with the heavenly fire of fervent zeal and devout love The Altar of incense for the sending up and breathing forth the sweet perfume of your dayly Prayers with the candle of faith always burning and giving light in the Sanctuary That so the holy Spirit of God may be pleased to dwell in us as in his Temple upon earth and we hereafter dwell with him in the new Hierusalem where there is no Temple Rev. 21.22 But the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it To which Lord God Almighty be Glory and Honour Adoration and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen St. PAVL'S TACKTICKS A SERMON Preached at Fakenham in Norfolk at a Visitation For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly 2 Thess 3.11 LONDON Printed by T. C. for Will. Rands at Fleet-bridge 1659. St. PAULS TACTICKS 1 THESS 5.14 Now we beseech you Brethren warn them that are unruly TO encounter the common abuses and general corruptions of the time by a seasonable reprehension The Preface cannot but be acknowledged a work as profitable as necessary yet will it hardly find any other then hard and harsh entertainment with the most blinded either out of ignorance or self love Neither is there any undertaking more subject to censure then censure and just reproof there is no man almost but affects a liberty of life and action but how few that dislike and disdain not utterly the liberty of speech in others though it be to controul and countermand their licontiousness We are all wise and liberal to afford and deal out (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripides admonition yet as he characters out his young man monitoribus asper we are withal so squeazy stomackt that we cannot digest rebuke though never so well tempered and seasoned with the salt of discretion without murmuring and complaint and if but taxed in the mildest manner we are forthwith in the gall of bitterness The delicious and darling sins of many might they have their desire should be as the forbidden tree and as the flaming Mount which none may touch nor draw near unto no not Moses himself and as God forbad the people concerning his Prophets Touch not mine anointed do my Prophets no harm So do they forewarn even the Prophets in effect not once to Touch their beloved sins nor harm their iniquity Onely in this they must be merciful as Naaman requested Elisha and be as men in whose mouth are no reproofs A strong presumption and more then probable conjecture that a Text of this stamp or strain that carries rebuke in the forehead of it and levels point blank at scandals and offences that such a Text as this I say treating of admonition and disorder will scarce comply with the misguided affections of some partial hearers or seem appliable to the occasion in their too shallow apprehensions How proper and pertinent is the choice I list not I need not to exemplifie as the Blind mans parents spake of their Son Joh. 9.23 so may I affirm of the Text Aetatem habet it is of Age ask it and let it answer for it self Sure I am if any except and quarrel with the matter and so Kick against the Pricks they are those unruly mates here pointed at in my Text and such must be admonished and if there seem overmuch rigour and severity in the Apostolical injunction observe a little how he qualifies and candies over the tartness of his advice with the (b) Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. sweetness of obsecration Wee beseech you brethren this is St. Pauls condescension and meekness of spirit who though he might command that which is convenient and not be bold with them yet for loves sake he doth rather intreat as he speaks to Philemon And for mine own part I thought it most sutable and agreeable to the insufficiency of the speaker to stir you up by putting you in remembrance as St. Peter hath it Endeavoring rather to add some hear and fervency to your affections by the earnestness of admonition then any way to inlighten and clear your judgments by precepts of instruction For who knowes not that hardy souldiers and stiffe wrestlers (c) Athletae etenim suis incitatoribus fortiores sunt et tamen monet debilior ut pugnet isle qui fortior est Hieron ad Julianum to borrow St. Hierom comparison are far more stout and resolute then such as animate and encourage them and yet ofttimes the weaker abilities quicken the spirit of prowess and valour in the stronger combatants by their hortatives and perswasion I will use no other Apology for pitching upon this argument then the argument of the Text for the discharge and exercise of the duty Wee beseech you brethren suffer then the words of exhortation as the Apostle elsewhere inferrs upon the same premisses and think not ye suffer when ye hear them The Text will not bear any accurate division as every piece of timber is not fit matter for (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. 