be extinguished Now Death of its own nature being eternal there being naturally no return from the privation to the habit therein must man have been detain'd for ever if our merciful God had not found out an expedient to deliver us from it which is by his Son Jesus whom Acts 2. 36. he hath made both Lord and Christ and hath exalted to be a Prince and a Acts. 5. 31. Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins and by consequence deliverance from death This being that very thing which St. Paul saith The Law of the Spirit of Life hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Which words are a reason or rather a clearer explication of what he had said before viz. That there is no condemnation to them who in Christ Jesus that is by Christ Jesus walk not after the flesh but walk after the Spirit i. e. who for the most part do not in their actions follow the duct and guidance of their sinful appetites but walk according to that Gospel which the Spirit hath consigned to us or that Vertuous habit of mind which that Spirit hath ingenerated in us there is no condemnation to such This Law of the spirit of life i. e. of the quickning Spirit having delivered us from the Law of sin Paraphrase of the words and death That Spirit which our Lord is about to give which leads to Eternal life hath made me i. e. every Christian free first from all customary and habitual sins then from eternal death which necessarily follows all sinful habits and customs By sins St. Paul understands consulted Strom. 2. p. 387. and deliberated sins So Clemens after a long discourse to that purpose concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only are matters So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in St. John 3. 6 10. which God will damn When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ had triumphed over Death and the Grave had ascended on high and was vested with all power in heaven and earth then he gave gifts unto men but no donative did so excel as that effusion of the Spirit in the day of Pentecost the chief and last effects and events whereof were the deliverance of all Believers from the double tyranny of sin and death Hath made me free from the Law of sin and death In the words then we have a deliverance from Sin the cause of Death Death the fruit and consequent of Sin There is a victory over and a deliverance from all habitual customary consulted and deliberate sins to be obtained in this life which is that true Evangelical righteousness which gives us at present a title to and hereafter will actually invest us with a blessed Immortality For our more distinct perception of which notion we may consider that Real Evangelical Righteousness admits of various degrees 1. The first and lowest whereof is of them who for the most part yield obedience to the Precepts of Christ and abstain from sin but yet not without grievous conflicts and great difficulties because that although the Spirit be superiour to the flesh yet the carnal part is not altogether subdued nor a habit of Vertue taken in a more perfect acceptation entirely acquired for which cause their lapses are frequent either for that the Appetite is assisted too strongly from external incitement or too often surprised by error or incogitancy 2. The second degree is of them who have acquired a perfect habit of Righteousness and have so subdued the flesh that they find either none at all or very little difficulty in acting in the ways of God thence consequently are more steady and uniform in the waies of Vertue and holiness and such was St. Paul as may be gathered from divers passages of his writings and others such like there may be as appears both from the sacred Book and also from Experience it self which will yet be more manifest if we shall demonstrate as by and by we shall That there remains possible an higher degree of holiness than that we have yet spoken of although there needs no farther proof than those plain words of our Lord My yoke is easie and my burthen is light i. e. to all them who are supported with a firm hope of a life after death and a blessed immortality And those words of St. John This is the love of God i. e. Metonymically the manifestation of our love towards God that we keep his commandements and his commandements are not grievous These overcome the World and that too by their Faith which inspires strength into them And he that overcomes i. e. all such things as the World objects to him to affright and call him off from righteousness sive prospera sive aspera whether smiles or frowns to him it is easie to keep the commands of God to him I say that yoke is easie that burthen is light The third degree and that the highest is of such who being most cheerfully incumbent on the study of Vertue have proceeded so far as that for some competent space of time they sin not at all against any Precept of Christ To this degree ought all Christians who are going heaven-wards always to aspire which state St. Paul seems mystically to call the Resurrection from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. the dead and was the mark whereto he pressed Not that I have already attained neither am already perfect This then is the third degree whereunto if Christians do not attain 't is simply necessary they should reach the second or the first 'T is praise worthy in Priâ—ra sequentem hoâ—stum est in secâ—nd is out tertiâ—s consistere