a Prince in the plural number but himself In the holy Bible others speak of God in that number 2. The plurality intimated in these expressions is determined to Three in other places of Scripture There are three which bear record in heaven 1 Joh. 5.7 They are represented under the name of The Father the Son the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 This was not so clearly revealed in the Old Testament but reserved for a more mature state The Jews being under strong propensions to Idolatry this Doctrine was not then set in the fullest light that no occasion might be from thence taken to confirm them in their errour 3. These Three are not three manifestations only of God If they did import nothing more no reason can be given why the number should be thus confined Since the Creation there have been many signal Manifestations of the Deity far exceeding this number A manifestation supposeth some discovery of that which was secret before and by consequence must be made in time but the holy Scripture attributes Eternity to the Father the Son and the blessed Spirit 4. These Three are not three names only of the same God under divers inadequate conceptions For then when it is said that Christ was baptized the Holy Ghost descended a voice came from the Father the meaning would be that one name of God was baptized another descended in the form of a Dove a third uttered a voice than which nothing can be more incongruous Nay when a command is given to baptised in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost the sence will amount to no more than this go and baptise in the name of three Names This explication of the Trinity is not reconcileable with the scope of S. John when he asserts that there are three which bear record in heaven For the reason why he mentions three is to evidence that there is a sufficient number of witnesses to testifie that Jesus is the Christ Now if by the Three are meant only three names of the same person the Apostle fails of his end and is represented as guilty of a manifest collusion He does as if a man should undertake to prove Oratory an excellent Art by three witnesses and produce only the three names of the Orator Marcus Tullius Cicero 5. All things required to the constitution of a person belong to them A Person is an intelligent Being which has a peculiar subsistence This definition agrees to the Father the Son and Holy Spirit They have all Intelligence and Knowledge The Father is said to know the Son and the Son the Father The Holy Ghost is stiled a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding They have peculiar subsistence The Father is without communication from another The Son is from the Father The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son His procession from the Father is asserted in express words John 15.26 From the Son supposed in the Mission of the Comforter in the same Verse For as the Father is sent of none because he is of himself the Son is sent of the Father because he is of the Father so the Spirit is represented as sent by the Father and the Son because he proceeds from both Now he who is begotten or proceeds must necessarily be distinct from him by whom he is begotten and from whom he proceeds and by consequence have a peculiar mode of subsistence The Father 's being in the Son and the Son in the Father doth not destroy this distinction God is in every man and every man in God In him we live and move and have our Being and yet the discrimination remains betwixt the divine and humane subsistence 6. Such Actions are attributed to these three as belong to none but a person It will be superfluous to instance in those which are ascribed to the Father and the Son All the doubt is about the Spirit and yet the Scripture is very clear in this particular He is said to know will 1 Cor. 2.10 11. 1 Cor. 12.11 Job 33.4 Psal 104.30 create preserve These actions are undoubted indications of a person Actions are attributed to things either properly or improperly Whensoever they are attributed to them in the first sence they are infallible Arguments of suppositality Actiones sunt suppositorum And it is apparent that when they are attributed to the Spirit it is not always in an improper and figurative sence He is said to make intercession Rom. 8. v. If this action be assigned to the Spirit improperly or tropically then it may be properly attributed to the Father who according to the Socinian notion useth the Spirit as a power or virtue to produce what he designs even as those operations which are ascribed to Charity in a tropical sence 1 Cor. 13. properly belong to the Man which is indued with it and makes use of it as a moral power or virtue But Intertercession betwixt the Father and us cannot with any congruity be said to be made by the Father himself The Father is one party and we the other Where there are two parties Intercession supposes the interposition of a third person All this makes it manifest why the Father Son and Holy Ghost are represented in Scripture as Three Persons The personality of the Father is mentioned Heb. 1.3 The Son is said to be his express Image which can import no less than that he is a person like unto his Father The Holy Spirit is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another Comforter like unto the Son He is set forth by the demonstrative Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an undoubted note of personality If in any humane Writing the matter of which was never drawn into controversie by the pride or prejudice of a Party such expressions as these should occur He shall teach you He shal bring all things to your remembrance He shall testifie of me He will reprove the World He will guide you into all Truth He shall glorifie me and that He who is to do all this proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son We should account him a very absurd Interpreter that should say that the He so often repeated is not a person nor personally distinct from him by whom he is sent and from whom he proceeds All this is asserted in the Scripture of the Holy Ghost The Socinians willingly grant an eternal personality to the Father but deny it to the Son and the Spirit They say that the Son is a Person but not eternal that the Holy Ghost is neither a Person nor eternal but a Power and Virtue from God or an effect produced by that Power and yet the personality of the Son must be as early as his Filiation and his Filiation or Sonship is undoubtedly eternal The Prophet Micha saies His goings forth have been from old from everlasting c. 5. v. 2. The Spirit cannot always signifie Power or an effect produced by the Power The Spirit and Power are plainly distinguished
personal favours of his Prince to pay the Rights which belong to the Crown yet the formal object and reason of his so doing is the Sovereignty and dominion which the Prince is invested with As the Son so likewise the Spirit is the Object of Adoration He is placed in the same rank with the Father and the Son Mat. 28. v. 19. Jo. 1.5 7. and honoured with the attribution of the peculiarities of the Deity as Eternity Immensity Omniscience The dishonour done to him by Blasphemy has as black a character in the Scripture as the dishonour of the Father or Son It is represented as a delinquency of the first magnitude and excluded the benefit of pardon He who is thus dignified and secured by the most severe commination against dishonour must necessarily of right challenge the same degree of Honour and Worship which is due to the Father and the Son The Adoration given to them all must be so directed that we may worship the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity The ground of divine Veneration is the unlimited and peerless perfection of God The motives conducing to it are the benefits which none but so transcendent a Being can conferr The same internal eminency is common to the Three Persons Every external benefit is the product of their joint concurrence They having all an equal interest in the foundation of Religion and the motives conducing to it it is very reasonable when we direct an act of Worship to one that we should not exclude the other When we name the Son only the Father and holy Spirit are to be understood or the Father only the Son and the Spirit or the Spirit only the Father and the Son Consonant to this doctrine are the words of Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us Worship in Three one Deity and the practice of the universal Church which is apparent by the Latin and Greek Liturgies Now I have done with the fourth Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped 5. This God is only to be Worshiped This is the express assertion of the Holy Scripture the dictate of Reason the sence of the Ancient Church 1. The assertion of Holy Scripture It is the first of the moral Laws Thou shalt have no other Gods but me and placed in the front of the Gospel Him only shalt thou serve In a sense of this appropriate allegiance to Jehovah the Angel did forbid S. John and S. Paul and Barnabas the people of Lycaonia to pay them any Divine Veneration Daniel's refusal of the portion of meat which was first consecrated to an Idol will easily induce us to believe that he had an equal disgust of the Idolatrous worship which was given to him If Abraham's deportment when the Angels appeared had more than a moral or civil respect The Son of God his being in the company will excuse him from Idolatry one of them is expresly dignified with the incommunicable name of the Deity 2. The dictate of reason Worship is either internal or external Internal includes a deep and reverential esteem as an ingredient essential to its nature This esteem must be of an elevation agreeable to the excellency of the Object it is terminated upon There being no object that can be a Rival with the Supreme Being in point of perfection it is not possible that the same esteem which his transcendent dignity challengeth from us should with justice be given to any other External imports a declaration of inward esteem by some outward acts As the Veneration terminated upon God is peculiar and appropriate So must the Acts be which are designed for the signification of it Betwixt the sign and the thing signified there ought to be such a similitude that the one may be known by the other This cannot be done in the present case except there be such an appropriation as we speak of The nature of Divine Supremacy requires in outward as well as inward Worship a discrimination from that which is given to the Creature Earthly Monarchs expect an agnition of their Sovereignty to be made by the payment of an appropriate homage They have some Jewels in their Crown which they will not permit any of their Subjects to wear Tho' Moral and Civil regards may be tendred to a Creature yet if they rise so high as to have any mixtures of those peculiarities which are devoted by nature or institution to signifie Divine Veneration they are as distasteful to God as it would be to a Prince to stand by and see the Allegiance which is due only to himself given to another This Truth is warranted with so much clear reason that those who have had no other advantage but the light of Nature have taken notice of it Among those instructions which Orpheus left with Musaeus Lib. de Monarch Det p. 104 108. This is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adore him alone who is the King of the World It was the advice of Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to honour him alone who is Lord of all Ad Antolycum p. 122. The Verses of the Sibyl in Theophilus Antiochenus are of the same importance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laâ—t de â—â—lsa Relig. p. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ruler of the World alone adore Who ever was and shall be ever more 3. The Sence of the Ancient Church Among those Truths which are owned by the most early Writers this is of the first magnitude that God only is to be Worshipped They never mention the worshipping any thing else as the Sacrament the Cross the Relicks of Saints When they delineate the rites appertaining to the Eucharist there is not the least intimation of that Veneration which the Romanist say is due to the Sacrament They were far from asserting that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae debetur vero Deo is to be given to it Circumstances purely accidental as the time when the Institution was made the place where the mingling Water with Wine are recorded Those who had leisure to preserve the memory of these circumstances would not have omitted a point so material in case any such thing had been known to be agreeable to the mind of God As for the individual Cross upon which our blessed Lord suffered there could be no Adoration directed to it for the first three hundred years It is confessed that it lay concealed under ground till the time of Helena mother to Constantine the Great Neither is there the least signification of any religious addresses made to artificial imitations of it When the Veneration of the Cross is objected by the Heathens against the Christians Mirâ—â— Fâ—l it is answered by them Cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus We neither Worship Crosses nor wish for them Bellarmine indeed infers that the objection implies that some such practice was then in use but he may by the same reason perswade us that the Christians Worshipped the Head of an Ass because their
de Turc moribu◠c. 4. p. 130. it was their custom to use these words In the name of God of Mercy and of their Spirit If any shall be so in love with his private Sentiments as to deny this Truth which has gained so universal a Testimony upon the account of some difficulties which our shallow Intellects cannot reach to the bottom of he may with the same reason assert there is no such thing as the Ocean because he cannot by his line find the depth of it in every place If all this will not satisfie let him exercise his reason about some difficulties in nature and he will find the existence of things very plain where their contexture is so concealed and intricate that the greatest Wits are at a loss in their disquisition about it If the intricacy of some modes in natural things be no reasonable inducement to deny the reality of the things themselves much less is the ineffable union betwixt the Divine Essence and Subsistence a justifiable plea for the denial of the Sacred Trinity He that shall think fit to try the acuteness of his Intellect about some knots in Philosophy will find the edge of his reason so much blunted in the encounter that it will not be easie for him to perswade himself that it is sharp enough to penetrate into all the Mysteries in Divinity If this will not prevail without an engagement with those difficulties which this Truth is usually assaulted with let a Catalogue be made of them and it will not be difficult for him to make his way thro' them who is armed with the following considerations 1. Altho' there be Three Persons or Subsistences in the Godhead yet there are not three Essences Every Person distinctly considered has an Essence but every person has not a distinct Essence 2. Tho' one finite individual Nature cannot be communicated to Three Persons yet an infinite may If the whole Divine Essence is intimately in all created persons at the same time there is no reason to think but that it may be communicated to three increated Whatsoever is alledged against this Communication holds as strong against the Universal Presence which all acknowledge but those who deny the Deity 3. Finite and infinite perfect and imperfect are not proper predicates of Subsistence but of Being So that when we are interrogated whether the three persons in the Holy Trinity are finite or infinite perfect or imperfect if by Person is meant only a mode of subsistence without the Nature it is a very incongruous question For infinity and finity perfection and imperfection are but modes of Entity and every mode imports variation and one variation cannot properly be predicated of another If by Person is understood the Divine Essence subsisting in a peculiar manner then we answer that every person distinctly is infinitely perfect tho' every person has not a distinct infinite perfection 4. Altho' the three Persons have one and the same Nature yet the Son cannot be said to be the Father or the Spirit the Son The same specifical Nature agrees to Joh Moses and Daniel Every one of them has the whole nature of Man yet we have no reason to assert that Moses is Job or Joh Daniel As there is some thing not contained in the common Nature which doth individuate them So there is a characteristical property appertaining