had less learning but because they had more love they were children and Babes in Malice they loved Christ and so he became to them a light and a glory St. Paul had more learning then they all and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth he was also the wisest and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent he had a divine light and excellent wisdome superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings And St. Paul though he went very far to the knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new lesson in a new School at the feet of one greater then his Ganialiel his learning grew much greater his notions brighter his skill deeper by the love of Christ and his desires his passionate desires after Jesus The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah 29. 11 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is seal'd And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned He that is no learned man who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets cannot read Gods Book for want of learning For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision not the only one indeed but the common gate But beyond this there must be another learning for he that is learned bring the Book to him and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it if the Book be sealed if his eyes be closed if his heart be not opened if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline Humane learning is an excellent Foundation but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God For we may further observe that blindnesse errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions and to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandements and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise they will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agendo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practise but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talke something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Undivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed
from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie he feels this unintelligible mysterie and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysics can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best learning and Christianity is the best institution and the Spirit of God is the best teacher and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismisse you from this attention Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective Let us now try Gods Method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villaine the opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the publick But this is a sure Rule If the holy man best understands Wisdom and Religion then by the proportions of holinesse we shall best measure the Doctrines that are obtruded to the disturbance of our peace and the dishonour of the Gospell And therefore 1. That is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any duty of Religion He that shall maintain it to be lawfull to make a War for the defence of his Opinion be it what it will his Doctrine is against Godlinesse Any thing that is proud any thing that is peevish and scornful any thing that is uncharitable is against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that forme of sound Doctrine which the Apostle speaks of And I remember that Ammianus Marcellinus telling of George a proud and factious Minister that he was an Informer against his Brethren he sayes he did it oblitus professionis suae quae nil nisi justum suadet lene He forgot his profession which teaches nothing but justice and meeknesse kindnesses and charity And however Bellarmine and others are pleased to take but indirect and imperfect notice of it yet Goodnesse is the best note of the true Church 2. It is but an ill sign of Holinesse when a man is busie in troubling himself and his Superior in little Scruples and Phantastick Opinions about things not concerning the life of Religion or the pleasure of God or the excellencies of the Spirit A good man knows how to please God how to converse with him how to advance the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus to set forwards Holinesse and the love of God and of his Brother and he knows also that there is no Godliness in spending our time and our talk our heart and our spirits about the garments and outsides of Religion And they can ill teach others that do not know that Religion does not consist in these things but Obedience may and reductively that is Religion and he that for that which is no part of Religion destroys Religion directly by neglecting that duty that is adopted into Religion is a man of fancy and of the World but he gives but an ill account that he is a man of God and a son of the Spirit Spend not your time in that which profits not for your labour and your health your time and your studies are very valuable and it is a thousand pitties to see a diligent and a hopefull person spend himself in gathering Cockle-shells and little pebbles in telling Sands upon the shores and making Garlands of uselesse Daisies Study that which is profitable that which will make you useful to Churches and Common-wealths that which will make you desirable and wise Onely I shall add this to you That in Learning there are variety of things as well as in Religion there is Mint and Cummin and there are the weighty things of the Law so there are studies more and lesse usefull and every thing that is usefull will be required in its time and I may in this also use the words of our blessed Saviour These things ought you to look after and not to leave the other unregarded But your great care is to be in the things of God and of Religion in holiness and true wisdom remembring the saying of Origen that the knowledge that arises from goodnesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something that is more certain and more divine then all demonstration then all other Learnings of the World 3. That 's no good Religion that disturbs Governments or shakes a foundation of publick peace Kings and Bishops are the foundations and the great principles of unity of peace and Government like Rachel and Leah they build up the house of Israel and those blind Samsons that shake these Pillars intend to pull the house down My Son fear God and the King saith Solomon and meddle not with them that are given to change That is not Truth that loves changes and the new-nothings of Heretical Schismatical Preachers are infinitely far from the blessings of Truth In the only Language Truth hath a Mysterious Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet it consists of three Letters the first and the last and the middle most of the Hebrew Letters implying to us that Truth is first and will be last and it is the same all the way and combines and unites all extreams it tyes all ends together Truth is lasting and ever full of blessing For the Jews observe that those Letters which signifie Truth are both in the figure and the number Quadrate firme and cubical these signifie a foundation and an abode for ever Whereas on the other side the word which in Hebrew signifies a