1. cap. 1. The division of the Text. curious workmanship and it were but a trifling vanity to attempt it The words of their own accord spread themselves into these two Branches 1. An attestation to the misdemeanors of some particular persons in the Church of Thessalonica That were unrulie 2. An obtestation for the redress of the malady by the application of the remedy We beseech you Brethren 1. An Excitation 2. An Exhortation 1. The Motive 2. The Matter Wherein there are three remarkable specialties 1. The Act or duty injoyned Admonish 2. The subject or the parties whom it concerns The Brethren 3. The object of the Act and that is The disordered or unruly This General Assembly whose proper end agreeable to the first institution is to rectifie and reform abuses might furnish any reasonable Logician were he not a meer Lay Preacher at least with a competency of Art for the resolution of the Text. First To take notice of the delinquents or offenders such as are here termed unruly Secondly The censure or sentence pronounced by Saint Paul upon these offenders who must be Admonished Thirdly The Censors or persons nominated to whom the cognizance of the cause is committed not by vertue of any special office and obligation but out of a more general respect and interest in the common state of
the Clergy Admonish them that are unruly Thirdly The Ecclesiastical Judge must admonish likewise and so strengthen the hands of the minister Thirdly the Ecclesiastical Judge which are oft times weak and feeble for want of assistance as Aaron and Hur supported those of Moses by the sinewes of his authority And would he have his censures like goads and nails fastned he must begin In proprio Lare in his own court and consistory So David resolves and vows Psal 101.3 8. I will walk in the uprightness of mine heart in the midst of my house in the first place and what follows in the next Betimes will I destroy all the wicked out of the land And 't is our Saviours counsel to the critical and censorious Hypocrite Matth. 7.5 Primum ejice trabem ex oculo tuo then shalt thou see clearly the mote that is in thy brothers eye St. Paul expostulates with the outside Jew not without admiration Rom. 2.21 22. Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that saist a man should not commit adultery yea and punisheth it in another dost thou commit adultery And there is none of us to learn what that means Turpe est Doctori cum culpa redurguat ipsum The Snuffers of the Temple were made of the purest Gold so they who are by their place appointed to correct the corrupt manners of a sinful generation had need be among men as Gold among Metals the chiefest for weight and worth These mystical snuffers if soul within will hardly by snuffing others make their own light shine the brighter If any demand with John Baptists Hearers And what shall we doe I will return no other advise then is by him afforded to the souldiers Luke 3.14 Do violence to no man accuse no man falsly be content with our wages Admonish indifferently and impartially without respect of persons not trucking and bartering with the sins of men after the manner of Merchants and to speak in your own language not commuting a penance into a payment which if I be not deceived is no part of commutative justice Admonish conscientiously and in singleness of heart out of a fervent zeal of God's glory the Churches reformation the faithful discharge of your private interest and not for filthy lucre sake Let it never be said of this Court which was commonly voiced of the Court of Rome Plus nituntur pecunias colligere quam culpas corrigere That they endeavoured rather to collect the peoples monies then any way to correct their manners And I beseech you Brethren of this Court and place Admonish them that are unruly Fourthly The Town-officer be he Questman or Churchwarden Fourthly The Town-officer they also must admonish by way of Certificate and Presentment For as the Eunuch complained to Philip in another case How can I understand without an Interpreter Acts 8.31 so may the Ecclesiastical Judge in this How can I admonish without a Monitor and Informer Inform then they must and not give in a blank verdict or return an Omnia bene like unto that Athenian Traveller whereof Plutarch mentioneth who being asked at his coming home how matters were at Athens forthwith passed this smooth and ready answer to the question Omnia pulchra All there was well and good Ironically insinuating Omnia pulchra putari Nihil turpe That all things were there accounted good and nothing wicked or dishonest You cannot be ignorant of the Rights of your Office the strictness of your Oath the enormity of the sins committed in your several parishes yea may not most of you give in evidence out of your own experience and affirm as David did I have seen cruelty and strife in the City I have seen secure sleeping in the Church bruitish drunkenness in an Alehouse and do you hold your peace Do you know them your selves and not cause the Authors likewise to know their abominations Lay your hands upon the heads of these beasts as the offenders did under the Law cast the first stone at these malefactours not to kill them but to give them life what though you cannot reform and rectifie disorders as the Emperour spake of Galbaes crooked back Ego monere possum corrigere non possum yet may you certifie and admonish nor shall your labour be in vain in the Lord I will only give you your charge in St. Paul 's words inverted Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are sinful whatsoever things are dishonest and profane offensive to God