Tully him that endeavours to excell to be found in the second or the third degree of Vertue Yet all who would find mercy in the day of Christ must endeavour to attain this highest degree For all acknowledge 't is never permitted to a Christian to sin consultatively for that is to sin malitiously Now unless a man shall labour to shun every sinful act which is to aspire to this supreme degree of Piety he sins consultatively i. e. malitiously which no Christian will defend Sin becomes exceeding sinful exceeding heavy with its own weight if done malitiously or with deliberation And God sometimes remits greater sins if fallen into through frailty or ignorance sooner than lesser sins malitiously committed Again that great study diligence vigilance and labour so exactly required of us in all our Christian Conversation points us out our Mark and Scope which is to eschew every sin and so to aspire to this highest degree of Piety Are we not every where all up and down the sacred Books called upon to imitate God and Christ to be holy as God is holy to be perfect as our Father is perfect to walk in the light as God is in the light to walk as Christ walked and to follow him He that observes these Precepts doth no
that is in them because of the hardness of their hearts who being past feeling have given themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness 2. The other is of them who indulge their Lust with little or no conflict but have contracted a perfect habit of one or more vices in reference to which they have extinguished all sense of Conscience though in other instances not all out so wicked 3. A third is of such who for the most part do the things that are evil and are overcome of the flesh but not without strivings of Appetite and Reason alive at once to the Law and Sin the conviction of the one and the power and love of the other both these strugling together within the bowels of the Soul checking and comptrolling one another This is the man St. Paul describes by a Metaschematismus under his own person in that famous Paragraph to the Romans of which I will give a succinct but evident demonstration Rom. 7. 1 In this man sin wrought all manner of concupiscence v. 8. 1 The regenerat man has crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5. 24. 2 Sin revived in him deceiv'd him slew him v. 9 10 11. 2 He is dead to sin the body of sin is destroy'd he serves not sin sin reigns not nor does he obey it Rom. 6. 2 12 14. 3. He was carnal v. 14. 3 Is not in the flesh Rom. 8. 8 9. 4 Sold under sin v. 14. 4 Is free from sin Rom. 6. 18 22. 5 The good he would he did not but the evil which he would not that he did v. 19. 5 Walks not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1 4. 6. Was taken captive to the Law of sin v. 23. 6. Is freed from the Law of sin Rom. 8. 2. 7 Detain'd by the body of death from which the poor wretch desir'd to be deliver'd v. 24. 7 Is freed from the law of death Rom. 8. 2. Where you have seven Characters of each as contrary to one another as light to darkness to know better and to do worse is so far from alleviating the evil that 't is the greatest aggravation of it 'T is the most bruitish unreasonable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wretched condition for a man that knows what is best to be led by incontinency and effeminacy from it And therefore saith the Philosopher that we ought not only to think right and to be affected accordingly But to conform our works to our right opinions He that sins and accuses himself is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth but begin to learn Symplic 67. and hath not yet come to the knowledg of the truth 2. Another is of them who deceive themselves whilst they expect some other 's inherent Righteousness to be made over so compleatly to them as if they themselves had been really and perfectly righteous and this upon the sole Condition or qualification of meer Faith scrupulously prescinded from all Obedience Now this Hony-comb of Antinomianism is but a branch of old Gnosticism antidoted by St. John Little Children let 1. 3. 7. no man deceive you He that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth And all the promises Christ makes to the Asian Churches are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To him that overcomes And thus am I arriv'd at the other Atchievement of this vivifying Spirit our deliverance from Death the fruit and consequence of Sin The ruin of Death follows that of Sin sicut Varasequitur Vibiam Sin is the sting of death 't is its Scepter the ensign of its soveraignty deprived of that it loseth its antient nature ceaseth to be King of Terrors and differs not from a gentle sleep an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an easie transitus to a blessed immortality 'T is but the dissolution of an old ruinous and cadaverous Building to raise a fair and fresh a stately and magnificent Structure in the place thereof For we know that if our earthly house 2 Cor. 3. of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens i. e. a celestial glorious and a spiritual Body St. Paul doth lively describe the difference between these mortal and those immortal Bodies with which we shall be cloathed in the Resurrection 'T is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption 't is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory 't is sown in weakness it is raised in power 