to the Father the Son and holy Spirit whereby they are distinguisht altho' they are all equally interested in the same infinite Essence 5. When it is said that the only God is the Father Jesus Christ is the only God therefore Jesus Christ is the Father the major proposition is peccant For in every proposition the predicate is never less comprehensive than the subject but always of a greater latitude and therefore bears the title of the major term But here the predicate Father is less comprehensive than the subject the only God Now I have finished the Third Proposition The Three Persons are One God 4. This One God is to be Worshipped If we consider him essentially his peerless perfections do justly challenge the deepest veneration They being infinite cannot admit of any additions All that We are capable of doing is to own them with the decent significations of the most humble and submissive regards It is an Article in the Jewish Creed Fag in Deut. c. 14. v. 1. The Blessed God is worthy to be Worshipped It is a principal part of the Confession of the Christian Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour It was usual among the Heathens to worship the Head of great Rivers Sax. Will-worship He who considers God as the fountain of all that goodness which circulates in the veins of the Creation can conclude no less than that the most profound veneration is due to him If the Deity be considered personally every person doth require Divine Worship to be directed to him The Father Jo. 4.23 The Son Heb. 1.6 Psal 2.12 Phil. 2.10 S. Stephen directed his Prayer to him Act. 7.59 Ananias enjoyned S. Paul to call upon him Act. 22. v. 16. Salvation is promised to those who express a conformity to this command Rom. 10.13 When we say the Son is to be Worshipped we do not consider him without his humane Nature but as a person consisting both of Divine and Humane Supreme Adoration is given upon the account of the infinite excellency of the Divine Nature This excellency is communicated to the Person which has assumed our Nature and advanced it to the dignity of an Hypostatical union but not to the nature it self And therefore the Worship which is due must not be terminated upon the nature considered abstractedly but the person who is clothed with it This induced Athanasius to say Epist ad Adelph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let them know meaning the Arrians that when we Worship the Lord in the flesh we do not Worship a Creature but the Creator cloathed with a created body Neither must our blessed Lord be considered without his Mediatorship Tho' supreme Adoration doth not immediately terminate upon the relation of a Mediator yet it doth upon him who is invested with that Relation Our Saviour in this respect is inferiour to the Father and nothing inferiour to the Deity can challenge Supreme Adoration The taking up the mediatory Office was an act of free Grace and by consequence might not have been done Now that which might have been or not been must be inferiour to that necessary and immutable excellency which is the proper Object of the highest Veneration We must distinguish betwixt the foundation of Worship and the Motives to it Tho' the free acts of the Divine Benignity as redeeming mediating c. are vigorous inducements to Worship yet the sole foundation and immediate object is infinite excellency which will not permit any thing which is inferiour to share with it in the same degree of Honour A Subject may have many motives from the
to the People the Law which was delivered by Moses from Mount Sinai To this is very consonant what is represented concerning the Essaeans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo Jud. l. omn. prob coming into the holy places called Synagogues they sat down in ranks according to their age The Younger sort under the Elders with a becoming decency being disposed to receive their instructions Then one taking the Book readeth it another of the most skilful afterwards expoundeth what was most difficult to be understood Under the Gospel we have equal evidence for the existence of Ecclesiastical Persons Jesus Christ the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession was solemnly Anointed by the Holy Spirit Act. 10. He Ordained Twelve Disciples to act in a subordination to himself and afterwards Seventy to be assistant to Him and Them Tho' there were Priests according to the Law at that time and Scribes in Moses's Chair Yet he was pleased before the old Fabrick was taken down to give them a Specimen of the New Order and commend it by his own practice to the perpetual use of the Church The Two Sacraments were instituted before a period was put to the Law concerning Circumcision and the Passeover Our Blessed Lord says That the Kingdom of God is among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feuard in Iren. p. 325. and the Fathers That the Kingdom of Heaven began at the Baptism of John After the Resurrection we read of Three Orders Apostles Presbyters Deacons The Apostles were primary or secondary This distinction S. Paul doth insinuate when he says I am not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles 2 Cor. 11. v. 5. c. 12. v. 11. The Secondary were helps and suffragans to the first in the promoting the concerns of Religion That there were more Apostles than Twelve is plain Christ is said to be seen of the Twelve 1 Cor. 15.5 and then afterwards of all the Apostles v. 7. These according to their Gifts had several Appellations as Prophets and Evangelists and yet they were all of the same order Silas or Silvanus who was a Prophet Act. 15. and Timothy an Evangelist are said to be Apostles They joyn with S. Paul in the Epistle sent to the Thessalonians and of all of them it is affirmed we might have been burthensome as the Apostles of Christ 1 Ep. 2. v. 6. Euseb l. 3. 21. l. 5. 2 ◠Philip the Evangelist is called an Apostle by Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus These in the following ages had their Successours None doubt of the succession of Presbyters and Deacons and if we consult the Monuments of Antiquity they will be found as clear for the succession of Apostles as is evident from the words of Irenaeus Tertullian S. Cyprian It is asserted by Theodoret and Rabanus Maurus That those who were stiled Bishops in the ages in which they lived were called Apostles in the first age By reason of a disparity in Gifts the Bishops thought it too much ordinarily to assume the name altho' they enjoyed their power of Order and Jurisdiction The thing remained altho' the name had many variations in divers ages When the Empire was digested into Dioceses As in Cities there were chief Governours stiled Defensores in the Metropoles Proconsuls in the Head Cities of Dioceses the Vicarii of the Four Praefecti Praetorio So in every City there was a Governour in Ecclesiastical concerns stiled a Bishop in every Metropolis an Archbishop in the chief City of the Diocess a Primate except four Rome Constantinople Antioch Alexandria and there the Governour in Church-affairs was honoured with the name of Patriarch in imitation of the four Praefecti Praetorio which did always attend the Emperour and govern in the head Cities of the Dioceses by their Deputies This last Title is of no earlier a date than the Second General Council Socrates asserts L. 5. c. 8. That those of whom it consisted did constitute Patriarchs This name was borrowed from the Jews In their dispersion in order to the preventing an utter dissolution they constituted Governours in the Eastern Cities and dignified them with this name Their Authority continued till the Fourth Century and then being taken away the name was translated to Christian Rulers in Ecclesiastical affairs This is the highest point of honour that ever Bishops did arrive at The Oecumenical Power is a perfect usurpation and hath been gainsayed in all ages except by some few which the Bishop of Rome did discipline as Psapho did his Birds and then send them forth to teach the people the same lesson The Church did never attempt to imitate the Empire so far as to set up one Supreme Bishop as there was one Emperour If a conformity had been carried so high it would have been repugnant to the appointment of Christ who constituted all the Apostles in a parity of power No intimations of Superiority were directed to S. Peter but such as the rest of the Apostles were equally concerned in When Christ says I will give thee the Keys he doth not speak to him exclusively The same thing is spoken to all the Apostles When he commands him to feed his Sheep the words cannot import any Superiority over the Apostles who were Shepherds and devoted to the same Work When it is said upon this rock will I build my Church Here is nothing expressed peculiar to him The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles Eph. 2.20 The Wall of the Holy Jerusalem hath Twelve Foundations and in them the name of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb Rev. 21.4 The contention about superiority argues That the Apostles knew nothing of the interpretation which the Romanists now give If the words relate to S. Peter all that can be inserred from them is That he would be an eminent person like a rock constant and firm to death in the Faith of Christ as many of the other Apostles were II. Now I proceed to the Second particular the manner How men are to Worship God The modes and circumstance of Divine Worship we are not always obliged to justifie with an express testimony out of the Sacred Oracles It is sufficient for their vindication That they are consentaneous to the general rules of the Bible and bear no opposition to any particular injunction In order to our direction in this concern I will lay down the following Propositions 1. God must be Worshipped inwardly with all our Soul with all our Heart with all our Might Our intellectual faculty must be ingaged in the performance A material conformity to a Command without the knowledge of it is no worship at all A blind man who hits the mark by chance may as well be reputed a skilful Archer as such a person a True Worshiper of God If the understanding be not concerned it is not a humane much less a divine act If the Intellect and Will this present moment concur to that which is truly good and the next the Mind alters and the Will
Properties and Attributes of the most high God 66 c. This truth acknowledged by all sorts of men the Primitive Christians 69. the Jews 71. the Heathen 72. Our not comprehending the difficulties of it no reason against it 73. Some considerations added to lead us thro' 'em ib. 4. Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped For First consider'd as essentially his nature and perfections justly challenge the deepest veneration 75. Then Secondly considered personally the Scriptures require him to be Worshipped 76. 5. Proposition This God only is to be Worshipped This shewn First from Scripture 78. Secondly from Reason 79. Thirdly from Antiquity 81. What the Papists say in opposition to this considered with respect to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Invocation of Saints and Images 84. 1. As to the Eucharist That the Papists pay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it ib. and thereby put the greatest affront upon Scripture 91. upon the analogy of Faith 94. upon Antiquity 97. upon Reason 106. and upon Sense 108. The declaration of their Church in this matter and the impossibility of an innovation considered 110. 2. As to Invocation of Saints This injurious to the peculiar honour of God 115. and of Jesus Christ the only Mediator 116. and has not the same grounds and reasons as our praying to each other here below For First the Saints and Angels are at a distance 117. And then Secondly 't is the prerogative of Jesus Christ only to be our Mediator in Heaven 118. as the Primitive Christians thought 119. The Origine of Invocation c. 122. 3. As to Images 123. They who use them are of three sorts First such as say they use them only as memorials to quicken their devotions which has no kindly influence on Religion 124. Secondly such as say they give only inferiour worship to 'em which yet is either vain or sinful 125. Thirdly such as profess to give the same worship to the Image as to the Prototype in kind thô not in degree i.e. relative or respective worship only ib. the vanity of this distinction shewn 126. and that 't is Idolatry 128. contrary to the Second Commandment 132. and unknown to the Primitive Church 135. SECT III. Concerning the True Worshippers of God THE whole reduced to Three Inquiries 142. I. Enquiry Who they are that are obliged to Worship ib. And they are in general all rational Beings as Angels 142. and Men whether secular 143 or more especially Ecclesiastical and consecrated to the performance of Religious Offices 145. the necessity of these shewn ib. such have been in all ages 147. before the floud ib. between that and the Law 150. that the First-born then were Priests 151. such also there were from the giving the Law till Christ 154. as appears from the Priests and Levites ib. from the Schools of the Prophets 155. from their studies there 156 from their Ordination by imposition of hands 157 from the place where they exercised their function 159. such lastly there were under the Gospel ib. II. Enquiry How men are to Worship God 163. This shown in several Propositions 1. Prop. We are to Worship him with all our Soul and heart and strength ib. and 2. Prop. Outwardly with our Bodies 165. 3. Prop. All the modes of external Worship must be decent orderly and to edification ib. 4. Prop. Different deductions from this general rule are no just grounds for distinct Churches to differ among each other and so violate the Vnity of the Vniversal 166. 5. Prop. Yet in the same Church 't is very expedient and desirable That there should be the same external mode of Religion 167 but yet 6. Prop. If contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those that come nighest to it 169. And 7. Prop. If it cannot be known what the Primitive Order therein was the next step to Peace is to make prudent condescensions on each side before Authority has made any determinations 171. Then 8. Prop. If condescensions cannot be had and yet a determination is necessary all both weak and strong are obliged to acquiesce in such a determination 173. which is neither against nor inconsistent with the perfection of Scripture as a rule 174. nor prejudicial to our Christian Liberty 175. nor yet induces any necessity of violating the Law about scandal 176. III. Enquiry What ends we are to propose in the acts of Religious Worship ib. This shewn in three particulars First and chiefly The Glory of God 177. Secondly The Salvation of our Souls 178. Thirdly The good of the Community 179. The tendency of Religious Worship to all these shewn under each SECT IV. Concerning Assistance relating to Divine Worship THE Introduction from the general and acknowledged depravation of our Natures whereby we want Light to direct and Strength to enable us in the Worshipping God a-right and Merits to render our Services acceptable 185. Against all these God has provided sufficient helps and remedies in that 1. We have the holy Scriptures to direct us 186 2. The Holy Spirit to communicate strength 186 3. The Merits of our Saviour to procure acceptance 186 All which are treated more largely of And 1. Of the holy Scriptures to direct us which that we have grounds to depend on shewn in several Propositions as First The Worshipping God is absolutely necessary to Salvation 187. Secondly Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles did by Oral Tradition reveal all things necessary to this purpose ib. Thirdly What they spoke was evidenced to be the real mind of God by inward characters of Divinity and external miraculous operations ib. Fourthly This word of God thus evidenced was faithfully committed to writing 192. Fifthly This Writing is digested into 24 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New 193. Sixthly These Books have been transmitted to us without corruption 194. Two opinions inconsistent with what has been said considered 1. That the Church of Rome as being infallible is to be our guide in matters of Religion 206. 2. That every one ought to rely upon the conduct of his own reason ib. As to the First Proved that the Pope is not infallible 207. nor a Council ib. nor the body of the People 210. nor all these together ib. nor are the reasons they urge here sufficient such as first The peremptory necessity of such a Guide 211. nor secondly their having all reasonable evidence that the Church of Rome is such a Guide 216. For they have not first The evidence of Scripture ib. shewn as to the chief places they urge 221. nor secondly Vniversal Tradition 228. nor yet thirdly the motives of credibility 232. shewn particularly as to Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude ib. uninterrupted Succession of Bishops 235. Agreement in doctrine with the Primitive Church 236. Vnion among themselves 237. holiness of doctrine 239. efficacy of it 240. holiness of life 242. Lastly the
