cleave unto false gods and idolatry This law of Moses and purpose of the law is so clear that he must be obstinately blind who sees it not And what does this concern our holy Catholick figures of St. Paul for example or Christ crucified more than Protestant sigures of young Lords and fine Ladies save that the one moves us to the love of moritification prayer patience chastity the other allures us from it the one confirms Religion the other weakens it Besides our holy Pictures are allowed by the Church the others forbidden And this indeed is the only aim of Moses when he forbids the people to make to themselves any graven images whatsoever to themselves that is on their own fancies and upon their own authority For such only were unlawful and not those they were commanded by just authority and allowed to make See saith God by Moses I have called and named Besaleel and I have filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and all knowledge of all amnner of workmanship to devise cunning works to work in gold and silver and brass and in cutting of stones and in graving of wood to work all manner of workmanship And I have appointed Aholiab with him and in the hearts of all the wise I have put wisdom that they make all that I have commanded And by virtue whereof the said men and others after them move and graved pomgranets and lilies and placed Cherubs upon the Propitiatory between which graven Cherubims God himself gave out his Oracles to Moses as he did aâ—so heal the people by the figure of a Serpent which Moses commanded to be set up So that here is a vast difference betwixt figures graven and set up by authority and those which People make to themselves The one is commanded the other forbidden Aaron's Calf of gold destroyed the people but Moses his Serpent of brass healed them These things are not now said afresh They have been told to Ministers over and again but they are never the better for it Indeed they love not to hear of it because it spoils their sport I add yet withal over and above what is yet said that neither that law of Moses nor any of his Ten Commandments nor any other of his Precepts either ceremonial judicial or moral does any way oblige Christians at all as it comes from Moses who is not our Law-maker or master but ruler and leader of the Jews Nor do we Christians believe that theft adultery homicide or blasphemy is a sin because Moses for bad it but because we have receiv'd from Jesus our own Leg slator who justified Moses law and ratified it in all the said particulars that so it is And it is here to be observed that one of the most solemn laws contained in those two tables that I mean which ordains the seventh day to be kept holy day unto which Moses adjoyns an irrefragable and unchangeable reason namely because God rested that day when he made this visible world beginning his work saith Moses on the Sunday wherin he created light and the Friday following finishing the whole even this law of his most solemn and importunely urged by Moses is annulled and abrogaâ—ed amongst all Christians even from the beginning of Christianity for want of ratification of it from our Lord and Master Jesus who is our Law-maker and Prince And the same thing do I say of this his present Law about figures images and representations of things by sculpture or pencil which was only of temporal concernment to the then present Jews against the danger of idols which then filled the earth and as meer a ceremonial law as the other and equally concerning a ceremony of worship If our own Prelates whom Christ our Lord instituted to oversee his flock should for reasons best known to themselves take from us those little small helps we have by the Images of some of our Ancestors Martyrs Apostles Virgins Confessors then would we be without them and yet not think our selves to lose one jot of our Religion for that But we will not forfeit them for any Law made by Moses except it be established and ratified by our own Law-maker or his Prelates watching over us under our Lord unto our good if Moses should have made any law against them which indeed he did not but only against Heathen-Idols And if any one should endeavour to have or Christian representations to be abolished because he thinks and believes that Moses forbad them then is that Man say I bound to observe all the whole law of Moses as it is literally expressâ—d by him even to the least apex or iota thereoâ— For the authority of a Legislator being the same in all his whole law must oblige equally in all its parts and the distinction then between jadicial moral and ceremonial law signifies nothing seeing that Moses his commands are equally perempâ—ory and press as strongly in the one as in the other This is no imaginary Opinion of mine own but what reason and the Spirit of God moved St. Paul to aver as stoutly in the case of circumcision which is another of Moses Laws as I do here I testifie to every Man saith he who is circumcised that he is bound to keep the whole Law And this must needs be true most certainly true for by observing circumcision because it was commanded by Moses he subjects himself to the Law and Authority of Moses as his Prince and Legislator and consequently is bound to observe him equally in all things which he commands with the same authority and will to be obeyed which is