't is sown an animal body 't is raised a spiritual body Where the Apostle compares man in respect of hie body to a fruitful grain of Wheat which is sown in the earth and somewhile after spring up in a more excellent and very different form And that which thou sowest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non gignendum corpus seris is not the body that shall be but bare and naked grain Whence is that body that is to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him and to every seed his own body And all this relishes well to him that knows that the most contrary modifications of matter imaginable do constitute no specifical change according to the last and best Philosophy Nor can he be offended who holds the principle of individuation is the form only and that the matter and suppositum is individuated from it So then our Apostle institutes a fourfold collation of these our bodies with those we shall have hereafter 1. It is sown in Corruption but shall rise in Incorruption i. e. The body which we bring into this World with us is subject and obnoxious to corruption and change here we dwell in houses of Clay Job 4. 19. whose foundation is in the dust and may truly say to corruption Thou art my 17. 14. father and to the Worm thou art my mother and my sister There we shall die no more but be as the Angels the sons of God being the Children of the Resurrection Luk. 20. 36. 2. 'T is sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory when we come into the World we bring bodies some of whose parts and members seem to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncomely and less honourable besides the rugae and maculae the wrinkles spots and blemishes which age sickness and other casualities do imprint upon us But then in the destitution of these deformities our bodies shal be more resplendent than the Sun and brighter than the golden light of Aurora The glories of Mount Tabor were but shades and darkness compar'd to that refulgent light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far exceeding the brightness of the Sun septuplùm saith St. Ephrem wherewith Acts. 26. 13. now our Lord is cloathed and yet shall he change our Vile bodies until he hath made them like his Glorious body 3.
I shall say no more but most vehemently beseech you as you will answer it in the day of Judgment when you shall be proceeded with by that man whom God hath appointed to judg Act. 17. 31. the World according to your works not according to your opinions that your lives and conversations in the World be agreable to your knowledge and that if you know the tenour of the new Covenant you would observe your parts of it that you would give just and but just respects to Truth knowing that the peace of God is more worth than notion knowledge or understanding Eph. 4. 3. And that together with the verity you would consider the necessity of every Proposition it being in the judgement of the learnedst of our Kings together with his excellent Amanuensis and of all Royal and Majestick K. Jaâ—â—â—s Is Casaubon minds not barely the best but the only expedient to preserve the unity of the Spirit i. e. Church which is a spiritual body in the bond of peace That you would seclude neither your selves nor others out of the Communion of the Church but for such causes as you have very full rational assurance will shut them or your selves out of the Kingdom of Heaven Excommunication if the Churches proceedings be clave non errante being summum futuri judicii praejudicium a vehement presumption of succeeding condemnation That in your daily reading of the holy Scriptures whose perfection and perspicuity in all necessary Articles I have been wont to inculcate to you you would carefully collect all the instances of your duty towards God your Neighbour your selves in all your relations to the Civil and Sacred Societies whereof you are constituent parts and that you would acquaint your selves with the arguments and motives with which our Lord and Master Christ together with the blessed Apostles and Evangelists do endeavour to induce you to the observation of them And then remember that not every one who Mat. 7. 21. shall say Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven All Controversies in Religion I would wish you to decline by reason of the great damage which has thereby accrued to Religion through the weak mesnagery and defence of it and to Religionists by leavening their spirits with pride peevishness and passions and so that which was designed by God to serve the noblest ends of man Is by that old deceiver's subtile play Made the chief party in its own decay And meets that Eagles destiny whose breast Felt the same shaft which his own feathers drest As the matchless Orinda sings Consider much the magnificent Commendations and Characters which St. Paul gives to Charity 1 Cor. 13. Let it be conspicuous in all the actions of your lives I shall summ up all I shall now say to you in these 12. Rules of an holy Life laid down by a worthy Dr. Jer. Taylor Prelat 1. Believe all the Articles of that Faith whereinto you were Baptized 2. Worship God constantly with Natural Religion i. e. Prayers Praises and Thanksgiving 3. Take all opportunities to Commemorate the Death of Christ by the participation of his Body and Blood 4. Live Chastely 5. Be Merciful 6. So use the World as that it always give place to Duty 7. Be Just in your Dealings 