glory of Miracles 247. Nay greater motives of credibility on our side That there is no such infallible Guide as First 'T is no where revealed by Jesus Christ 251. Secondly 'T is inconsistent with the nature of an intellectual Being 252. 'T is Thirdly destructive of True Virtue 253. Fourthly It can be of no advantage in our present circumstances ib. Fifthly 'T is not reconcileable to the divine intention in giving the sacred Oracles 255. Sixthly All the testimony for it comes only from the Church of Rome her self 256. Seventhly The Primitive Constitution of the Church plainly intimates that no one Guide was designed supream over all the Churches of the World 257. Eightly No provision made of an infallible Guide in a case of like importance 260. Ninthly Such a Guide not easily reconcileable with the constitution of Civil Empires 262. Tenthly and lastly There is a plain prediction in Scripture of one that would pretend to be that infallible Guide 264. Thus much in answer to the first opinion Then as to the 2 Opinion inconsistent with the Scriptures being our Guide namely That we ought to rely entirely upon the conduct of our own reason shewn First that it would have its effects with respect to Religion and the Church 269. Secondly That 't is not consistent with the interest of humane Society 270. Thirdly disagreeable to the propensity of humane Nature 273. Fourthly Prejudicial to the Souls of Men 276. For speculative error in Religion is no such indifferent thing as some think in that First Error is inclusive of disobedience 278. Secondly Errors in Religion are not unavoidable 279. Thirdly 'T is no uncharitableness to say Error is danmable ib. Fourthly The reason why a just Catalogue of errors can't be given is because one error may be damnable in one that is not so in another 280. Fifthly The fault may be known by the guilty if they take care to look back and fully examine things ib. Sixthly God doth not put us here into a state of mere probability 281. Seventhly An erroneous Conscience is not God's True Vicegerent 282. 2. As to the assistance God affords us by his Holy Spirit to enable us to Worship him This is either general or special so as to leave men inexcusable 283 as is more largely proved to p. 293. 3. Lastly As to God's affording us the merits of our Saviour to procure the acceptance of our performance This cleared by the following steps First The acceptance of our Worship and Service is not upon its own account 294. Nor Secondly Vpon account of the favour of God without the interposal of satisfaction for sin 295. This agreeable to Scripture ib. and the propensity of God's nature 296. and clear'd from the objections against it 297. Thirdly This necessary satisfaction Christ has performed 300. for First He suffered the punishment of our sins ib. Secondly What he suffered was in our stead 311 whether it be considered as a Sacrifice ib. or as a Ransom 316. Thirdly By what be suffered in our stead the damage done by sin is repaired und God appeased and reconciled to us on the conditions of the New Covenant 319. Crellius here answered 322. Fourthly Our acceptance with God is upon account of his meritorious satisfaction 325. And Fifthly and lastly upon acaccount of that only 326. SECT V. Concerning the Place of Divine Worship THIS Threefold according to the threefold capacity of Man may be considered in First any solitary place whatever as he is one single private person 331. or Secondly The family of which we are members ib. Such family-worship reasonable ib. practised by the Heathen 332. agreeable to the Old Testament ib. and the New 333. Thirdly Churches or places of Publick Worship as such are members of an Ecclesiastical Community 334. The reasons for such Assemblies shewn from the nature of a Church ib. and from the practice of God's people in all ages as before the Law 336. under it ib. and after it 340. SECT VI. Concerning the Time of Divine Worship BEsides our worshipping God daily 348. and upon particular occasions and emergencies by fastings and thanksgivings 349. there ought to be solemn set times peculiarly devoted to his honour 350 as will be better understood by considering I. God requires not only an inward but an outward Worship 351. II. This external Worship must not be only in private but in publick too 352. III. The time for this publick worship ought to be stated ib. IV. It is expedient it should be taken out of some part of the week ib. V. This part of the week can't in reason be less than one whole day 353. whether we consider the Object of our Worship ib or the Nature of it ib or the pattern of the Triumphant Church 354 or the practice of the Militant ib or the early division of time into weeks 355 or lastly the writings of the Heathens 358. VI. 'T is highly reasonable to believe the setting out the just time should be left to God himself 361. VII This time is determined by God in the Fourth Commandment to one day in seven as a proportion perpetually to be devoted to Religious Worship 363. For First It is one in seven and not the seventh from the Creation which is enjoyned by the Fourth Commandment ib. Secondly The Sabbath of the Fourth Command One in Seven is perpetual 372 for 't is part of the Decalogue which obliges in all ages ib as may be gathered First from its being distinguish'd in the Old Tastament from those Laws which the time of Reformation has put a period to ib Secondly from many intimations in the New that the Decalogue as delivered by Moses is to continue as a perpetual Rule to Christians 373 all which is agreeable to the opinions of the Primitive Fathers 378 and of our own Church 379 some Objections answered 380 c. and others 385 c. Thirdly This proportion of One in seven is by the Command to be devoted to Divine Worship and not only to bodily rest 395. shewn from the order of the Commandments of the First Table ib. from God's blessing the Sabbath day 396. and from the practice of the Israelites and the modern Jews upon the Sabbath ib some Objections by the Author of the Epilogue considered 397 c. VIII Propos This proportion One in Seven was determined to the Jewish day by another Precept which was to oblige only till the Jewish Oeconomy had a period put to it 403. IX Propos When the last of the Week had a period put to it the First was substituted in the room of it 414. as appears probable from the Law ib. the Prophets 415. our Blessed Lord 420. the holy Apostles and Disciples 425. and Lastly the Testimony of the following Ages 429. ERRATA PAge 20. line 16. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 58. l. 12 13. r. in sensible p. 84. l. 22. r. contrived p. 189. l. 30. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 190. l. 6. r.
Jesus is said to return in the power of the Spirit Luk. 14. S. Paul prays that the Romans may abound in hope thro' the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15 14. Mighty signs and wonders are said to be done by the power of the Spirit of God If the Spirit in these places did signifie no more than a divine power the meaning would be that Christ returned the Romans abounded miracles were wrought thro' the power of a Power The Spirit is likewise evidently distinguished from effects or gifts The Apostle saies that There are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit v. 8. And that all these worketh this one and the same Spirit So that there can be nothing left in these Texts for the Spirit to signifie but a Person He being manifestly distinguished from the Divine Power and the gifts and products of that Power Now I have finished the second Proposition In the Godhead there are Three Persons 3. These Three are One God Unity is essential to the Deity Plurality proceeds from the fecundity and fruitfulness of Causes but God is of himself without dependence upon any Cause If there be more Gods there must be more Infinites in the same kind which implies a contradiction for one infinite Being contains all perfection not only as considered in the general notion but actually and therefore there is none for any other Deity to be invested with and possessed of in the same manner If there be more Gods they must be distinct one from another This distinction must arise from some diversity in Nature to attribute such diversity to the Divine Nature is to make a dishonourable reflection upon the simplicity of it The Father Son and Holy Ghost are this One God 1. The Scripture plainly asserts that they are one 1 John 5.7 Tho' these words are not found in some Copies yet they are extant in more than they are wanting in and in that which is dubious the decision is according to the suffrage of the major part If such an addition has been made to the Text it must be done before or after the two first General Councils If before it was either accidental or intentional Not Accidental thro' the inadvertency of the Scribe For tho' a Scribe may mistake and leave out letters and words yet it cannot be imagined that he should casually without any design add a whole sentence and not presently upon a review which may be justly presumed in a Writing of such importance discover and correct his errour Not Intentional no good reason can be given why any should industriously make such a spurious insertion before the controversie concerning the Deity of Christ and the Holy Ghost did commence Neither was the addition which is pretended made after the two first General Councils Because the words we speak of are found in those Copies which the Fathers who lived before those Councils made use of S. Cyprian asserts de Patre Filio c. Of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it is written and these Three are One. This gives us just reason to believe that the Copies in which these words are wanting fell into the hands of the Arrians and that a rasure was made by them 2. As the words of S. John assure us that The Father the Son and the Spirit are One so we are assured by other texts of Sacred Writ that this Unity is in the Divine Essence They have all one and the same infinite Nature This is evident by the attribution of the Name Properties and peculiar Operations of the most High God to them None doubt of this relation to the Father The matter is likewise clear concerning the Son and the Spirit Christ is called the mighty God Isa 9.6 God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 The true God 1 Joh. 5.20 The most high God Psal 58.17 56. The most High which the Israelites tempted and provoked in the wilderness is expresly called Christ 1 Cor. 10.9 The name of God is never attributed in the sacred Oracles with such emphatical Epithets to any finite Being They are intentionally inserted to signifie that Jesus is stiled God not upon the account of his Embassy from his Father or a deification in the state of Glory but his infinite Nature He who is made God and is not so essentially cannot be said to be the true mighty most High God blessed for evermore As the Name of God so the Properties of the Divine Nature are attributed to him Omniscience Joh. 21.17 Immutability Heb. 1.11 Omnipotence Rev. 1.8 Eternity He is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is which was which is to come v. 4. Eternity comprehends all differences of time Was he but a meer Creature such perfections could not reside in him A finite Being under the greatest Elevation has not a capacity large enough to entertain and receive such boundless excellencies The peculiar Operations of God are likewise attributed to him as Creation Joh. 1.2 Coloss 1.16 God is said to create all things by Jesus Christ Eph. 3.9 The Son did concur with the Father and the Spirit in this great Work as a co-ordinate cause The Nature of Creation will not admit the interposals of an instrument There being no matter to prepare a physical instrument has nothing to do in the case And Christ is represented as more than a Moral The infinite power whereby all things are made is often ascribed to him which is never done to a meer moral instrument such as the Apostles were in the production of Miracles Conservation is likewise ascribed to him He is said to uphold all things with the word of his power Heb. 1.3 It was usual for the Jews to express the Deity by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here inserted to assure them that Christ sustains the World and prevents its relapse into its primitive Abyss by virtue of his Deity Lastly He is said to work Miracles He made the blind to see the lame to walk the dead to revive This he did not bring to pass by any mutuatitious power When he healed the multitude it is said Virtue went out of him Luk. 6.19 The power whereby he did it was not adventitious but innate When S. Peter wrought a miracle that Christ by whose power it was effected might not be deprived of the glory of it he names him as the principal cause His name thro' faith in his name hath made this man whole Act. 3.16 As the name properties and operations of the Divine Nature are attributed to the Son of God So likewise to the Holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord 2 Sam. 23.2 is stiled the God of Israel Ananias who lied unto the Spirit Act. 5.3 is said to lie unto God v. 4. The body which is the Temple of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 is stiled
the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.16 He is Eternal Heb. 9.7 Omniscient 1 Cor. 2.10 Omnipresent Psal 139.7 The whole Creation is represented as the effect of his power The host of Heaven Psal 33.6 Man the principal Work of God upon the Earth Job 33.4 The Fish in the Sea Psal 104.3 are all of his formation Before there was any Wind Immeasusque Deus super aequora vasia meabat which is peculiar to the Firmament a work of the second day the Spirit of the Lord is said to move upon the Waters The Chaos by his incubation was digested into Order and brought to a state of Maturation Certainly God who composed the Scripture and declares in it that he will not give his Glory to another would never have assigned his name nature and peculiar operations to the Spirit had he not been of the same Essence with himself To assert that all this is attributed to the Spirit because God makes use of him as an instrument to effect his Work will not remove the difficulty For there is some work attributed to the Spirit to which no instrument can concur as Creation There are other operations in doing of which God cannot be said to use the Spirit according to the sentiments of the Socinians as to know and search his deep things For the Spirit in their apprehensions signifies a Divine Power and it is very incongruous to say that God knows and searches things by his Power This Truth concerning the Trinity in Unity hath been so fully discovered that all sorts of men have taken notice of it The Mind of the Christians before Constantine may be very well known by Athanasuis Orat. 1.121 Ad Serapio tom 1. p. 366. de Spi. Sanâ—â—o Apol. 2. who wanted no opportunity to be acquainted with their Writings He expresly asserts that there was nothing established by the Nicene Synod but what was agreeable to them S. Basil cites several Authorities of the first Centuries for the same purpose In those Writings which are come to our hands there are many evident expressions of this doctrin Justin Martyr speaking of the Father of righteousness saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. him and the Son coming from him and the prophetick Spirit we receive and adore Athenagoras in vindication of the Christians whom the Heathens accounted Atheists saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who would not admire to hear them called Atheists who own God the Father God the Son God the Holy Ghost Clemens Alexandrinus ends his Paedagogus with very lively expressions of this Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to the only Father Son c. with the Holy Ghost all in one c. There are Testimonies of the same importance in Tertullian Cyprian Lactantius All these with many others agree that there is but one God and that there are Three which participate of the Deity and that one of them is the fountain of the rest from whence it inevitably follows that they must be personally distinct The fountain and the streams are always different one from the other Indeed there