no less then all his whole law And cursed is every one saith the same Apostle who is under the law and continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to fulfil them Although then it should be granted that Moses by his law prohibited all kind of figures and representations even those used by Christians which he did not yet if our Lord ratified it not it does not touch us at all And that he did not renew or ratifie it is sufficiently clear to Protestants because no such law of his is found among the Evangelists and unto Catholicks no less because there is neither Gospel nor Tradition for it And if all men would separate themselves from prejudice which blinds and hardens them in their conceits they might easily believe that neither Christs immediate Disciples nor any Christians that succeeded them after our Lords departure would have either feared or hated the figure of our Lords countenance if by chance they would have met with it But if any one notwithstanding fully perswaded that Moses made a law against all sort of Images and representations should upon that authority of his abolish ours he is bound also upon the same authority to sacrifice an Ox and observe all the whole law in all and every particular under the penalty of sin Since therefore by the order of God and Moses many
slender green sprig like grass then a stronger blade then an ear promising grain which comes up at length if it be helped and not hurt cherished by sweet showers and the the Suns vital warmth and not blasted with mildew nor lodged by winds nor trod down by beasts And what is good Corn in the fields the same thing are Saints in the Church though not one of a thousand of them is put in the Calender When any one of them is a child he speaks like a child and thinks like a child and does like a child and his main perfection then is obedience fear and observance of his parents who if they be careful of their children after baptism as ancient Christians were might set them in the right way of a blessed life without much trouble In their youth they have various properties some blameable and others innocent some imitable and some to be corrected St. Austin was perverse in his ways St. Francis gallant in his conversation St. Lawrence charitable St. Bennet pious St. Romwall fearful St. Bruno pensative St. Do. minick rigorous St. Martin devout St. Gregory studious St. Nicholas addicted to abstinence St. Hilary bent against heresies St. Anthony inclined to desarts St. Thomas to reading St. Vincent to preaching and the like with infinite variety And all of them by light of Gospel and rule of life drawn out thence and accommodated to their occasions went on still mending pruning and perfecting themselves for Gods favour and further presence even in their mortal bodies as a Temple upon earth proceeding still from vertue to vertue till they all met united at length in one contemplation one spirit one peace and joy in God for eyer And he who thus persevers unto the end is safe and no saint till his voyage be wholly ended Nor is any imperfection in their life to be attributed unto other original then their earthly tabernacles as all ours are Some of them also which I must not here omit to speak are fanciful fearful and scrupulous as probably was St. Romwall in his youth and very many good women amongst whom I may well reckon St. Bridget Gertrude Joan of the Cross and Catherine of Sena not as if their whole life were so but because they were once in their life taken notice of for a notable working of their imagination about the conception Those religious women that were governed by Franciscans fancied Scotus his way truest the other a Dâ—minican Nan saw St. Thomas his school was in the right Whereas indeed they saw perhaps nothing at all in it nor understood where the difference lay And all of them were equally then lest to themselves in punishment of their business about affairs that did nothing at all concern them it was not perhaps their own fault so much as those mens who put these impertinent things into their heads though not perhaps unto any offence to God yet unto some disturbance neither useful to themselves nor others And if those Divines and Doctors who went about to have the visions and revelations of the said good women approved had been truly wise they might have easily understood that Gods good Spirit which inspires inlightens and strengthens us in the ways and will of Christ our great Lord never interposes in subtil curiosities of men I will send you my Spirit saith our Lord and when he comes he will put you in mind of all things which I have told you We are then of that good spirit to learn not what Scotus Aureolus Aquinas or Durandus have imagined but what our souls Lord and maister the eternal Wisdom hath revealed and no more but men are not usually so earnest and zealous for God as they are for their own fancies they talk and think and contend more now adays about the thin imperceptible curiosities which they learned in schools then Gods saving wisdom however be those schoolmen and school-women who they will even the best that any one can make of them sure I am that all actions of saints are not saintly action Those men and women were not dropt out of the Stars but flesh and blood as we are and â—â—able to our infirmities yet are we to admire and love