8. Be Humble in your Spirits 9. Be Obedient to Government 10. Be Content in your Fortunes and Employments 11. Let the Love of God inflame you to your Duty 12. And if you shall be afflicted be Patient and prepared to suffer for the Cause of God These are twelve signs of Grace and the man upon whom they are found is the son of God as surely as he is his Creature And now my Friends let me assure you that it is some trouble to me that the first present I should make you in this manner should be a bundle of Cypress But so our wise God would have it I move you not now to follow her with Crowns and Hymns nor do I understand how nor designe to prepare the incombustible Oil of the Antients with which I might supply a Lamp consacrated to her memory which might burn so long as that found some while since in the Appian 1500 years Pancerol Licetus Mancinus Way in the Sepulchre of Tulliola the Daughter of Cicero But all that I design all that I desire is that that which was prepared for her Herse may adorn your Closets Yea that you would look upon her and learn to live and learn to die In the ensuing Papers you have the Rule of our Religion and you have an Example too Follow her so far as she followed Christ and it is hard to say where she step'd aside where she stay'd behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Orat. 20. So often as you see the Armories of her Parentage or your left Hands remind you of her Funerals Call to mind a great Example of Vertue and Goodness so Illustrious and Conspicuous that there remain'd no doubt but only whether the Universality or Sincerity of her Obedience was the greatest VALE ET SALVE ANIMA O ANNAE FELICISS NOS EO ORDINE QUO NATURA PERMISERIT TE SEQUEMUR S. T. T. L. Rom. 8. 2. For the Law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the Law of sin and death THat Mortality was an original condition of Humane Nature will appear to him who shall consider these seven Observations following 1. That before Adam sinned the procreation of man was designed whereas such as shall partake of the Resurrection of the dead marry not because they do not die 2. That he hungred and was provided of meat whereas Immortality needs neither meats nor the belly God will destroy both it and them 3. That his Body was animal which St. Paul makes all one with vile corruptible and mortal 4. That Christ Jesus who hath taken away sin all its force and punishment hath yet left his dearest Saints liable unto death 5. That the first man was of the earth earthy and we forasmuch as we die and corrupt are said to bear his Image 1 Cor. 15. 6. That God planted a Tree of Life in the Garden which needed not if man had been created not liable unto death 7. That all the causes of natural mortality within us or without us did exist as well before as after Man had sinned Yet notwithstanding sin was the way to actual death and that the wages of it It being usual with God to do that upon occasion which he hath power absolutely to do i. e. to make use of the instances of his Dominion to serve other designs of his Providence which help us to understand that first threatning In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death i. e. Thy strength supported by the tree of life shall begin to languish and fail Thy Oyl at length shall be exhausted and thy Lamp shall
less than aspire to the highest degree of holiness Our imitation of God doth imply our being made like unto him But lest any one should doubt the existence of this ultimate I shall attempt its demonstration 1. We must endeavour after it but no man is obliged to attempt impossible things it would be in vain But to attempt any thing in vain would become neither a wise God to require nor a wise man to endeavour 2. If this degree of holiness cannot be attained then it is necessary that we sin sometimes but it cannot be necessary that we sin for then it would not be sin for all sin is freely committed Hand est nocens quicunqne non sponte est nocens Ciâ—mens If there be necessity in the case it loses the nature of sin 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our misfortune not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliberate acts are punished It cannot demerit punishment nor be justly imputed nor ever did the God of equity impute it to any man But that the lapses of good men were sins and might be imputed to them should God use his right is evident for that they do and ought to ask the pardon of them Now where pardon is asked there the crime is confessed therefore good men might have abstained from the few lapses of their lives and so not have sin'd which was the point to be demonstrated 3. When we daily pray that the will of God might be done in Earth as it is in Heaven what can we infer but that we as the Angels may do his will if our prayers are so ardent and our endeavours so serious as God requires Is that Petition in vain You 'l say no. Then God is as willing as able to effect it in us and our non-attainment doth loudly accuse our prayers or our endeavours or both of languor or remisness For of this we are confident that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us now what can be more agreeable to his will than that we should be holy in our whole conversation as he is holy 4. Without this notion what shall we make of the options of our great Apostle not to single and eximious Saints but to entire Churches