are some things spoken in the explication of this Mystery which are liable to an ambiguous construction as is manifest in the discourse of Justin Martyr with the Jew Tâ—â—â—h and the Treatise of Tertullian against Praxeas This Truth being not then encountred with so direct an opposition as it was in the time of Arrius some degrees of caution in point of expression are wanting and too great a condescension made to the Sentiments of the Philosophers by blending their notions with the ineffable Mystery that it might gain a more ready entertainment among them Such prudential accommodations must not be construed in such a sence as to prejudice the Truth which in other places of the same Authors is clearly acknowledged The clear must not be expounded by that which is obscure but the obscure by that which is clear The Jews have not been without some knowledge of this Mystery Pugio fidei p. 397. Raimundus Martini says that he scarcely ever conferred with any of them who were in any estimation for Wisdom who would not grant that God was Trinus Vnus They have a Tradition that when the Benediction Num. 6.26 was pronounced by the Priest he used when he came to the word Jehova to lift three fingers higher than the rest to denote the Trinity It was their manner to call the Father Son Voisin in Pug. fidei p. 400. and Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistences and to assert the unity of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the infinite God Those words The Lord our God is one God are in Zohar applied to the Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is interpreted the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added with a great letter in the Hebrew Text to denote their Unity The Hebrew Scholiast says that the repetition of the name of God three times Psal 50.1 2. is to denote the three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which created the World These are stiled inward persons It is observed that all the names of God have a plural termination Voisin p. 406. p. 400. except Jehova his essential name to import the plurality of Persons and unity of Essence It is a saying among the Cabalists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Father is God the Son is God the Holy Ghost is God Three in One and One in Three By the Abbreviature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son They say they are put together to express their Unity and that the three Letters do signifie the three Hypostases in one Essence Tho' this Doctrine is very much disguised in the Writings of the Heathens yet there is so much of it left unmask'd as it may be plainly discerned they were not totally strangers to it The chief God among the Persians was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 threefold with relation to this Sacred Mystery The first Hypostasis they called Oramasâ—les the second Mithras the third Arimanes Plato likewise mentions Three 〈◊〉 5. l. 1. l. 3. c. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These by Plotinus are represented as the three Hypostases which are Principles or first causes in the Universe When Thulis King of Aegypt went to the Oracle of Serapis to inquire Saidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who before him could do such exploits as he had done and who would be after him The Answer was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First God after him the Word and then the Spirit concurring with both Bâ—rnier's Mâ—moirs â—â—m 3. p. 130. The Indians own Three in the Deity known by the names of Brahma Bischen and Mehaâ—denâ— Dervis â—rsielebi a Mahometan acknowledged to a Christian who was disputing with him about Religion that at the commencement of all their Negotiations Epito
which the Prince resides and to Worship the Prince residing in that Palace To say that no Catholick is bound to believe more than that Christ in the Sacrament is to be Worshipped because this is enjoyned under a particular Anathema the other of Worshipping the Sacrament not is nothing to the purpose The intent of the Decrees is veritatâ—m dicere to set forth the true doctrin of the Church as the Council has declared Every jot of this doctrin is to be received whether there be a particular Curse denounced against the Refusers of it or no. The Curse doth not make the obligation to comply with the doctrin but shews only the danger which those incur who refuse it If the Church of Rome does not think fit always to set before us the danger in a particular Anathema upon some prudential considerations best known to her self yet the obligation to entertain her doctrin doth not cease but remain in full force Her Authority is as much in a Decree without an Anathema as in a Canon with one and it is her authority which creates the obligation To say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Council speaks of falls upon the Accidents of the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner cannot be reconciled with any good reason For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is either internal or external Internal imports a superlative esteem in the mind of infinite Excellency External the doing some action or speaking such words as are appropriated to signifie this internal veneration Neither of these can be terminated upon the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner For what is outwardly done or spoken being but an expression or indication of internal veneration and the inward veneration being of the highest nature if it falleth upon any thing in an inferiour manner or degree it ceaseth to be what it was the superlative degree being essential to it and not separable from it Neither do they mend the matter who assert that Latria as it is terminated upon the outward Elements is not absolute but relative Christ only under the Elements is adored per se or absolutely the Symbols by virtue of their relation to Christ as the garments with which he was cloathed when he was upon the Earth were worshipped when adoration was given to his person When the Council says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is due to the Sacrament absolute and not relative Latria is intended It is in express words such a Latria quae debetur vero Deo and that is undoubtedly absolute Tho' there may be relative honour yet if we speak properly there can be no such thing as relative Latria For it is agreed that the word signifies that Veneration which is peculiar to the Supreme Being and if this be divided into two species Absolute and Relative then it may be predicated of both for every Genus is predicated of its species and if so then either equally or unequally not equally for then the relative species will participate as much of the nature of the Genus as the absolute not unequally because Latria as I have before intimated consists in a point of which there can be no unequal participations An inferiour Latria is as much as an inferiour Superiority I grant an honour due to many things upon the account of their relation to God but to make this honour equal to that which is due immediately to God is highly injurious For the relation which the Creature has to the Creator is but a finite mode or accident And a finite mode cannot merit the same species of Worship or Honour which the infinite perfection of the Divine Nature does When our blessed Lord was upon the Earth 〈◊〉 garments were not worshipped by the same individual act with which his person was For Worship is an acknowledgment of excellency and none will assert that the same acknowledgment of excellency can without a palpable injury be terminated upon his Person and his Garment As the Accidents are worshipped so likewise is the substance of the Bread and Wine The Church of Rome believes that by the Priest's pronouncing the words of Consecration the Body and Blood of Christ become corporally present upon the Altar that by the same words in the same moment the substance of the Bread and Wine is changed into them that what the substance of the Bread and Wine is converted into must have the same worship terminated upon it which is peculiar to the person of Christ God-man Now if there be no such change as is pretended but the Bread and Wine retain their pristine nature it must necessarily follow that the substance of the Bread is Worshipped in the place of Christ If it be said that this cannot with justice be charged upon a Romanist because he believes that the substance of the Bread and Wine do not remain and we must not impute the Worshipping of that to him which he believes not to be in the Sacrament I answer that tho' this excuse at the first sight may appear plausible yet upon a due examination it will be found to be of no validity By the same method of Reasoning it may be concluded that a Jew reflects no dishonour upon the True Messias when in the Synagogue thrice a day he curseth Jesus of Nazareth because he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is not the True Messias or that the Persians do not Worship a creature when they make their religious Addresses to the Sun because they apprehend he is the first Being and maker of all things or that the Heathens did not sacrifice to Devils as they are accused in the holy Scripture because they were far from believing that their Idols were animated by infernal Spirits It must be confessed that an error springing from the nature of the object may contribute something to an excuse Suppose there had been a Man when our blessed Lord was upon the Earth every way like him in the features of his face and all the lineaments of his Body and another induced by that similitude had given to him the veneration which is due only to Jesus Christ it had been tolerable in him to have pleaded his error it deriving its original from that which it was not in his power to help But whâ—â— the error springs from a voluntary distemper in the Subject it can have no propitious influence upon his justification And this we have too much reason to believe is the case of those who adhere to the Community of Rome who when they assert the Body of Christ to be corporally present in the Eucharist and the substance of the Bread and Wine not put the highest affront upon those Topicks from which we usually derive our assurance in all other points of Divinity namely the Scripture Antiquity Reason Sence 1. Scripture They affirm that which is contrary to the Words of the institution when Christ says This is my Body he means This is a sign or memorial of it To this interpretation we
which our holy Religion requires must be made in Faith Faith must be grounded upon a Divine Testimony There is no Testimony of this nature to assure us that our Prayers made upon the Earth are known to glorified Spirits in Heaven If there be any way whereby they come to be acquainted with them yet God has hid it from us as he did the body of Moses from the Israelites to prevent the occasion of an abuse 2. It is the prerogative of Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator for us in Heaven to whom we are to make our applications He is entered into the Holy of Holiest and there alone offers to God our Incense as the High Priest did here upon the Earth Upon this account it is said There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 The Mediator is here represented to be one as the Deity is one As there is but one God so there is but one Mediator for us to address unto in the state of Glory When he was about to leave the World and enter into this Blessed State he gave his Disciples instructions to pray in his name only Joh. 14.13.16.23 He does not mention the name of any of the Saints As he was alone in the Work of his Meritorious Satisfaction So He is alone in the application of it by his Gracious Intercession Therefore the Apostle says Among the Gentiles there be Gods many and Lords many They had their Sovereign Deities and likewise their Baalims or Lords which they accounted as Mediators betwixt them and those Supreme Powers but to us who embrace the Christian Faith There is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ is the only Mediator for us in Heaven This dignity he has purchased with the inestimable price of his blood He humbled himself and became obedient to the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Phil. 2.8 He sits at his right hand appears in his presence for us and lives for ever to make intercession As the price which he gave for this dignity could not be paid by any but himself so the office procured by it must be incommunicable and peculiar to him And therefore for any to set up other Mediators whether of Redemption or Intercession without a command from Heaven is an inexcusable injury to his prerogative The Romanists do not only Invocate Saints that they may make a charitable Interecession for them but that by their Merits they would procure the favours they are Petitioners for This Truth concerning one Mediator is so evident that the primitive Christians were unanimous in the reception of it For three Hundred years no instance can be produced out of any Authentick Record that the Mediation of any in Heaven beside our blessed Lord was made use of Two are chiefly pretended to the contrary and in both the Virgin Mary is concerned In the first She is represented as the Advocate of Eve in the second as invocated by Justina the Martyr Irenaeus mentions the first lib. 5. c. 19. Where he compares the obedience of Eve to the word of the Evil Angel with the obedience of Mary to the word of the Good He asserts that Eve was seduced that she might fall from God Mary obedient that she might be the mother of our Lord. And adds this moreover as a further design of her obedience Vt Virginis Evae virgo Maria steret Advocata All this comes very short of what is designed to be proved by it Advocata here is no more than Consolatrix Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek in which language it is believed Irenaeus wrote signifies both an Advocate and Comforter therefore advocare in the Latin Version is used for consolari as appears L. 5. c. 15. Ego vos advocabo in Hierusalem advocabimini I will comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem So that his meaning will amount to no more than this As Eve by being seduced by the Evil Angel fell from God and brought sorrow dishonour and death upon her Sex So the Virgin Mary by being obedient to the word which was spoken by the Good Angel did make a full compensation and restore the Honour that Eve and all her Sex were impaired in This is the Consolation which she is said to receive from the Virgin Mary If this had been considered by Feuardentius he would not have drawn so peremptory a conclusion as he has done Ann. in Iren. Hinc evidentissimum est c. From hence it is most evident That the antient Fathers and Martyrs from the very times of the Apostles did Invocate the Virgin Mary The other instance concerning Justina is in Gregory Nazianzen The story is this S. Cyprian before his conversion was inamoured with the beauty of Justina In order to the obtaining his unchast desires he made use of Magick She having a deep resentment of her danger prayed to the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which I answer Pontius the Deacon of S. Cyprian who wrote his Life at large speaks no such matter but on the contrary That Cyprian before his Conversion was studied in all good Arts which tend to the utility of the Age amongst which Infernal Magick can have no place Indeed there was a Book extant in Nazianzen's time stiled Poenitentia Cypriani and now to be seen in the Oxford Edition of Cyprian in which Justina is mentioned but it is accounted a fabulous relation and was condemned under that notion by Gelasius Nazianzen from thence probably did borrow the sum of what he has expressed He using the freedom of an Orator and not the exactness of an Historian might be induced to make use of that which he found made ready to his hand without any strict examination and set it off with some Rhetorical Flourishes amongst which we may reckon the application of the Virgin Justina to the Virgin Mary In this he did accommodate himself to the inclination of the Age in which he lived which by frequent Apostrophe's made to Martyr's by some great Men in their Panegyricks was disposed to think favourably of such Addresses It is usual for Writers when they relate what was done in former Ages to dress it up in language and circumstances suitable to their own times Of this we have an evident instance in Nazianzen himself in his 22. Orat. Where he describes the Martyrdom of the seven Brethren and the deportment of their mother 2 Macc. 7. He says She snatched the drops of blood took the fragments of their members worshipped the remains If we consult the Author of the Maccabees and the History of Josephus where their sufferings are described at large no such thing is recorded It cannot reasonably be believed That a Woman who incouraged her children to die rather than to violate the Law of God should at the same time openly break it by touching the Dead contrary to the Masaical Institution So that the words