our saints tenderly because they struggled so bravely through all the many encounters and oppositions of this mortal life till they came to enjoy the God of Gods in Sion And what was good or perfect in them is recorded for our imitation what was imperfect they washed away by pennance Divine contemplation and austerities and some also by their precious blood freely and plentifully shed for the sake of Jesus whom they loved unto the end Gods grace still assisting them in all their ways of holiness and truth 3. It was then in my thoughts to show in an ample manner how all the men renowned for sanctity in the world Elias Elisha saint John Baptist and all the Prophets our own twelve Apostles and the first preachers of Christ upon earth were no others then such men as St. Bennet Romwall Bruno Francis Dominick even in those very things whence Still concludes them all to be fanaticks and fools Saint Paul saw in a vision the secrets of God which he could never express by humane words which thing is derided here in St. Bennet who is said to have known the secrets of the Divinity St. Peter had a vision of a sheet let down from Heaven by the four corners of it and such a vision was that of St. Francis and Dominick supporting the Lateran Church St. Paul was buffeted by an Angel of Satan which is mockt at as fanatical in saint Romwall bruised by evil angels Saint Peter discovered Ananias that he was not what he pretended dispropriated of his goods which is markt as fanatical in St. Bennet discovering the dissimulation of Riggo who appeared before him as a King and was not Saint Paul melted so much with the love of Jesus that he no more lived now but Jesus lived in him which is laughed at here in saint Francis said to melt away at the fight of the Crucifix The same Apostle was abused all manner of ways nay even scourged and whipt by the Jews his own country-men which is noted here as a sign of fanaticism in saint Francis when the people derided and threw dirt at him Jacob saw a Ladder let down from Heaven flouted here in saint Romwall who saw Monks ascending upon such a thing Eliseus discerned the secrets contrived in the King of Syria's chamber which is here vilified in saint Bennet said to perceive his Monks when they drunk or eat out of his sight Abraham and Daniel saint John Evangelist and others had frequent revelations and visions of good and bad Angels the least part whereof is here esteemed ridiculous in saint Romwall and saint Bennet nay our holy Lord and Saviour tells us many of his own visions of Nathanael for example seen under his figtree of Dives and Lazâ—rus perceived in distant places and
Catholicks unto each ones ability and preached and talked of somtimes by Protestants themselves are derided now by witts of this age as folly and madness And if Dr. Still do well they must do well too Fifthly my purpose then was to prove that St. Bennet St. Francis and the rest here derided for fools were all of them profound judicious men as any perhaps ever was and this too whether they be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary wherin for certain they will carry it or whether they be compared to the great heroes of the world who wrought so many great things both at home and abroad in war and peace without reading any books of pedanâ—ick men looked upon on by those worthies as things far below them All the books of the world will never make a fool wise nor will a wise man want any thing by the loss of them besides a little pastime Substantial wisdom is implanted in the spirit of man by his first Creatour and this alone in its great latitude of degrees discerns mens excellences And what comes by reading of books is but like the outward colouring of a wall which will never make it sound if it be rotten before The holy Gospell indeed is needfull to the world becaus it turns the faces of poor misled mankind from false unto true and permanent felicity But this also if it be used only as other books are to quote places in latin greek or hebrew or repeat sentences without book or maintain dispute and talk makes no man truly either wiser or better any one jot then he was before Gospell so far polishes so far sanctifies so far makes us wise so far happy as we put it in practice and no farther Human learning that is philosophy and languages which is all that can be understood by it this might these Saints both neglect themselvs and disswade it also with all their endeavour unto Christians who looking after a world to come ought no more in true wisdom to intangle themselvs in this then any other vanities of this transitory life And St. Paul himself who understood true wisdom well enough inveighes as strongly against it as any of these above named Saints calling it a windy puffing business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first ruin of mankind who was therfore carefully forbidden the insipid tree of knowledg whose fruit fills us up only with wind and sin And this old mystical precept St. Paul renews in plain words when he counsels us to beware of vain philosophy that we be not led away and deceived by it according to the constitutions of men and elements of this world such as is the philosophy of Aristoâ—le for example of Plato Democrituâ— Pithagoras and such like men now crept god wot into our Christian Schools and there dominereing