righteous man a new vital principle the Spirit of Grace is the spirit of Wisdome and teaches us by secret inspirations by proper arguments by actuall perswasions by personall applications by effects and energies and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vitall operations so is the Spirit of God the life of that life and the cause of all actions and productions Spirituall And the consequence of this is what St. Iohn tells us of Ye have received the Unction from above and that anoynting teacheth you all things All things of some one kind that is certainly all things that pertain to life and Godlinesse all that by which a man is wise and happy We see this by common experience Unlesse the soul have a new life put into it unlesse there be a vital principle within unlesse the spirit of life be the Informer of the spirit of the man the Word of God will be as dead in the operation as the body in its powers and possibilities Sol Homo generant hominem saith our Philosophy A Man alone does not beget a man but a Man and the Sun for without the influence of the Celestiall bodyes all natural actions are ineffective and so it is in the operations of the Soul Which principle divers Fanatics both amongst us and in the Church of Rome misunderstanding look for new Revelations and expect to be conducted by ecstasy and will not pray but in a transfiguration and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations and separate themselves from the conversation of men by affectations by new measures and singularities and destroy order and despise Government and live upon illiterate phantasmes and ignorant discourses These men do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they bely the holy Ghost For the Spirit of God makes men wise it is an evil Spirit that makes them Fools The Spirit of God makes us Wise unto Salvation it does not spend its holy influences in disguises and convulsions of the understanding Gods spirit does not destroy Reason but heightens it he never disorders the beauties of Government but is a God of Order it is the spirit of Humility and teaches no Pride he is to be found in Churches and Pulpits upon Altars and in the Doctors Chaires not in Conventicles and mutinous corners of a house he goes in company with his own Ordinances and makes progressions by the measures of life his infusions are just as our acquisitions and his Graces pursue the methods of nature that which was imperfect he leads on to perfection and that which was weake he makes strong he opens the heart not to receive murmurs or to attend to secret whispers but to hear the Word of God and then he opens the heart and creates a new one and without this new creation this new principle of life we may heare the Word of God but we can never understand it we heare the sound but are never the better unlesse there be in our hearts a secret conviction by the spirit of God the Gospel it self is a dead Letter and worketh not in us the light and righteousness of God Do not we see this by a daily experience Even those things which a good man and an evil man know they do not know them both alike A wicked man does know that good is lovely and sin is of an evill and destructive nature and when he is reproved he is convinced and when he is observed he is ashamed and when he hath done he is unsatisfied and when he pursues his sin he does it in the dark Tell him he shall dye and he sighs deeply but he knows it as well as you proceed and say that after death comes Judgement and the poor man believes and trembles He knows that God is angry with him and if you tell him that for ought he knows he may be in Hell to morrow he knows that it is an intolerable truth but it it also undeniable And yet after all this he runs to commit his sin with as certain an event and resolution as if he knew no argument against it These notices of things terrible and true passe through his understanding as an Eagle through the Air as long as her flight lasted the Air was shaken but there remains no path behind her Now since at the same time we see other persons not so learned it may be not so much versed in Scriptures yet they say a thing is good and lay hold of it they believe glorious things of Heaven and they live accordingly as men that believe themselves halfe a word is enough to make them understand a nod is a sufficient reproof the Crowing of a Cock the singing of a Lark the dawning of the day and the washing their hands are to them competent memorialls of Religion and warnings of their duty What is the reason of this difference They both read the Scriptures they read and heare the same Sermons they have capable understandings they both believe what they heare and what they read and yet the event is vastly different The reason is that which I am now speaking of the one understands by one Principle the other by another the one understands by Nature and the other by Grace the one by humane Learning and the other by Divine the one reads the Scriptures without and the other within the one understands as a son of man the other as a son of God the one perceives by the proportions of the World and the other by the measures of the Spirit the one understands by Reason and the other by Love and therefore he does not only understand the Sermons of the Spirit and perceives their meaning but he pierces deeper and knows the meaning of that meaning that is the secret of the Spirit that which is spiritually discerned that which gives life to the Proposition and activity to the Soul And the reason is because he hath a Divine principle within him and a new understanding that is plainly he hath Love and that 's more then Knowledge as was rarely well observed by St. Paul Knowledge puffethup but Charity edifieth that is Charity makes the best Scholars No Sermons can edify you no Scriptures can build you up a holy building to God unlesse the love of God be in your hearts and purifie your souls from all filthinesse of the Flesh and spirit But so it is in the regions of Starrs where a vast body of fire is so divided by excentric motions that it looks as if Nature had parted them into Orbes and round shells of plain and purest materialls but where the cause is simple and the matter without variety the motions must be uniforme and in Heaven we should either espy no motion or no variety But God who designed the Heavens to be the causes of all changes and motions here below hath placed his Angels in their houses of light and given to every one of his appointed officers a portion of the fiery matter to circumagitate and