competent Judges of their own ability The generality are very partial in their reflections upon themselves are easily flattered into a belief that the dominion of their Reason is as large as those Monarchs have fancied their Territories who by the strength of imagination have entituled themselves to the regency of the World and expressed displeasure against Cosmographers for not allowing them a bigger space in their Tables This unfitness in men to judg of themselves devolves a necessity upon others to do it for them otherwise the ends of the Ministerial Function will be disappointed by an intrusion of the unskilful and confusion take place of all good order Those who judge must be persons of Learning and experience in the same imployment None can judge but those who are fit and none have such a degree of idoneity as those who are thus qualified The business of a Spiritual Pastor is not only to lead his flock into advantagious places to feed in it but to defend it against the rapine of Wolves not only to exhort but convince gain-sayers Tit. 3.9 Many of those who contend against the Truth making use of their improvements in humane Studies for the accomplishment of their end it is but expedient That they who are designed to enter the Lists with them should have skill at the same weapon This was perceived by Julian an irreconcileable enemy to the Faith of Christ who commanded That the Christians should be deprived of all Books of Learning to compensate which damage Apollina the Elder turned the Books of Moses into Heroick Verse the Younger the Gospel into Dialogues after the method of Plato Of this skill which a Minister ought to be endued with every Christian is not a competent Judge Not only the Law but the Gospel doth pronounce it reasonable That every man should be tried by his Peers The judgment which they give must not be concealed but declared to the Church for her direction That She may know whom to refuse and whom to accept as Ministers And it cannot be better declared than by some important actions as Prayer which has a tendency to invite from Heaven a Benediction upon the Heads and Hearts of those who are found qualified and Imposition of Hands which solemnly points out unto the People whom they are to entertain as their Pastours These actions being exerted by one who is invested with authority change the state of private Men and translate them out of a Civil into an Ecclesiastical capacity A Sence of the necessity of such Persons has been always so great that there is no Age but will furnish us with instances of them Before the Flood we meet with Preachers which were solemnly Commissioned to dispence the mind of Heaven Noah is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Person in Commission constituted to proclaim the Will of his Prince Didym in Hom. â—â— 6. p. 183. Shrev The Scholiast upon Homer says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every King has his proper Heraulds This Office doth not open to every one who can perswade himself that he is indued with abilities agreeable to the importance of it but is peculiar only to those who are ordained to it Noah is stiled the Eighth Preacher It is more congruous to refer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He spared not the old World but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the Eighth Noah there being none of the name before but Noah the Eighth Preacher This contributes evidence to the act of Divine Justice in drowning the World which altho' eight eminent Preachers of Righteousness had been employed in order to the promoting a reformation neglected them all and entertained their advice with scorn and derision These Eight are Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Jared Enoch Mathusala Lamech Noah Enos challengeth the first place Of his time it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Preaching began in the name of the Lord. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may admit of this interpretation is evident Jonah 3.2 It has a plain affinity with the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived and is in the Septuagint expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 41.43 Exod. 32.5 Prov. 8.1 That which our Translation attributes to Men in general the Greek and Latin assigns to Enos only So that we are not destitute of authority if we thus read the Text Then Enos began to Preach in the name of the Lord. Namely concerning the desolation which the prophaneness of Cain's posterity would certainly draw upon the World if not prevented by a sincere and timely Repentance The Second Preacher is Cainan He was so eminent in this Sacred Function that the Kenites who were Scribes and solemnly ordained to expound the Divine Law 1 Chron. 2.55 received their denomination from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Third Mahalaleel The Character of his Office is legible in his name He was set apart to Praise God and proclaim his Righteous Will The Fourth Jared which word imports humility from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descendere The humble God delights to teach and he that is taught of God is not unfit to communicate instruction to others The Fifth Enoch S. Jude represents him as a Prophet declaring that the Lord was coming to execute judgment upon all v. 14 15. His name is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dedicate He was devoted solemnly to the Ministery and those words He walked with God argue that he exercised his Sacred Function The Jerusalem Targum expounds them He laboured in Truth before God even as the Elders are said to labour in Word and Doctrin 1 Tim. 5. The Sixth is Methusala He is the Son of a Prophet and in his very Name did foretel the Flood It is compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to import that when he was dead God would send a universal Deluge He died according to this prediction in the beginning of the year in which the Flood was The Seventh was Lamech He gave an undoubted testimony of his being under the power of a Prophetick Spirit by naming his Son Noah and expounding the meaning of it in these words The same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Gen. 5.29 They plainly presage some signal consolation which would accrue to mankind by him After the Flood until the time of the Law we are not without instances of a like importance The First-born in every Family did execute the Sacerdotal Function We read of Priests before the order of Aaron was instituted and young men sent by Moses to offer burnt offerings which the Chaldee Paraphrase renders the first-born Exod. 19.22 This is the reason why the Apostle in his Epistle to the posterity of Heber in allusion to this Institution saies Ye are come to
continues its pursuit that which is now good in the appetitive faculty will presently become evil because it acts contrary to its immediate rule Tho' there may be policy yet there is but little piety in the practice of those who perswade their Proselytes That light puts out the fire of devotion and an implicit belief is the perfection of Religion The truth is They are so conscious of the infirmity of the foundation they build upon that they use their best endeavours to deprive others of their sight that they may be in no capacity to discover it As we must Worship with our Understanding so likewise with our Will that which is free and of our own election is most acceptable to God Josephus says That God rejected Cain because he offered a Sacrifice which was extorted by force out of the earth and accepted Abel because his victim was free and natural Tho' he missed of the true Reason yet he hit upon a great Truth That a free and uncompelled obedience is most agreeable to the Divine Will God being a Spirit is concerned chiefly in the frame of our Spirits and disvalues that Service which doth not proceed from them 1 Kin. 6.4 The windows of the Temple which Solomon dedicated to him were broad within and narrow without his eye looks more within upon the temper and composure of our hearts than without upon our external performances All the faculties of our Soul must be screw'd up to the highest pitch In the Intellect there must be a superlative esteem of the Divine Majesty in the Will the deepest devotion Every sacred performance challengeth the most reverential regards Altho' there may be culpable excesses in the imperate acts of the Body yet there is no fear of them in the elicite operations of the Soul It is impossible to value love and obey God too much An infinite good requires the utmost vigour of a finite Spirit when it is conversant about it 2. God must be worshipped outwardly with the Body It is to be presented as a living Sacrifice Rom. 12.1 holy and acceptable to him We must not imitate them who use to take to themselves all the flesh of their victims and offer up nothing but the Blood and Soul to their Deities Our Bodies being the Lords as well as our Spirits and very proper instruments to commend the practice of Religion to others they are not to be exempted from this Service Outward profession which cannot be without the acts of the body is a duty as well as inward devotion Adam did wear the skins of the beasts which he sacrificed to God The Scripture never censures bodily Service but the want of the heart and a right direction of the intentions in the performance of it He who Worships God with his Body and suffers his Soul at the same time to be under irrelative motions is like a Souldier who imploys his Scabbard in the service of his Commander and his Sword to some other purpose 3. All the modes of the Body must be decent orderly and tending to Edification It is the pleasure of him who is the Supreme Head of the Church to give this general rule and to furnish subordinate Governours with such discretion as will enable them to make convenient deductions from it in particular cases Upon this account the Apostle appeals to Nature that is natural reason when he treats about matters of order 1 Cor. 11. and asserts That disorder will administer occasion to unbelievers to charge the Congregation with madness that is with a deportment contrary to the rule of common reason 1 Cor. 14. 4. Different deductions from this general rule is no just ground for distinct Churches to commence a contest one against another and by this means violate the Unity of the Universal Decency is not confined to a point but has a certain latitude Under a Genus there are more Species than one The Carthaginian and Roman Army at Cannae were not drawn up in the same form and yet in both there was a mode agreeable to the rules of Military Order Upon this account the present Church has no quarrel with the antient altho' she differs from her in matters of this nature Formerly it was thought to be very decent to stand at Prayer on the Lord's day in token of the Resurrection To plunge three times those who were to be Baptised in signification of the Trinity to cloath them when they came out of the water with a white garment Altho' these customs are now laid aside yet we are so far from reproaching those who did use them that we highly value their authority in the important concerns of Religion The several parts of the ancient Church altho ' they differed in things of this Nature yet they had communion together Euseb l. 5. c. 24. Irenaeus in his Letter to Victor says That some conceived that they were to fast but one day before the Passover some Two some Forty nevertheless they had Peace Those Churches which dissented in such matters Sozom. use to send the Sacrament one to another as a token of their agreement in the Faith They thought it a vain thing to be divorced upon the account of some different customes when there was a harmony betwixt them in the great concerns of Religion Firmilianus asserts Epist ad Cypr. That the same Rites were not at Rome and Jerusalem and the like differences were in other places yet the Unity and Peace of the Catholick Church was not broken S. Austin takes notice Ep. ad Casulan 86. That in the garment of the King's Daughter there is variety of work to import that there may be diverse Rites in the Church and yet all reconcileable with the Unity of the Faith 5. Tho' this variety is very excusable in different Churches yet it is highly expedient and desirable that in the same Church there should be the same external mode of Religion Edification is the great design which ought to be aimed at in an Ecclesiastical Community There is nothing which is more opposite to this end than discord and contention and nothing will sooner kindle and blow up the fire of contention than differences of this nature Tho' Men at distance do bear one with another in such variations yet when they are near and in frequent Communion under the same constitution they are apt to take great distaste We like well the different fashions of another Country and treat Strangers which are in them with significations of a due respect yet if any of our own Community affect such an exotick Garb they are usually the object of vulgar scorn and derision The different dress of one is a reproach to another and charges him with folly and weakness as tho' he was not able to discern what is convenient and under such an imputation Men are commonly very uneasie and break out into an exchange of the greatest unkindness The animosity occasioned by a variation in Religious Rites
in all the productions of his hand Tho' the Glory of his Wisdom Power and Justice is likewise conspicuous yet because his Goodness is the leading Attribute and sets all these a-work his Wisdom to contrive the diversity of Creatures his Power to fetch them out of the Abyss of nothing his Justice to correct irregularities and preserve a due temper in the Universe the Glory of all these in effect is nothing but the Glory of his Goodness Indeed in Men it is esteemed a character of Vanity to mind their own glory it having no real foundation to support it if the Supreme Being withdraw himself all sublunary excellency is in a dependence and obnoxious to disappointment But in God it is otherwise His Goodness being boundless and his excellency unchangeable he cannot but take an infinite delight in it And if it be no blemish to delight in the Original it can be none to be pleased with the Copy and to require it as a duty from us to set forth his Glory in our Conversation especially considering there is nothing more agreeable to the end of our Creation and perfective of Intellectual Nature than to be thus imployed Hieroc p. 25 When he commands this from us he enjoyns us to be like unto himself to imitate his Goodness to lead a virtuous life to abstain from all things which bear an opposition to his Nature and Will And What can be more beneficial This lays a sure foundation for our inward Peace it derives upon us many external Benedictions there is nothing more honourable than to be like unto God and ingaged in a Conversation in which the resemblance of his Holiness is visible If the Glory of God has all these advantages to commend it we have enough to justifie the order of our Thoughts and induce us to believe That it ought to have the chief room in them in all our addresses to Heaven When This has taken its place according to the dignity of its Nature it is no infringement of any precept to have an eye upon the other subordinate ends in particular upon eternal life God has for this purpose exposed it to publick view He has brought Immortality to Light by the Gospel and stiled it The prize of the high calling Phil. 3. in allusion to a custom at the Olympick Games where the Prize was hung over the Goal as an invitation to the Racers to exert the utmost of their vigour It can be no transgression in us to have an eye upon that which God has set forth that it may be looked upon This practice is no prejudice to his Glory which is so blended with our eternal interest That he who aims at the one must necessarily hit the other If we may eat and drink with a design to preserve our Temporal Life and yet not violate that injunction Whether ye eat or drink do all to the Glory of God without controversie we may Worship with a purpose to gain Eternal Life without contracting the guilt of an infringement There is no fear of falling under the imputation of a