scandalous to his Church If there be any vice or wickedness think on these things And I beseech you Brethren Churchwardens with the rest of Town-officers Admonish them that are unruly 2. Thus am I fallen at length upon the second General and last part of the Text The second part of the Text. The motive we beseech St Paul's Motive or Excitation to the duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We beseech you Where we might take notice of these two Particulars 1. St. Paul's Earnestness 2. St. Paul's Gentleness 1. He doth not barely exhort them in a soft and easie strain after a calm and cool manner but earnestly beseeches them with veheniency and importunity 2. Nor doth he express himself by way of command Sic volo sic jubeo Fiat Fiat which is the formal tenour of the Popes Edicts though Pope Zachary somewhat mistook the style and changed it into a Fiatur For knowing that man is a reasonable creature that must rather be led then drawn and that Faith is to be perswaded and not enforced Saint Paul beseeches them with meekness of spirit and tendernesse of Affection 1. Some there are as soft and smooth in their instruction as Jacob in his Body The words of their mouth are softer then butter and as sweet as soft saying Peace peace where there is no peace I hope better things of you and such as accompany salvation Then which what more ordinary though indeed unless they hope as Abraham did above hope there can be no hope at all These come not in the spirit and power of Elias with John the Baptist They want the spirit of Phineas which had need be prayed for in the words of Ambrose (r) Veni Phinees Ambros Serm. 18. in 118. Psal Come Phinees take the sword of the Spirit smite Heresie strike idolatry cut the iron sinew of contempt and obstinacy wound the hairy scalp of such as go on in their wickedness 2. Others there are all rough and rugged like Esau men of a sierce and fiery temper and know not of what spirit they are made as Christ told his Disciples All their Sermons like the Element of Fire are Excessus fervoris the extremity and excess of heat And the pulpit while they are in it proves like Mount Sinai at the giving of the law all in a flaming fire sending forth only the terrible thunders lightnings of the Law and nothing is to be heard from thence but the shrill sound of judgement and of damnation As therefore
her losses her greatest gains Charity is kind 1 Cor. 13.4 not to those only that are nearly related and allied but even unto strangers and professed enemies like unto a sparkling fire which heats and warms the by-standers and the flames likewise reach unto those of remote distance And being a common good it is so much the more excellent There is the same difference betwixt Faith and Charity that is betwixt the Root and Branches Faith is as the root of the tree that attracts and sucks in the juyce of the earth to conserve and preserve the life of it But charity is as the boughs and branches down laden with plenty of ripe fruit which stretch out and as it were spread forth their arms to as many as are willing to take the pains to pluck and gather them Secondly Charity is greatest in the longitude and length of it Secondly in the longitude and length of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.8 charity never faileth neither in this life nor in that which is to come It is but a Popish gloss of Caietan upon the place Take heed when you read these words that you fall not into that error (d) Charitatem semel habitam nunquam amitti Charitas quantum est exparte temporis nescit casum Caiet in locum That charity once bad cannot be lost And yet that which he adds is sound and Orthodox wherewith he strangles and cuts the throat of what he had formerly laid down for a sure conclusion charity knows no loss nor end in respect of time For whereas Faith and Hope shall determine and expire in another world Faith being turned into a Vision the beatifical vision of God and Hope into Fruition yet both Faith and Hope shall be swallowed up of Love which then shall be consummate and made perfect (e) Appetitus inhiantis erit amor fruentis August The thirsting desire of the soul after happiness shall be then exchanged with the full fruition and perfect enjoyment of Love through all eternity And hence it was that Henry Nicolas the Founder of the Family of Love was wont in a most prodigious and blasphemous manner to boast among his seduced Sectaries (f) Se nimirum Mosi Christo praepenendum eo quod Moses spem docuisset Christus fidem ipse vero cbaritatem utraque majorem Jo. Laetus Camp Hist universal pag. 583. Calvin in Locum That he was every way to be preferred before Moses and Christ upon this ground and reason That Moses taught the people of Israel the grace of Hope Christ the grace of Faith but he the grace of Love which is greater then both And so pronounced by the definitive sentence of the Apostle Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Nor doth this any way allow or priviledge the corrupt gloss of the Papists that if charity be the greater grace it must needs have the greater hand and stroke and proves more availsome then faith it self in point of justification A strained and forced inference an inconsequential and unconcluding