unto our much loss of time hinderance of devotion and prejudice of mutual charity I know they do some good unto the sharpening of our wits if men could be content with that But many will not rest here but even wear out their lives in those empty shadows that have nothing at all in them either of solidity or substance nor tend to any thing but discours There is other learning for Christians more solid and edifying more comfortable and useful more illuminating our hearts then all this vain literature which puffs us up as if we were some great ones and yet God knows has neither savour in it nor sustinence And that other was the learning and wisdom of these holy men who knew how to act and speak like Angels of God And truly so much judgment had St. Francis the veriest simplician of all the five that men of those times would rather acquiesce to his opinion in any weighty affair or matter of conscience then any now either to subtil Scotus or any other of our Schoolmen His very rule though it seem austere is nothing but the very sublimity of Christian prudence And some other monuments which he left behind him kept yet amongst his children although brief and few are so solid and judicious as well as sweet and pious that if he were a fool I know not where to find a wise man upon earth amongst Christians But it must needs add I think to his heavenly glory what made him so much exult as yet a mortal on this earth to be contemned reviled and contumeliously treated here by Dr. Stillingfleet And so let him live with joy in God for ever St. Paul distinguishes a double sort of wisdom one carnal which is an enemy to God another spiritual which is at variance with the world And both of these have a vast latitude of degrees in several men Some are so carnal that they have nothing of Gods spirit in them and some again so spiritual as if they had no body to look after These are rare and those frequent in this world Others again have some part of both the one and the other and this in a vast unspeakable variety But he that hath nothing of Gods spirit here shall never see God hereafter Who sowes by flesh of flesh shall reap corruption and he who sowes in spirit of the spirit shall reap eternal life Carnal wisdom is conversant in carnal things and spiritual wisdom in things spiritual And according as one walks in spirit so he neglects the things of the flesh on the other side as he walks in fleshly desires so he contemns and vilifies the spiritual For flesh covets against the spirit and spirit against the flesh and these two are adversaries one to the other The works of the flesh are adultery fornication uncleanness wanton dalliance idolatry witchcraft enmities scolding emulations wrath sedition sects envy murder drunkennes bankettings and the like The works of the spirit Charity joy peace gentlenes bounty goodnes faith meeknes temperance and such like And accordingly we see men carnally wise to be crafty covetous injurious leacherous malitious envious contentious detractours supplanters of their innocent neighbours proud contumelious unheedful of their pacts and promises uncharitable unmerciful bold impious contemners of Gods Law and fearless of him But the spiritually wise are silent peaceable patient no contrivers of ill to any ever thinking of God and their last end charitable towards all men suspitious of worldly prosperity zealous and fervent in prayer making friends daily of their outward mammon still breathing after God and his heavenly Kingdom neglecters of their own bodies nor making provision for the lusts of it haters of worldly excessâ—s still examining and reflecting on their waies that they be not unjust or evil ever pruning their passions and rectifying what they find amisse humble minded and dying by little and little unto all sensuality that they may live with God for ever This is the wisdom of Saints whom crafty worldly men looking upon as fanaticks and fools make their prey of them and eat them up as sheep prepared for their table So that as this true and spiritual wisdom conforming
spirit from them So may we contrariwise think of this worthy society of Jesuits that such a stable gravity and fixed wisdom as is in them all must needs be derived unto them from the spirit and statutes of their founder That is I think a true moral physiognomy which is given us by the Lyrick poet especially in a continual succession of men Fortes creantur fortibus bonis Est in juvencis est in equis patrum Virtus nec imbelles ferocem Progenerant aquilam columbae But let St. Ignace be never so simple yet did he ever submit unto his Superiours and Pastours walking all his daies in Catholick religion and had his rule of life confirmed by his Prelate and therfore could be no fanatick according to the Doctours definition of it He neither invented any new way of religion nor yet resisted authority under pretence of it But I think the doctour gave us that definition of fanaticisme in the begining of this his Chapter only to keep his discourse far enough off and never to touch it § 16. The Doctour proceeds now to declare how the very Catholick way of devotion doth promote enthusiasme And what think you Sir doth he speak of here not one word of our daily psalms hymns canticles anthems sacred lessons doxologies our Lords prayer or any other devotion prescribed by the