mercenary Spirit so long as we eye Salvation as an effect not of humane Merit but divine Bounty not as the Sovereign End but that which doth minister and is subservient to The Glory of God SECT IV. Concerning Assistance relating to Worship OUR First Parent by his fall from the Tree of Knowledge did not only hurt himself but his posterity All descended from him are under an Hereditary distemper How frequent is it for children to express an inclination to those impieties which they never saw acted If they were not under some sinful prepossessions no reasonable account can be given why a few bad Examples should be more efficacious in the impressing of Vice upon them than the most Religious Education of Virtue If we look into the deportment of those who are come to a mature Age we shall find them generally violating the eternal Order of the Divine Will in giving precedency to the lesser Good and degrading that which of right doth challenge the Priority Nothing is more manifest than an universal propension to such objects as are incongruous to intellectual Nature and far below the dignity of an Immortal Spirit This distemper is so manifest that all sorts of men have taken notice of it The Sacred Writers have set it forth in a very clear light The Jews have a Tradition That the old Serpent did infuse poison into Eve whereby the nature of her off-spring is vitiated and That Circumcision was instituted as an Antidote Therefore when a Child is Circumcised it is the custome to have one stand ready with a vessel filled with dust to receive the praeputium This figure of Original corruption they mingle with the food of the Serpent to signifie That thro' his contrivance it was brought into the World This they account not only a disease but a sin which makes them obnoxious to Hell and therefore in the form used at Circumcision it is expressed That that Sacrament delivers them ab inferis which cannot be when they are but eight days old in case they are not from their birth prepossessed with something which makes them liable to that condemnation In Pythagoras's verses This hereditary disorder is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Hierocles's Comment upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By it we are deprived of an ability to Worship and serve God in an acceptable manner and come to labour under several defects We want light to direct us how to Worship him Strength to perform what we are directed to Merit to procure acceptance of what we perform Help is provided for us under all these necessities We have the holy Scripture to give us light The Holy Spirit to communicate strength The blessed Merits of our Saviviour to procure acceptance I will treat of these in their order I. We have the Holy Scripture to direct us This is a perfect Digest of the mind of Heaven concerning all things necessary to Salvation We have in it not only the true measures of Faith without which none can please God but the exact rules of Holiness without which none can see him In order to the understanding the ground of our dependence upon this infallible Directory the following Propositions are to be considered 1. The Worshipping of God is of peremptory necessity in order to Salvation None can be admitted to a fruition of the beatifical Vision but those who have paid their due acknowledgments to him in this life 2. Moses and the Prophets our blessed Lord and his Apostles did by Oral Tradition reveal all things necessary to Salvation The design of their Sermons was nothing but a disclosure of the whole Counsel of God about this grand concernment 3. What they spoke was evidenced to be the real mind of God by inward characters of Divinity and external miraculous operations As the Supreme Being has set his Arms upon his Works whereby it may be known who
errour is charged in sacred Writ upon the Will as the original of it This doth not render Religion uncertain Fallibility and certainty are not inconsistent There may be an actual certainty where there is no absolute infallibility A Judge is not infallible and yet he may be certain that the sentence which he pronounceth is right A man may be sure of what he sees plainly demonstrated before him altho' he is not out of the power and influence of all deception When a foundation is laid and some build gold silver and precious stone upon it others wood hay stubble it is as easie for one who is not infallible to discern the difference betwixt these superstructures as to distinguish a wall of marble form that which is made of brick If there be no certainty without infallibility Scepticism must be admitted and a stop put to all proceedings of Justice No Man ought to be condemned to suffer a penalty except it be certain that he deserves it and who are there but fallible Men to give evidence and judge of his demerits If the Promises of Scripture have sâ—â—â—â— sence as is contended for how comes it to be known It is a received principle amongst those with whom we are concerned That they cannot be sure of the meaning of the Bible without the interpretation of an infallible Spirit and by consequence we must be sure that the Church is infallible before we can be sure of the Sence of Scripture and if so the promise cannot be alledged as an argument to prove infallibility for then there will be a perfect circle The sence of the promise is justified by the infallibility of the Church and the infallibility of the Church by the sence of the promise From hence it is apparent That the meaning of the promise may be known without the interpretation of an infallible Spirit and if so why not the sence of other places of Scripture If we should enter upon an examination of the particular Texts of Scripture which are pretended to favour the Infallibility which the Romanists contend for they would be found no way answerable to that purpose for which they are produced They are such as these If he neglect to hear the Church c. Lo I am with you to the end of the world He will guide you into all truth He that heareth you heareth me It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us The Church which is the pillar and ground of Truth He that will not hearken to the Priest shall die Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church I have prayed that thy faith fail not Feed my Sheep To all which we briefly answer in order 1. When we are commanded To hear the Church This Church may be the Greek or Protestant as well as the Roman and hearing doth not imply the infallibility of it Every Parishioner is commanded to hear the Minister which is set over him and yet no body from thence will infer that he is infallible This Church we are not to believe without making any scrutiny but lie under obligation to try all things and hold fast that which is good The command of the Church doth not free us from sin in our conformity to it The Jews contracted a deep guilt in compassing the death of our blessed Lord tho' they did it in obedience to their Governours Not only Pastors but the Sheep know the voice of their supreme Shepherd and are in a capacity to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger 2. When it is said I will be with you to the end of the world This assures us of the presence of Christ with his Ministers so long as the world endures but not that he will give the same measure of assistance which the Apostles did enjoy That which is sufficient in every Age is ascertained by this promise but not that which is efficacious to such a degree as will secure them from all errour for then every particular Pastour will be as Infallible as every Apostle was 3. When it is asserted That when the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all truth it cannot be proved That this promise is made to any besides the Apostles The context plainly appropriates it to them I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now These words have an evident aspect upon the Disciples only If we should grant That not only the Apostles but their Successors are the objects of the promise what is intended to be proved will not follow namely Infallibility The direction of the Spirit may be opposed He gives in all ages a sufficient but not an irresistible guidance Many tho' they are put into a right way by him yet desert it and follow their own erroneous apprehensions 4. Those words He that heareth you heareth me are spoken of the Seventy Disciples not assembled in a Council but as going up and down from place to place to preach the Gospel So that if they be construed in such a fence as to favour Infallibility they will prove more than is desired namely That this priviledge of not erring belongs to every Preacher who has a lawful authority conferred upon him to publish the Gospel 5. Those words It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us do not argue That the blessed Spirit will infallibly assist in all future Councils They assert what was done at this present Convention but hold forth no promise of the same degree of assistance in all Ages The reason of this extraordinary aid was peculiar to those times The Apostles then were to lay the foundation to fix an unerring rule both for the converted Jews and Gentiles The rule being once setled the necessity of the continuance of the same degree of assistance did cease The Heavens did forbear to rain down Manna so soon as the Israelites were in possession of a Country furnished with all convenient provision It is no good consequence That because the Sanhedrim in Moses's time was endued with an extraordinary Spirit therefore the same favour must be indulged to all their Successours even to the Council which put the Lord of Life to death 6. In those words The Church of the living God the pillar and ground of Truth The word Church must import That in which Timothy is directed how to demean himself and that undoubtedly was the Church of Ephesus of which he had the Ecclesiastical inspection That Church did hold forth the True Doctrin of the Gospel in its publick Profession even as pillars upon which the Edicts of Princes are fastned expose them to the view of all that pass by The expression alludes to the Temple of Diana much celebrated for its magnificent Pillars upon which the rules of the Religion of that Goddess were inscribed The Apostle intimates That those Columns were the Pillars of falshood but the Church of Christ in the City the Pillar of Truth holding forth the True Doctrin of
Teachers among you who shall privily bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 If any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death 1 Pet. 5.19 20. If conversion from errour procures Salvation perseverance in errour must inevitably infer damnation Heresies are reckoned amongst those things which shut men out of the kingdom of Heaven All sins whatsoever spring from errour in the understanding This is expressed in the names which the Scripture gives to sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an aberration from the mark Sinners are stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unreasonable 2 Thess 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without understanding Tit. 3.3 Fools Act. 26.11 A deceived heart is represented as the root of all miscarriages Is 44.19 20. If the fruit be damnable it is no uncharitableness to think the root is so 4. The reason why a just Catalogue of errours damnable to all men cannot be made is because that errour may be damnable to one which is not so to another Obligations to believe spring out of those advantages which Men have to know the mind of God therefore all not enjoying the same advantages cannot lie under an equal obligation Tho' this makes it difficult to give the number of errours yet it is no impediment to the discretion of their quality Number and quality are different modes and fall under distinct perceptions That kind of Locusts which destroyed the fruits of Aegypt were easily distinguish'd from others of the same denomination and yet it was impossible to make a Catalogue of them 5. The fault may be known by the guilty if they please to look back after they have made that which they call a mature search and observe how often they have given their assent before there has been such a degree of clarity in the object as could with justice lay a claim to it Extrinsecal respects and not the merit of the Cause do usually prevail with Men to take up an Opinion and when they have espoused it the often repetition of that which at first they knew to be an uncertainty makes them at last to give credit to it in good earnest Tho' they were Lyars at the beginning yet in the end became believers The best way to discover the deception is to make a review and to consider the first motives which did introduce their credence They are usually some excentrical regards to the persons of some which are under the same perswasion The fallibility of such inducements will give us just reason to look back withdraw our assent and not to terminate it upon any thing for the future but that which doth manifest its truth by undeniable evidence 6. God hath not put us into a state of probability Truths of peremptory necessity are delivered to us in demonstrations If they be hid it is only to those whose eyes are blinded by the God of this World The light of the glorious Gospel is plain and conspicuous enough in it self If every thing must be esteemed probable only against which some luxuriant wits may devise objections the clearest propositions will not arrive at the honour of being accounted certain but must be contented to take their place amongst probabilities It is as easie for a sceptical fancy to raise scruples as for Travellers in dry weather to raise dust in the high way It is reported of Car. Vedel p. 27. Perronius when he had made an Oration before Henry the third of France to prove the existence of the Deity with the great applause of the Auditory he made a tender to speak as much on the contrary side There is nothing more visible to us than local motion and yet the certainty of it has not been exempt from being encountred with opposition Objections are like clouds not all of them obscure the Sun and render his light dubious but those only which lye in a direct line betwixt that Luminary and the visive faculty Many objections may be started on either side but if the splendour of the object be so efficacious as not to permit them to come in a direct line betwixt it and the perceptive faculty they ought not to make any abatement and degrade the object from a state of certainty to a state of probability 7. An erroneous Conscience is no more the true Vicegerent of God than the Pseudo-Smerdis was the Brother of Cambyses or Perkin Warbeck the Son of Edward the fourth An erroneous Conscience is but a Counterfeit and no more to be obeyed than those pretenders If nothing falls under condemnation which is done according to Conscience S. Paul before his conversion was as unblameable as he believed himself to be when he expressed the highest degree of enmity to the Church The Jews also by the same way of arguing will be discharged from all guilt who thought it an acceptable service to God to shed the blood of his Servants Joh. 16.3 Errour in the Conscience is to be resolved into the Will as the spring of it and therefore cannot sanctisie those bad effects which it doth naturally produce Conscience is nothing but the Judgment for the right information of which a sufficient provision is made We then err when we neglect to make use of this provision and acquiesce in sudden dictates grounded upon something which is extrinsecal to the Cause and do not persevere in our scrutiny till matters be brought to such a degree of perspicuity as duely qualifies them for assent I have now finished the first particular Our Light to direct us in the Worship of God is to be directed from the Holy Scripture I will proceed to the next 2. Our strength to perform what we are directed unto we must expect from the Holy Spirit His assistance is either General or Special General Where the Gospel is preached it is accompanied with a Divine Power whereby the hearers are put into a capacity of complying with the demands of it Upon this account it is stiled the Administration of the Spirit the Law of the Spirit of Life the Power of God unto Salvation And Christ is represented as waiting to see what improvement will be made of it Behold I stand at the door and knock And those who frustrate the Divine Call are said to resist the Holy Ghost And those who are obedient to be begotten again by the Word which is a work appropriated to the Spirit as the principal Agent Such persons have a power to know That there is a Supreme Being which governs the World to discern their own iniquity in breaking those Laws by which he governs to be filled with consternation upon the account of the eternal pains which the Gospel threatens to the disobedient to have some hope of Amnesty and forgiveness in consideration of the Evangelical Promises and under these dispositions to