argument and it is all one as Calvin well observed as if they should reason in this manner Therefore the King must till the ground more knowingly then the Husbandman and make a neater shooe then the Shoemaker as being far above both therefore a man must ran swifter then a Horse or Dromedary and bear an heavier weight and burden then an Elephant because he surpasses them in worth and dignity therefore the glorious Angels must afford a better and brighter light unto the earth then either Sun or Moon as being creatures of greater excellency For the force and efficacy of justifying Faith is not to be measured by any intrinsick and inherent quality in the nature but by the proper place and office of Faith whereunto it is designed wherein it hath no coparcener nor corrival In this respect Faith hath the preheminence even as Charity is the greater in the forementioned partiâ—ulars the Bredth the Length the Extent and Continuance This is the reason why the spirit of God every where inculcates and inforces the duty with a reiterated and a zealous vehemency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things put on charity which is the bond of perfection Colossians 3. verse 14. Therein resembling it to an outward garment that is put over and covers the other apparrel that is larger and wider that is more comely and costly then the rest and serves to distinguish the several Orders and Ranks of men according to their different capacities and conditions Such a spiritual garment is charity to the soul a proper badge and cognizance of a Christian the livery of Christs Disciples By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Ioh. 13.35 And it is not without cause that the Apostle stiles it the bond of perfectnesse it being of the same use unto other vertues that the bond is unto the faggot that holdeth the sticks together and keeps them from severing and falling from each other and to the Church of God in common which is the mystical body of Christ it is in the place of the nerves and sinnewes in the body natural which connect and joyn the several members and make them mutually helpful and serviceable to each other this is St. Pauls commendation Above all things put on Charity And that leads me to the second speciality that was promised the extent of the duty in reference to the object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let all your things be done with Charity Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt Mar. 9.49 such a salt is Christian charity which must season every sacrifice and so make it well pleasing and acceptable unto God The second speciality The extent of the Duty all your things and beneficial and profitable unto men charity is a spiritual leaven which affords tast and savour to the whole mass of dough that it may prove toothsome to the palat and wholesome and nourishable to the body Charity is the soul of religion and like to the soul in the body it is Tota in toto tota in quelibet parte and is well translated by the Apostle in the words of the Text Let all your things be done with charity And would you know the comprehension of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and now far the All things extend and reach you may have them explicated and inlarged in a foursold consideration 1. In our diligent enquiries and researches after truth These all things inlarged in a fourfold consideration 2. In passing judgment and censures upon others 3. In the exercise or forbearance of our Christian liberty 4. In all our affaires and business the whole series and course of our conversation First Charity must take place in our diligent inquiries and researches after truth First In our diligent inquiries and researches after truth and moderate in all our disputations
serves Dominr Calvinus Epist Bullingero pag. 383. though Luther should call me foul fiend and Divel yet would I most willingly acknowledge him as a famous instrument of God's glory Fourthly We must keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace the bond of perfectness The Fourth Rule To keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace without breaking this bond asunder And in case of breach there cannot be a more honourable work then to be called A repairer of the breach Isa 58.12 to close the rents and ruptures of the Church of God and to bind up her wounds with the good Samaritan Shall I provoke you to emulation with the example of the Primitive Christians of the first and best Age of the Church I might put you in mind of the memorable behaviour of Irenaeus in compounding the difference betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches about the precise Time of the celebration of Easter who therein shewed himself a true Irenaeus And as he was (r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb lib. 5. c. 23. pag. 70. peaceable in his name so was he a peacemaker in his Disposition as Eusebâ—us speaks oâ— him I might tell you of great Saint Basil and Gregory Nazianzen who were as it were miraculously raised up in the Church of God being then miserably rent and torn asunder with strange Divisions (Å¿) Nazianz. vita pag. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like unto Runnels that is poured into Milk that makes it curdle and unites the dispersed and scattered parts together And let me add hereunto that Elogium of Calvin (t) Non aliter in â—cclesias quantumvis remotas affectus quam si illas humeris gestaret Beza in vita Calvin That he had no lesse tenderness no less feeling even of remote Churches then if he had born them on his own shoulders And it was a noble Resolution of his Ne decem quidom maria That it would not grieve him to sail over ten Seas to settle an uniform draught of Religion in the Church of God Seeing therefore we are compassed about with so great a cloud of Witnesses let us follow the direction and guidance of it as the people of Israel did the motion of the pillar of the cloud in the Wilderness and walk in the light of their Example Learn we from so many goodly patterns and presidents not to make the like use of dissensions and distractions in Religion that the superstitious Pharisees did of their Apparrel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who made broad their Phylacteries and enlarged the borders of their garments Matth. 23.5 But let us rather shorten and lessen them let us bring them into as straight and a narrow compass as may be and as much as lies in us utterly out them off by an unfeigned and zealous endeavour after peace and unity Secondly Charity must interpose in passing judgement and censures upon others In passing judgement censures upon others This must not be a precipitate a headlong a rash and unjust judgement Judge not after the appearance but judge righteous judgement John 7.24 where appearance and righteous are contra-distinguished to each other And then may men be said to judge according to appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is when they judge after the sight of the eyes which Christ himself did not lsu 11.3 Looking onely upon the face and outside as Samuel did upon Eliabs countenance and the height of his stature without prying and piercing into the hidden cause and the inward truth of the matter And herein we must observe a difference in the judgement of things and persons as is well noted by Aquinas the honour of the Schools (u) In rerum judicio debet aliquis niti ad hoc ut interpretetur unumquedque secundum quod est In judicio antâ— personarum us interpretetur in melius Aquin. 2da 2da quest 60. Artic. 4. In the judgement of things we must be exact and accurate and cut a hair if it were possible by interpreting them as they are in themselves without any addition or substraction But in the judgement of persons there is a greater latitude and liberty allowed in rendring them to the better by commenting upon the Text with a fair gloss and setting it off with a favourable Interpretation That man who makes another worse then he is makes himself worse then be And in matters of Fact of an evil colour or consequence it is a point of charity to apprehend or suppose them not done at the first For charity as it believeth all things so it hopoth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 and evermore presumes the best where there is not pregnant and proving Evidence to the contrary and favours the suspected or accused party in cases of an ambignous or doubtful nature that they are done out of weakness not wilfulness a common passion of humane frailty not any deliberate resolution or propensed malice and not so much out of any propending affection and inclination to the sin in their own persons as the importunate sollicitation and instigation of others and a prevailing power of a sudden and strong Temptation And howsoever we may spend our judgement upon wieked and ungodly men according to their present state and condition and deal plainly and roundly with them in an Apostolical manner Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die If ye live and die in your sins ye must needs die for your sins yet we must not desinitively pronounce any peremptory and damnatory sentence touching their final and last estate For who art thou that judgest another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth Rom. 14.4 This is an Abortive kind of judgement that comes before the time and is justly disswaded by the Apostle 1 Cor. 4 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come And for men who were never empannell ' dâ—by God as his Jury to come in as a Quest of Life and Death and to give in a Verdict of Reprobates and Castawaies (x) Tertullia Apolog. cap. 19. de Excemmun Summum futuri judicii praejudicium est A strange kind of Prolepsis and no lesse uncharitable then presumptuous preoccupation of the latter Judgement Thirdly Our Charity must express it self in the exercise or forbearance of our Christian liberty In the exercise or for hearance of our Christian Liberty It is Saint Paul's advice 1 Cor. 8.9 Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak All manner of offence and scandal that is given though not taken be it in things morally evil or an indifferent and middle rank is either in the nature of the thing or the intention of the Doer a spiritual stumbling block laid in the way of ignorant or doubting Christians that hinders their going forward in the way of holiness as the dead Body of Amasa stopt the mareh of Joab's Army Or else it proves an