Church and almost hourly in the hands and eyes of Catholick people not a word of our examination of our selves upon our knees penitential petitions or other our obsecrations thanksgivings deprecations or interpellations for our selves and all other good Christian people for Kings and prelates and all constituted in authority over us that we may live a peaceable and quiet life with all piety and decent behaviour No mention of all this which he knows as I perceive by his talking of our Manuels and Breviaries to be our Catholick devotion no not one word What is it then he calls the Catholick way of devotion Only one spiritual book set forth by Mr. Cressy about twenty Years ago out of Father Baxers works wherin the Doctour finds some uncouth hard words which he cannot understand this is that which he calls Catholick devotion and this is all the way he shows that Catholick devotion promotes enthusiasme Have not I reason Sir to be weary in following after such a butterfly § 17. He tells us at last That Papists are guilty of resisting authority under pretence of religion which he proves first by the principles of the Jesuitical party which are destructive to government and Secondly by this that the said party are most countenanced in the Court of Rome But he never tells us what are these principles of the Jesuitical party nor what this Jesuitical party is He only names Mariana and one or two others who should say that a Prince excommunicated loses his Soveraignty For which boldness they suffered worthily both by their own body and others Now how this discourse of our Doctour agrees with his purpose all this while pretended here I cannot see For it has not so much as the colour which appeared in some sort hitherto His book is intitled A Discourse of the idolatrous fanaticisme of the Church of Rome but now he tells us of a Jesuitical party and the Court of Rome The Society of Jesuits a religious grave prudent family in the Catholick Church of God this I have heard of and the Church of Rome or Catholick Church I know But what is this Jesuitical party and what this Court of Rome I understand not at all The Doctour pretended to speak of the Church and her religion though indeed he hath never come neer it yet But now he speaks that which hath not so much as the sound of it A Jesuitical party and a Court what are these to our purpose now in hand There be parties and as many designs signs as there be men in this world although they should be all of one religion and not all of them nay not perhaps one in a thousand directed according to Gospel or right reason at all times but for avarice rather solicitude of this world or sensuality Who can mend this Or whose part is it to justify such things No man that defends a religion can conceive how they may concern him and he that opposes a religion if he were wise or honest would never object them And as for the Court of Rome I know no more of it then I do of the Court of France Spain or Constantinople I have long since been told that the designs of Courts and Courtiers are politick high ambitious and close And I have heard again that they are of one and the same opinion all over the face of the earth a high elevated secret mysterious way unknown to us peasants who are born in sin although it go under the name still of that rurall religion which is countenanced in their respective Kingdoms How true these things be and what this way of theirs is I know not nor do I love to speak of them at all One part of our duty I think and respect towards our Superiours is silence and not to speak at all of them For we may conclude that God subjected all other Creatures unâ—o man becaus he created them dumb And certainly enough may we imagine that the opinions of Courts and Courtiers are very high since one can hardly meet any ordinary man who would not have the whole earth under his command and power if he could get it It is not long since we had here threescore thousand of our own Protestant Countrymen armed in the field who held all of them an opinion that the Kings Crown was at their disposal So they wrote so they talked and so they acted And it is hard to say in what head are the most presumptuous ambitious and lofty opinions And our Doctour himself who so contemptuously treats King Pepin Charlemaign and other renowned Kings of the earth nay all the Catholicks in the world at once cannot be one of the humblest and modestest of men Court of Rome and Jesuitical party sounds in my ears like a thorough Bass and treble Violyn playing together the one strikeing three long humming Notes about the double Gamut the other descanting theron in short and quicker graces The Court of Rome I something perceive methinks what it should be but not what it is But the Jesuitical party with all its graces I neither know what it is nor what it should be That worthy Society of Jesuits may be considered either according to their religion or Schools or personal designs According to their religion they are as other Catholicks be in the same worship same Sacraments same Altar same Priesthood same faith same hope to come As to their Schools although they have I believe five hundred Readers of the Chair and perhaps as many publick defensions in every three years space yet did I never hear of any such thing either taught or defended in their Schools which