cast themselves down before the throne of the divine benignity and with all humility implore the communication of a higher assistance That they may be inabled to serve God with a Spirit of love and delight and with an Eye entirely fixed upon his Glory Those who have made by the help of this general grace so near an approach to the Kingdom of Heaven and have so far wrought out their Salvation with fear and trembling It is the usual method of the Divine Spirit to communicate unto them a more special aid to work in them to will and to do Whereas the proud who refuse to improve this talent are rejected these humble persons find acceptance and have a greater measure of grace communicated to them Jam. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 Is 57.15 They are in the ready way to be impregnated with a principle which is stiled a new heart Ezek. 36.26 the new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 the new man Eph. 4.24 the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.4 the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 the unction 1 Jo. 2.27 And likewise to be excited by a supernal influence to act according to this principle Tho' the habitual gift is perfect as it descends from the Father of Lights yet as it stands in relation to the Recipient out of which it does not expel all the remains of the Primitive Apostasy it being but imperfect it has need of fresh influences to quicken it Upon this account God is pleased not only to enkindle the sparks of grace but to prevent their decay by enlivening them with the breath of his Holy Spirit He not only enstamps a new bias upon the Heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but with his own hand puts it forward toward the mark This influence is that which David so importunately petitions for shew me thy ways teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth Ps 25.4 5. Open mine eyes Ps 119.18 make me to understand the way of thy precepts v. 27. Teach me the way of thy statutes v. 33. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies v. 26. Make me to go in the way of thy commandments v. 35. order my steps in thy word v. 133. This holy Man in these applications must aim at the obtaining of some thing which he was sensible of the want of At the time of this address he was invested with a Religious Principle and therefore must have his Eye upon a Divine Influence whereby his heart might be excited and drawn forth to action To this is consonant what is expressed in Ezekiel 36.26 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways The stony heart is not only removed and a tractable temper placed in the room which is stiled a heart of flesh but the Spirit is to be put into them in order to the stirring them up to walk in the ways of God The same thing is asserted in the Ep. to the Hebrews c. 13.20 21. 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 thro' Jesus Christ That which is most pleasing is the Act of Religion it having a nearer affinity to the Divine Nature which is a pure act than the Power has The working of this by a Celestial influence is petitioned for Faith which is the spring of Religious Worship is represented in the very act to be the gift of God Bhil 1. v. 29. To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports actual suffering So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actual belief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes the Act of Worship is expressed as the effect of the Divine Donation Luke 1. v. 73 74. Parallel to all this are the words of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you to will and to do It is not only the power to will and to do which is represented as the product of Divine Grace but the volition and action The influence is so efficacious That the acts which are freely exerted by Men are attributed to him from whom it proceeds as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not only signifie him that is able to work but him who worketh so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not import only a power to do but the doing or action it self Those who are thus dealt with are said to be drawn by the Father Jo. 6.44 After they have gone thro' the preparatory work by the help of his general grace This special effectually pulls their hearts and brings them over to Christ This is the usual method of God's proceeding with those who live under the Gospel He puts a Talent into the hand of every one and if it be rightly used he secures to the improver by promise the communication of a more powerful assistance So that if any want it none are blameable for the defect but themselves He who is unfaithful in the discharge of an inferior trust cannot expect to be imployed in a greater He who hath a stock of a hundred pounds and imbezleth it may thank his own folly That a greater sum is not committed to him It is no prejudice to what has been asserted That God deals sometimes otherwise with Men. S. Paul before his Conversion was so far from being under any preparatory disposition That he was employing his strength to destroy the Faith of Christ at that time when he was effectually called by him There is no rule but may admit of some exception God has his chosen vessels of Mercy The Captain General of our Salvation has besides his other Regiments Artic. 17. one peculiar to himself God hath chosen in Christ some out of Mankind Helps are vouchsafed to many which exceed the ordinary measures In the family in Heaven and Earth every Child's portion tho' it be sufficient yet is not equal S. Paul was a special object of Divine dignation and had extraordinary communications to secure his permanency amidst all the disanimating circumstances he was cast into He stiles himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one suddenly and not regularly brought forth as Abortives use to be The breathings of the Holy Spirit are like to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Winds which by Geographers are divided into two sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such are common to all places and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are proper to some God having established Christ as a King for ever he doth ascertain to him a people to rule over by the most efficacious motions of his holy Spirit whereby their reluctancies are conquered and minds bowed into a resignation and submission to the will of Heaven As for those who have not the Gospel preached unto them the divine procedure with them is more concealed As the Scripture doth industriously give an account of the Holy Seed and but occasionally touch upon those generations which are out of that line So it gives a most distinct representation
and consider That Christ suffered the punishment of our sin what he suffered was in our stead By his Sufferings the damage done by sin is repaired and the mind of the Supreme Rector fully reconciled the verity of the third Proposition will be evident That a full and complete satisfaction is made by Jesus Christ 4. Our acceptance with God is upon the account of this meritorious satisfaction It sets believers free from the Curse of the Law The Curse of the Law doth include the loss of the Divine Favour That which frees us from this malediction must necessarily restore us to our acceptation with God The ransome laid down by our Redeemer as it has an aspect upon the justice of Heaven is said to satisfie as it stands in relation to those benefits it procures for us to merit So that our acceptance is upon the account of the meritorious satisfaction of our Blessed Lord. Therefore S. Paul asserts That God hath made us accepted in the beloved Epb. 1.6 and S. Peter represents our Spiritual Services to be acceptable to God thro' Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 Of this truth there are very early significations Psal 80.15 18. David prays God That he would visit the vineyard which he had made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter Regem Messiam as the Chaldee Paraphrase expounds it c. 9.17 Daniel prays That God would shine upon the Sanctuary for the Lord's sake The Israelites use to pray with their faces toward the Temple Rev. 21.22 it being a Type of the blessed Messias which they had a great expectation of When Ezekias turned his face to the wall and prayed 2 Kin. 20.2 Jonathan in his Targum says He turned it to the wall of the house of the Sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At the hour of Prayer Act. 10.9 it was usual to go to the house top That they might have the fairer prospect that way The Hebrews say That in the fire whereby God did declare his acceptance of their Sacrifices there was the appearance of a Lyon to signifie That it was the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah which procured them an interest in the Divine Favour 5. Our acceptance with God is only upon the account of the meritorions satisfaction of his Blessed Son As he has troden the Wine-press alone So the honour of meriting for us is peculiar to him The Romanists indeed speak of the merits of Saints and are not contented to attribute to them so much only as is expedient for themselves but assert an overplus which being blended with the surplusage of the merits of Christ and laid up in a Treasury are the ground and foundation of the Papal Indulgencies But he who considers the true notion of Merit will easily discover all this to be but a fiction It imports a dignity in the work adequate to the reward In the choicest of those services which they perform who arrive at the greatest degree of Sanctity no such worth can be found If it may it must be either innate or derived from without It cannot be the first for the reward is no less than God himself under the fullest disclosures of his Goodness and none of the most Heroick performances can indignity be equal to him Gen. 17. If the Passions and Sufferings of this Life are not worthy to stand in competition and be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed much less the actions There can be no action more noble than with alacrity of mind to suffer what the profession of Religion may expose us to If it be acquired Worth derived from something without it must be either from the Habit of Grace the Spirit of God the Merit of Christ or the Promise All these are pretended by the Romanists as the fountain of it 1. Not from the Habit of Grace Altho' as it descends from the Father of lights it is a good and perfect gift yet considered with relation to the Recipient into which it descends and out of which it does not expel all the remains of the Primitive Apostasy it is but imperfect Now it acting as a quality of this subject it is impossible that it should invest its operations with the highest degree of perfection Nothing can communicate to another That which it has not in it self 2. Not from the Spirit which excites and moves the Soul to act according to the Habit. If any such value be imparted the Spirit in the communication must act as a necessary or a free Cause Not as a necessary for then every Religious action will be meritorious there is no good but the Spirit of God contributes to the production of it and a necessary cause is uniform in all its effects Not as a free cause For if it is not the will of the Holy Spirit to invest us in this life with such a measure of Grace as will prevent all sinful defects We have more than a usual presumption That it is not his pleasure to impress such a dignity upon our services as is proportionable to the eternal reward in the life to come 3. Not from the Merit of Christ If he has merited That we may merit then his deservings communicate to our Services either a finite or infinite value If a finite only then they cannot merit that infinite love which our acceptance supposeth Finite worth is not commensurate to an unlimited and infinite reward If infinite then the works of Holy Men are not inferiour in perfection to the Works of Christ infinity will admit of no degrees A work which is finite in respect of the Principle from whence it proceeds has not capacity enough to receive and entertain boundless dignity The Ocean may as well be included within the confines of a small vessel Christ has procured for us a power to do well and acceptance for those actions which flow from that power but not a power to merit The nature of a meer creature is not reconcileable with such an immunity It cannot under the greatest elevation do any service but that which God may challenge as a just debt and the notion of Merit includes and imports something which is not due 4. Not from the Promise The Promise doth not communicate any excellency to the Work but supposeth it to be in its perfection In the Old Covenant Do this and live Do which imports the work is the Antecedent Live which is the promise of compensation the Consequent The Consequent cannot be the Cause of any thing in the Antecedent If the Promise raises the value and dignity of the Work then the larger the Promise is the greater will the value of the Work be which assertion runs the maintainers of it upon an inevitable contradiction for the more large the Promise is the greater is the Mercy of Heaven and the more value there is in the service the less mercy and kindness there is in the reward Now if the amplitude of the Promise adds a value to the
with him 1 Th. 5.10 This Family-devotion S. Peter has his Eye upon then he enjoyns the Husband to give honour to the wife as the weaker vessel lest their prayers be hindred 1 Pet. 3.7 To this Apostolical rule the practice of Constantine the Great is very agreeable His Palace was a lively resemblance of a Church in it He together with all his Royal Retinue did offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 4. de Vit. Con. c. 17. Vales as Eusebius relates III. As Members of an Ecclesiastical Community and so we are obliged to joyn with the Church in publick places of Worship The reason of such Assemblies will be very evident if we consider the following particulars 1. The Nature of the Church Every one who is admitted into it enters into a Corporation The Church is stiled a Body 1 Cor. 12. The Members of every Corporation are not only to be engaged in such solitary acts as relate to themselves in a private capacity but lie under an obligation to meet together for the performance of such common offices as concern the utility of the whole There is no Community that has not some solemn place appointed for the Convention of the Members of it 2. Christ's appointment of publick Pastours and Teachers The design of this Ordination is to edifie his body if the several parts of this body do not convene in order to the receiving the instruction of these Teachers the end of this Holy Institution will be totally disappointed 3. His Ordinances as Baptism The Supper of the Lord Excommunication Absolution All these suppose the Duty of assembling publickly By the First We gain a right to External Communion In the Second We have an enjoyment of it The Third imports an exclusion from it The Fourth a re-admission to it 4. The security of his Disciples Those who conscientiously frequent publick assemblies have a promise That God will be a sun and a shield to them Psal 84.11 They have the protection of good Angels The Walls of the Temple were carved with Cherubims to signifie their surrounding them as a Guard to defend them from danger They are not so much exposed to the assaults of the Infernal Spirit The Devil made choice of the Wilderness as the most advantageous place to set upon our Saviour in When we are united with others we are not with so much facility broken by the force of an adversary as when alone Such assemblies are a good security against Apostasie The Apostle insinuates Heb. 10.25 That the deserting the Church is the next door to the desertion of the Faith The Zeal of those whom we have Communion with is of excellent use to repair the decaies of our Love Coals put together keep one another a-live which a-sunder would quickly die 5. The Glory of God We then glorifie him when we manifest and set forth the peerless perfections of his Nature The fuller this manifestation is the more Glory must necessarily accrue to him It cannot but be more full and clear in a joynt performance of Religious duties than in solitary devotion This made it so desirable to David to go with a multitude to the House of