The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly The Lord establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God That you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ We cease not to pray that ye may walk worthy of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut omnimodò placeatis Deo i. e. that ye might every way please God being fruitful in every good work The God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight 'T is somewhat too dilute to say here are excluded only habitual sins or such flagitious sins which are as habits the words being pregnant and emphatick nor is there any just cause why we should enervate them by departing from their proper sence and not think rather the Apostle intended by them that which is most perfect in its kind But that which doth not argue the necessity may shew the possibility which was the thing to be demonstrated 5. Shall we say that the holy Spirit and all the other aids of Vertue which God affords us through Christ are so weak and invalid that notwithstanding all our endeavours sin cannot be subdued or extinguished in us is not this to derogate from the Spirit of God and to be injurious to God himself I am yet to seek for a reason why whilst God would have us break the bonds of sin and cast those cords from us to imbrace an entire holiness in this present World and thereunto hath furnished us with divine aids and supernatural strengths he should deny us such measures and degrees of them as to inable us to abstain from all Sin and to embrace an universal Righteousness especially seing St. John resolves the Victory 4. 4. over the instruments of Sathan into the power of God because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world That which some say that God would leave some Canaanites in the land to humble us and to try us some reliquiae and remains of sins lest we should too much pride and please our selves seems too light to preponderate all the precedent discourse For indeed 't is Vanity it self 't is as if God would have us sin lest we should sin or as if whilst God would eradicate all sin he should not once lay the Axe to the root of the first and fowlest in the World And now I would willingly ask any Advocate for the wicked lives of Christians Why it should be thought impossible by the Grace of the Gospel to obtain such a deliverance from Sin Did not God make man upright Are not Christ's Precepts very consentaneous to that Original nature Is not Vertue where there is a parity of custom much more pleasant than Vice Is it not true which Salvian observes that Fidelity Chastity Humility Sobriety Mercy Sanctity non onerant nossed ornant they are not our burthens but our ornaments Doth not reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though obscurely discern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some Sympl p 74. measure contend for it Is not Sin its own punishment Is it not like the Locusts of St. John Their faces were like the faces of men and their hair like the hair of a Women but had tails like Scorpions and stings there What else mean those ictus those laniatus those surda verbera those Vultures those furies and Thespian Vipers I mean those sad and disconsolate reflections upon an immoral and ill-govern'd life No no Sin is but the disease and dyscrasie of the Soul Righteousness is the health and natural complexion of it Now there is a propension in every thing to return to its proper state and to cast off whatsoever is heterogeneous to it As some Physicians say Medicaments are but subservient to Nature by removing impediments and obstructions but Nature it self and the inward Archeus released and set at liberty works the cure Then this reproves two popular Errors 1. Of those who think those words The good that I would I do not the evil that I would not that I do to be the highest measure of a Christian's proficiency for the undeceiving of whom I shall observe a triple estate of impiety or enmity to God 1. Of such who night and day do little else but provide for the Flesh to fulfil its lusts who without all shame wallow in many kinds of sins in whom the sence of good and evil is near upon extinguished or but very obscure footsteps of it do remain Whose Character St. Paul hath given us Of vain Eph. 4. 18 19. minds having their understandings darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
l. 2. 47. c. 46. In aperto sine ambiguitate similiter ab omnibus audiri possint Tom. 8. in Ps 16. appertaining to Faith and Life are most evidently contained in the Scriptures And again elsewhere he tells us it hath the some notions in promptis that it hath in reconditis in the most clear as it has in the most obscure places So Irenaeus long before him Obscure places are consonant to plain ones He tells us the whole Scriptures Prophetick and Apostolical are evident without ambiguity and may indifferently be read by all Saint Hierom saith to deny the perspicuity Epist ad Cor. l. 12. of the holy Scriptures is all one or worse than wholly to supersede their use So thought the Orator 'T is better Mutum esse satius est quà m quod nemo intelligat dicere to be silent than so to speak as none understand you But we will end this notion with the testimony of St. Paul If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that 1 Cor. 4. 