roll and now the wonder ceases for if it be enquired why this part of the fire runs Eastward and the other to the South they being both indifferent to either it is because an Angel of God sits in the Centre and makes the same matter turne not by the bent of its own mobility and inclination but in order to the needs of Man and the great purposes of God and so it is in the understandings of men When they all receive the same notions and are taught by the same Master and give full consent to all the propositions and can of themselves have nothing to distinguish them in the events it is because God hath sent his Divine spirit and kindles a new fire and creates a braver capacity and applies the actives to the passives and blesses their operation For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea and an indisposition to holy flames like as in the cold Rivers in the North so as the fires will not burn them and the Sun it self will never warme them till Gods holy Spirit does from the Temple of the new Ierusalem bring a holy flame and make it shine and burn The Naturall man saith the holy Apostle cannot perceive the things of the Spirit they are foolishnesse unto him for they are spiritually discerned For he that discourses of things by the measures of sense thinks nothing good but that which is delicious to the palat or pleases the brutish part of man and therefore while he estimates the secrets of Religion by such measures they must needs seeme as insipid as Cork or the uncondited Mushrom for they have nothing at all of that in their constitution A voluptuous person is like the Dogs of Sicily so fill'd with the deliciousnesse of Plants that grow in every furrow and hedge that they can never keep the sent of their game 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said St. Chrysostome the fire and water can never mingle so neither can sensuality and the watchfulnesse and wise discerning of the spirit Pilato interroganti de veritate Christus non respondit When the wicked Governour asked of Christ concerning truth Christ gave him no answer He was not fit to heare it He therefore who so understands the Words of God that he not only believes but loves the proposition he who consents with all his heart and being convinced of the truth does also apprehend the necessity and obeys the precept and delights in the discovery and layes his hand upon his heart and reduces the notices of things to the practice of duty he who dares trust his proposition and drives it on to the utmost ssue resolving to goe after it whither soever it can invite him this Man walks in the spirit at least thus far he is gone towards it his Understanding is brought in obsequium Christi into the obedience of Christ. This is a loving God with all our mind and whatever goes less then this is but Memory and not Understanding or else such notice of things by which a man is neither the wiser nor the better 3. Sometimes God gives to his choicest his most elect and precious Servants a knowledge even of secret things which he communicates not to others We find it greatly remark'd in the case of Abraham Gen. 18. 17. And the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing that I do Why not from Abraham God tells us v. 19. For I know him that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to doe justice and judgement And though this be irregular and infrequent yet it is a reward of their piety and the proper increase also of the spirituall man We find this spoken by God to Daniel and promised to be the lot of the righteous man in the dayes of the Messias Many shall be purified and made white and tryed but the wicked shall do wickedly and what then None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand Where besides that the wise man and the wicked are opposed plainly signifying that the wicked man is a Fool and an Ignorant it is plainly said that None of the wicked shall understand the wisdome and mysteriousnesse of the Kingdome of the Messias 4. A good life is the best way to understand Wisdome and Religion because by the experiences and relishes of Religion there is conveyed to them such a sweetnesse to which all wicked men are strangers there is in the things of God to them which practice them a deliciousnesse that makes us love them and that love admits us into Gods Cabinet and strangely clarifies the understanding by the purification of the heart For when our reason is raised up by the spirit of Christ it is turned quickly into experience when our Faith relyes upon the principles of Christ it is changed into vision so long as we know God only in the wayes of man by contentious Learning by arguing and dispute we see nothing but the shadow of him and in that shadow we meet with many dark appearances little certainty and much conjecture But when we know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the eyes of holinesse and the intuition of gracious experiences with a quiet spirit and the peace of Enjoyment then we shall heare what we never heard and see what our eyes never saw then the mysteries of Godlinesse shall be opened unto us and cleare as the windows of the morning And this is rarely well expressed by the Apostle If we stand up from the dead and awake from sleep then Christ shall give us light For although the Scriptures themselves are written by the Spirit of God yet they are written within and without and besides the light that shines upon the face of them unlesse there be a light shining within our hearts