God The practice of the People of God in all Ages Before the Law Under the Law After the Law 1. Before the Law We read of Publick Places set apart for this Sacred purpose Abraham erected an Altar betwixt Aai and Bethel Gen. 13.4.21.33.33.20.35.7 and planted a Grove in Beersheba where He called upon the name of the Lord. Rebecca went out to enquire of the Lord which implies a known place where God use to manifest himself to his people Jacob built an Altar at Salem and Bethel Fag in loc Moriah is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the land of Divine Worship by the Chaldee Paraphrast Gen. 22.2 All the Hebrews assert That it was the place where Noah c. offered Sacrifice to God 2. Under the Law Mention is made of the Tabernacle High Places Temple Proseuchas Synagogues Tabernacle This was set up at Shilo Jos 18.1 And because of the assembling of the People stiled the Tabernacle of the Congregation This together with the Ark remained there from the fourteenth year of Joshua's government until the death of Eli the High-Priest When the Ark was taken captive and prophaned by the unhallowed hands of the Philistins a liberty was granted for the erection of Altars upon high places like to that which Gideon built upon a Rock upon an extraordinary occasion Jud. 6. v. In Ramoth the City of Samuel there was such a high place where the Sacrifice of the People was offered up If this had been contrary to the mind of God no question but Samuel who as a Prophet had knowledge to understand his Will and as a Judge Power to execute it and is upon record as a person who was faithful in the discharge of his duty would have exerted his authority in the demolition of it The like we read of in Gibeon where the Ark and Tabernacle were which Moses made in the Wilderness The censure passed upon Solomon and the succeeding Kings of Judah upon the account of the high places doth not imply That it was a sin to frequent them in Samuel's time and part of David's reign For when the Israelites were infested with the Plague David was directed to rear an Altar in the threshing Floor of Araunah in order to the appeasing of the Divine displeasure When he had done what he was enjoyned and was blessed in his action with that success which he desired he being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit declared That was the place of the divine Schecina This is the house of the Lord God and this is the offering for the burnt offering of Israel 1 Chro. 22. v. 1. From that time it became a fault to have recourse to the High Places Solomon being young when this command was given did forget it when he went to Gibeon His offence tho' recorded yet was pardoned and his request fully answered After the Tabernacle we read of the Temple In order to the performance of the Service of God in it the Priests were digested into Four and Twenty Courses in their several Courses they gave their attendance for a whole week together There they Prayed Sang Praises read the Commandments Offered up the daily Sacrifice for all Israel As one Course did enter upon the Sabbath the other went forth 1 Chron. 11.5 7. So that within less than the space of half a year it came to the turn of the same Persons to wait It was lawful for all the Courses to be present together at the Three great Feasts with this caution That they only to whom it did appertain to attend that Week might offer up the Free-will Offerings and the Daily Sacrifice The Hebrews say as the Priests so the Body of the People was divided into Four and Twenty Stations The Daily Sacrifice being offered for all Israel â—ev 1.3 c. 3.2
Spirit of God being about to set out this proportion alone as a rule for all ages as well under the Gospel as under the Law and looking back upon the great neglect of it in Aegypt and foreseeing the oppositions it would meet with tending to extinguish the memory of it he is pleased in the very front of the precept which enjoyns it to place tins word Remember As for the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing can be necessarily collected from it to enforce our belief that the last of the Seven is designed in the Precept for this article is many times found where it has no such determining influence as Deut. 8.3 Man doth not live by bread only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here doth not signifie this or that kind of Bread but leaves it in its general signification Lev. 18.5 Which if a man do he shall live in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is without any Emphasis and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without aw article Rom. 10.5 When this article is Emphatical it must be collected from the reason of the thing or the circumstances of the place When the Holy Spirit doth design a peculiar determination by it it is often joyned with a separated Pronoun as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak to this young man Zach. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the self same day Gen. 7.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this house and this City Now we have nothing of this nature in the Fourth Command to oblige us to believe such a determining Emphasis in it but on the contrary the reason of the thing and all circumstances duely considered highly favour the sence which has been given The Fourth Commandment is encompassed with Moral Laws and placed in the very Centre of a perpetual rule of righteousness Our interpretation gives the most intelligible account why it should have this situation It is generally asserted That the last of the week was Typical but none have discovered the least tittle of Ceremoniality in one in seven This is reducible to the Laws of Nature which are usually reckoned to be of Two sorts either such as are discovered by the Light of Nature or else such as being made known by revelation are approved of by that Light Institut Justinian Arnold vin com p. 52. Altho' the equity of devoting just One in Seven to the Worship of God is not so manifest as generally to be pitched upon without the aid of revelation yet it being disclosed to be the mind of God it finds a very ready entertainment All agree That some time is to be set a part and what proportion can be more equal and convenient Gell. l. 3. ◠10. noc At. de Etruriae originibus Seld. de jur Nat. Gen. p. 376. Qu 69. p. 432. than the Seventh Varro made it his business to discover an excellency in this number above others Postellus observes That antiently at Rome one day in seven was sacred tho' not the same with the Jewish day The Author of the Question and Answer ad Orthodoxos ascribed to Justin Martyr takes notice of some peculiar marks of honour upon this number and says it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more valuable and eminent than others Now if the observation of one in seven appertains to the Moral Law and the last of the seven to the Ceremonial we ought to interpret the Fourth command for one in seven and not the last For the whole Decalogue being designed for a Royal Law an everlasting rule and standard for all ages certainly every Command in it is to be construed in such a sence as doth most fully comply with this intention in the Law-giver This interpretation makes the fourth Precept like to the others it stands in conjunction with for they do not descend to any particulars The First Command doth not name Saturn Mars or Mercury but keeps in the general Thou shalt have no other Gods The Second doth not mention the image of any particular Deity The Third doth not name assertory or promissory Oaths The Fifth doth not nominate any individual which stands in the relation of a Father or Mother So the Fourth doth not express the particular day of Worship but confines it self to that which is more general One in Seven whether it be the first or last as God shall please to appoint It is not difficult to discern the temper of this Law by the genius of the other precepts which are its companions Lastly There are many very considerable for Learning and Judgment who favour the interpretation which has been given S. Chrysostome glossing upon these words Hom. 16. Gen. 88. p. Fron. Duc. God rested the seventh day and sanctified it says From hence we are taught to set a-part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day in the circle of week for the exercise of spiritual duties Aquinas affirms That the last of the seven is not contained in the Fourth Command Preceptum de observatione Sabbati est secundum aliquid morale c. secundum hoc inter praecepta Decalogi computatur non autem quantum ad taxationem temporis quia secundum hoc est ceremoniale P. 2. Q. 100. art 3.22 Q. 112. art 4. The Precept concerning the observation of the Sabbath is in some respect moral and in that sence it is accounted amongst the Ten Commandments and not as it sets out the particular time because that was ceremonial In the Homily of Time and Place these words occur By this Command meaning the Fourth we ought to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works For like as it appeareth by this Commandment That no Man in the six days ought to be slothful and idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him even so God hath given express charge to all Men That upon the Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour c. Mr. Hooker asserts Eccl. pol. l. 5. p. 378 379. That we are bound to account the Sanctification of one day in seven a duty which God's immutable Law doth exact for ever Mr. Mede speaking of the Fourth Precept Diatr of the observation of the Sabbath c. p. 240. says Where it is called in the Command the Seventh day that is in respect of Six days and not otherwise and therefore whensoever it is so called those six days of labour are mentioned with it The Seventh therefore is the Seventh after six days of labour nor can any more be inferred from it The example of the Creation is brought for the quotum One day in Seven as I have shewed and not for the designation of any certain day for that Seventh Curcellaeus is of the same mind De Esu Sangu p. 64. Notare oportet nihil
exercise the Ministerial function imployed Peter to Preach and by his Sermon at the Third Hour converted Three thousand at the Ninth hour Five Thousand He held the Angels of the Asian Churches in his right hand and out of his mouth went a two-edged sword the Sword of the Spirit namely the Word of God All this is very agreeable to the nature of a day wholly devoted to Religion 4. The Holy Apostles and Disciples Upon the First of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preached to them Act. 20.7 Here are actions very suitable to the design of a Sabbath Preaching and Administring the Holy Sacrament The Time when these actions were performed is the First of the Week This was a constant custom we never read that the Apostle in any place where he found none but Disciples did upon the old Sabbath communicate with them in those Ordinances which the Gospel has appointed Now as touching a Collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia so do ye Vpon the first of the week let every one of you lay up by him in store 1 Cor. 16.1 2. The duty here enjoyned is a Collection for the Saints The Apostle did design That it should be very liberal according to the estate of every Man Why he should wave the second third fourth fifth day of the Week and pitch upon the First for the doing of this generous and pious Work cannot be conceived except upon the First of the Week the Disciples of Christ use to meet and be engaged in such Religious performances as have a tendency to excite the mind to Christian liberality These were the thoughts of S. Chrysostome Hom. 43. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was an idoneity and fitness in the day to dispose and lead them to the acts of Charity This custom was not only amongst the Corinthians but all other Christians The Epistle is addressed to all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.2 and it was not only upon one or two First days but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First day of every Week There remaineth therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeping a Sabbath to the people of God For he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his works as God did from his Heb. 4.9 10. These words are directed to the Hebrews who were inclinable thro' the efficaey of former impressions to disvalue the institutions of the Gospel That the Apostle might prevail with them to yield a chearful conformity to those appointments He demonstrates That Christ is more valuable than Moses and stiles their deserting the Gospel a departure from the living God and cites Psalm 95. which has a peculiar aspect upon the state of the Church under the Messias In it are described his Disciples under these names the People of his pasture the Sheep of his hand Their solemn meeting to Worship O come let us worship the duties performed at this meeting as Prayer Let us kneel before the Lord our maker v. 6. Singing of Psalms Let us make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms v. 2 3. Hearing the word if you will hear his voice v. 7. a particular day on which all these duties are to be performed To day if you will hear This day being intended for a Sabbath at which time all spiritual advantages are administred which tend to the bringing the Soul into truest satisfaction and rest an exhortation is given to the People not to harden their hearts as the Israelites did in the provocation lest they be deprived of this rest as the Israelites were of theirs in the land of Canaan Now because there are several sorts of rests recorded in the Scripture The heavenly rest in the world to come the rest of the old Sabbath rest in the land of Canaan the Apostle makes it manifest that it is none of these which the Psalmist means but the rest of a Sabbath under the Gospel Not the heavenly for the rest here spoken is confined to a certain day v. 7. Whereas the rest above is every day without interruption Not the rest of the old Sabbath for that was at the beginning when the works were finished from the Creation of the World But the rest mentioned by the Psalmist is some future thing under the Gospel as I have sworn if they shall enter Not the Rest in the land of Canaan If Jesus had given them rest then he would not afterwards have spoken of another day From these premises it is concluded there remaineth therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeping a Sabbath day to the people of God under the Gospel And that we may know this Sabbath is the Resurrection-day and by consequence the First of the Week it is added for he which entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his God the Father upon the Last of the Week ceased from his works and made it a day of rest unto his people Therefore God the Son has done the like with the First of the Week he then putting a period to his state of Humiliation and ceasing from his labour and trouble which he did undergo in the accomplishment of the work of our redemption I was in the Spirit upon the Lord's day Rev. 1.10 By the Lord's day we can understand no less than a day appointed by our Blessed Lord and devoted to his Honour and Worship This day must necessarily be the First of the Week For S. John in expressing this circumstance of Time designs a credit to his relation and therefore must necessarily mean some day which was very well known by this name at the writing of the Revelation It is manifest by Ignatius who was his contemporary That the common name then given to the First of the Week was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This day God was pleased to signalize by a communication of the Holy Ghost in some extraordinary measures S. John was in the Spirit upon it In the words there is an allusion to the manner of speaking amongst the Hebrews who say that a man besides the Soul which he is ordinarily endued with has another Spirit given to him upon the Sabbath which they stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an excellent Soul Manass Ben. Is reconc Buxt Syna Jud. c. 11. p. 288. Such allusions we have in the very Context The Seven Spirits v. 4. have a plain aspect upon the Seven Angels which the Jews say do constantly attend the throne of God And the Governours of the Asian Churches are called Angels with respect to the Rulers in the Synagogues which were known by that name 5. The testimony of the following ages He who consults the Writings which are extant will meet with these four Things which being laid together will amount to what has been asserted 1. That the First of the Week was owned by Christians as a Day of Worship 2. As a Sabbath