3. are lost i. e. to them who have deserv'd to perish In vain then do they cry the Church the Church Decrees of Councels or Cathedral decisions Let us not hear saith Austin Haec dico haec dicis but haec dicit Dominus Nor will I plead the Nicene nor you the Council of Ariminum nor will I be concluded by this nor you by that but by authority of Scriptures not proper nor partial to any side but witnesses indifferent to both sides that matter Austin lib. de unitat Eccl. c. 3. may contend with matter cause with cause and reason with reason So Optatus Between your licet and our non licet the mind of the people fluctuates no one believes either you or us but we are all contentious In this case we must look out for a Judge If Christians Quid de Coelo quaerendus est judex cum haebeamus hic in Evangello Testamentum lib. 5. they are partial if Pagans ignorant Jews they are enemies Since then none in Earth let us to Heaven for a Judge but to what purpose knock we at heaven gates seeing we have his last Will and Testament in the Gospel So that the Infallibility of the Church was not thought on in those days And for the Spirit I 'le give you my sence in the words of a very learned and pious man As for those marvellous discourses of some fram'd upon presumption of the Spirit 's help in private in judging or interpreting of difficult places of Scripture I must needs confess I have often wondered at the boldness of them The Spirit is a thing of dark and secret operation the manner of it none can descry as underminers are never seen till they have wrought their purpose so the Spirit is never perceived but by its effects The effects of the Spirit so far as they concern knowledge and instruction are not particular informations for resolution in any doubtful case for this were plain Revelation but as the Angel that was sent unto Cornelius informs him not but sends him to Peter to school so the Spirit teaches not but stirs up in us a desire to learn A desire to learn makes us thirst after the means and pious sedulity and carefulness makes us watchful in the choice and diligent in the use of our means The promise to the Apostles of the Spirit which should lead them into all truth was made good unto them by private and secret informing their understandings with the knowledge of high and heavenly Mysteries which as yet had never entred into the conceit of any man if the same promise be made to us it is fulfilled after another manner For what was written by Revelation in their hearts for our instruction they have written in their Books to us for information otherwise than out of those Books the Spirit speaks not When the Spirit regenerates a man it infuses no knowledge of any point of Faith but sends him to the Scriptures so Mr. Jo. Hales when it stirs him up to newness of life it doth not exhibit to him an inventory of his sins but supposes them known by the light of Nature or sends him to the Rule of life More than this in the ordinary proceeding of the Holy Spirit in matter of instruction I could never descry So that to speak of the help of the Spirit in private either in dijudicating or interpreting of Scripture is to speak they know not what So he And indeed the Spirit of God now-a-days works but by men and is secret in its operation to themselves and no way evident to others but by its effects in Reason or Discourse which are nor different from reason it self The Spirit supplants no man's reason on Scriptures Further it is a dangerous principle and at long run levelling it makes all Doctors Dotards Popes alike and serves for all designs absurdities or contradictions so that we have nothing ordinary now to argue from which is absolutely divine but the very Doctrine of the Scripture in its own proper sence And whosoever without prejudice or partiality shall take a view of that as it is laid down there will easily perceive See an excellent Sermon of the most learned and pious Dr. C. on 1 Jo. 2. 34. p. 117. there is no design to fill our heads with empty and useless opinions but to reform the manners of Mankind and to advance Vertue in the World For which reason the Scriptures being popularly written and descending to vulgar capacities take themselves altogether unconcerned in any accurate determinations of meer speculative Articles For example they do not represent God Almighty to us as he is in himself but as he is towards us viz. One Eternal Just Wise and Omnipotent God but in condescention to our capacities he is represented with the affections and members of a man confined to a place and his Eternity is Erasmus Atque utinam hic quoque Paulus aliquanto plus lucis nobis aperuisset qualiter extant animae semotae à corpore ubinam extent an fruantur immortalitatis gloria an impiorū animae jam nunc crucientur c. in his dedicatory of his Paraphrase to the Corinth Jer. 22. 16. crasly described by being before the World as his Immensity by filling the Heaven and the Earth And therefore it is that those divine Authors intreating not professedly of the Nature of Spirits of the intermediate State of the dead of Infants of the Heathen of Antemundane durations or Extramundane spaces have no ways assisted our curiosity in those or such like disquisitions But on the other side they tell us To do judgment and justice to judge the cause of the poor and needy is to know the Lord to be a son of Belial is not to know him that the fear Job 28. 28. of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding and St. John represents Charity to be the knowledge 1 Joh.