unfolding the leaves and interpreting the mysterious sense of the spirit convincing our Consciences and preaching to our hearts to look for Christ in the leaves of the Gospell is to look for the living amongst the dead There is a life in them but that life is according to St. Paul's expression hid with Christ in God and unlesse the spirit of God be the Promo-condus we shall never draw it forth Humane Learning brings excellent ministeries towards this it is admirably usefull for the reproof of Heresies for the detection of Fallacies for the Letter of the Scripture for Collateral testimonies for exterior advantages but there is something beyond this that humane Learning without the addition of Divine can never teach Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order motion and influences of the Heaven but besides all this they were taught of God something far beyond these prettinesses Pythagoras read Moses's Books and so did Plato and yet they became not Proselytes of the Religion though they were learned Scholars of such a Master
he that is truly Reform'd himself He knows what pleases God and can best tell by what instruments he is reconciled The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom and the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable saith Solomon He cannot be cousen'd by names of things and feels that Reformation to be Imposture that is Sacrilegious himself is humble and obedient and therefore knows that is not Truth that perswades to Schisme and Disobedience and most of the Questions of Christendom are such which either are good for nothing and therefore to be layd aside or if they be complicated with action and are ministeries of practice no man can judge them so well as the spirituall man That which best pleases God that which does good to our Neighbour that which teaches sobriety that which combines with Government that which speaks honour of God and does him honour that only is Truth Holinesse therefore is a proper and naturall instrument of Divine knowledge and must needs be the best way of instruction in the Questions of Christendom because in the most of them a Duty is complicated with the Proposition No man that intends to live holily can ever suffer any pretences of Religion to be made to teach him to fight against his King And when the men of Geneva turned their Bishop out of doors they might easily have considered that the same person was their Prince too and that must needs be a strange Religion that rose up against Moses and Aaron at the same time but that hath been the method ever since There was no Church till then was ever Governed without an Apostle or a Bishop and since then they who go from their Bishop have said very often to their King too Nolumus hunc regnare and when we see men pretending Religion and yet refuse to own the Kings Supremacy they may upon the stock of holinesse easily reprove their own folly by considering that such recusancy does introduce into our Churches the very worst the most intolerable parts of Popery For perfect submission to Kings is the glory of the Protestant cause and really the reproveable Doctrines of the Church of Rome are by nothing so much confuted as that they destroy good life by consequent and evident deduction as by an Induction of particulars were easie to make apparent if this were the proper season for it 2. Holinesse is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holinesse but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and uselesse and contentious and to one of these heads all Questions will return and therefore in all from Holinesse we have the best Instructions And this brings me to the next Particle of the generall Consideration For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God this new nature this vital principle within us it is that which is worth our learning not vaine and empty idle and insignificant notions in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbes and your flesh unfixed from its bones you are no better and no wiser If the Spirit of God be your Teacher he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God and become like to him and enjoy him for ever by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen and what is any man the more learned if he heares the disputes whether Adam should have multiplied Children in the state of Innocence and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many ages past and troubled themselves with tying and untying Knots like Hypochondriacs in a fit of Melancholy thinking of nothing and troubling themselves with nothing and falling out about nothings and being very wise and very learned in things that are not and work not and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God Mens notions are too often like the Mules begotten by aequivocall and unnaturall Generations but they make no species they are begotten but they can beget nothing they are the effects of long study but they can do no good when they are produced they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae the way of understanding If the Spirit of God be our Teacher we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good to be wise and to be holy to be profitable and carefull and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences more skill in the Scriptures more satisfaction in their doubts then can be obtain'd by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world And if the holy spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions to disturb the Church for interest or pride to resist Government in things indifferent to spend the peoples zeale in things unprofitable to make Religion to consist in outsides and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards No no the Man that is wise he that is conducted by the Spirit of God knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist then to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety for what for Religion no for the body of Religion not so much for the garment of the body of Religion no not for so much but for the Fringes of the garment of the Body of Religion for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren they are things or rather Circumstances and manners of things in which the Soul and spirit is not at all concerned 3. Holinesse of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding not only as a Naturall medium nor only as a prudent medium but as a means by way of Divine blessing He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Here we have a promise for it and upon that we may rely The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recitall of his Creed found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner and by a very plain instrument it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to doe and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jewes revealing them to Babes not because they
lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secher is made of Letters whose numbers are imperfect and their figure pointed and voluble to signifie that a Lye hath no foundation And this very observation will give good light in our Questions and disputes And I give my instance in Episcopal Government which hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing hath its firmament by the principles of Christianity hath been blessed by the issues of that stabiliment it hath for sixteen hundred yeares combined with Monarchy and hath been taught by the spirit which hath so long dwelt in Gods Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that sayes the gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church been restored amongst us by a heap of Miracles and as it went away so now it is returned againe in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws Now that Doctrine must needs be suspected of Error and an intolerable Lye that speaks against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from the wisdome and experience of so many ages of all our Ancestors and all our Lawes When the Spirit of God wrote in Greek Christ is call'd A and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he had spoken Hebrew he had been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet he is Truth the same yesterday and to day and for ever and whoever opposes this holy Sanction which Christs Spirit hath sanctifyed his word hath warranted his blessings have endeared his promises have ratifyed and his Church hath alwayes kept he fights against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet and Secher is his portion his Lot is a Lie his portion is there where holiness can never dwell And now to conclude to you Fathers and Brethren you who are or intend to be of the Clergie you see here the best Compendium of your Studies the best abbreviature of your labours the truest method of wisdom and the infallible the only way of judging concerning the Disputes and Questions in Christendom It is not by reading multitude of Books but by studying the truth of God it is not by laborious Commentaries of the Doctors that you can finish your work but by the expositions of the Spirit of God is is not by the Rules of Metaphysics but by the proportions of Holinesse and when all Books are read and all Arguments examined and all Authorities alledged nothing can be found to be true that is unholy Give your selves to reading to exhortation and to Doctrine saith St. Paul Read all good Books you can but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument and the best teacher of true Doctrine of that which is according to Godlinesse And let me tell you this The great learning of the Fathers was more owing to their piety then to their skill more to God then to themselves and to this purpose is that excellent ejaculation of St. Chrysostome with which I will conclude O blessed and happy men whose names are in the Book of life from whom the Devils fled and Heretics did feare them who by Holinesse have stopp'd the mouthes of them that spake perverse things But I like David will cry out Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors who shined like lights in the World and contained the Word of Life Dulce est meminisse their very memory is pleasant Where is that Evodias the sweet favour of the Church the successor and imitator of the holy Apostles where is Ignatius in whom God dwelt where is St. Dionysius the Areopagite that Bird of Paradise that celestial Eagle where is Hippolytus that good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gentle sweet person where is great St. Basil a man almost equall to the Apostles where is Athanasius rich in vertue where is Gregory Nyssen that great Divine and Ephrem the great Syrian that stirred up the sluggish and awakened the sleepers and comforted the afflicted and brought the yong men to discipline the Looking-glasse of the religious the Captain of the Penitents the destruction of Heresies the receptacle of Graces and the habitation of the holy Ghost These were the men that prevailed against Error because they lived according to Truth and whoever shall oppose you and the truth you walk by may better be confuted by your lives then by your disputations Let your adversaries have no evil thing to say of you and then you will best silence them For all Heresies and false Doctrines are but like Myron's counterfeit Cow it deceived none but Beasts and these can cozen none but the wicked and the negligent them that love a lye and live according to it But if ye become burning and shining lights if ye do not detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse if ye walk in light and live in the Spirit your Doctrines will be true and that Truth will prevaile But if ye live wickedly and scandalously every little Schismatick shall put you to shame and draw Disciples after him and abuse your flocks and feed them with Colocynths and Hemlock and place Herâ—â—â— in the Chaires appointed for your Religion I pray God give you all grace to follow this Wisdom to study this Learning to labour for the understanding of Godlinesse so your time and your studies your persons and your labours will by holy and useful sanctified and blessed beneficiall to men and pleasing unto God through him who is the wisdom of the Father who is made to all that love him Wisdom and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption To whom with the Father c. FINIS Ecclus. 5. 10. Vulg. edit Lat. Psal. 111. ver 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad Philagrium 2 Pet. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 27. 1 Cor. 2 14. Dan. 12. 10. Eph. 5. 14. Prov. 10. 31 32. John 14. 21. Rom. 1. 25 26. Eccl. 2. 26. John 14. 26. Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfectè amatur Aug. lib. 83. qu. de gratia Christi Ecclus. 21. 11. Lib. de Consummat saeculi inter opera Ephrem Syri