Rome in honouring the Saints and their Reliques or Images without making our selves obnoxious to the Jews for any reason to do it with For Christianity having put Idolatry to flight which the Law never pretended to do It is not to bee imagined that the having of Images can make a man take those things for God which they represent so long as the belief of Christianity is alive at the heart For neither was it Idolatry though it were a breach of this Commandment for a Jew to have such Images as were forbidden by their Elders not taking that for God which they represented But what honour of Saints departed or what signs of that honour Christianity may require what furniture or ceremonies the Churches of Christians and the publique worship of God in them may require now all the World professes Christianity and must honour the Religion which they profess this the Church is at freedom to determine by the word of God expounded according to the best agreement of Christians For neither is it obliged by the second Council of Nicaea or the violent proceedings of the Church of Rome which have brought it into force in these Western parts nor to the excesses of the adverse parties in the East which made the setting up and reverencing of Images in Churches to bee Idolatry without sufficient ground in the Scriptures for it Confining the literal intent of the Decalogue to those gross Of the third Commandment sins by which all Jews were to understand that the interest of the Nation in the Land of Promise must become forfeited as all reason requireth the taking of Gods name in vain in the third Commandment is in plain terms to swear that which is false as the Chaldee Paraphrase renders it But a Christian takes up Gods name in professing Christianity And when the World sees him do any thing that agreeth not with his profession without doubt hee takes it up in vain For there never was any true Israelite in whom was no guile that worshipped God in spirit and truth but hee might then understand that hee took Gods name in vain if professing the worship of the only true God hee should live like those that worshipped Idols Much more a Christian knowing that hee is bound to direct all his actions to the end of Gods glory and service out of obedience to his declared will must needs know that he shall not bee guiltless to God if they bee not suitable to the profession which hee weareth It is questioned how God blessed and sanctified the seventh What the sanctifying â—f the Sabbath signifieth day at the creation of all things the keeping of the Sabbath being first commanded after the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt For some would have it understood by a Prolepsis or figure of anticipation that God in consideration of his resting from all his Works on the seventh day when hee gave the Law made that day the Sabbath Others think that hee sanctified it from the beginning for a day of his Service though the rest which the Jews were commanded sitting still all the Sabbath came in force from the giving of the Law And truly the memory of the seven days of the week which hath been preserved among all nations who cannot bee thought to have learned any matter of Religion from the Jews seems to intimate a Tradition of the creation remaining among them But it is to bee considered that when Idolatry prevailed the worship of the seven Planets was a prime part of it and Astrology which appropriates the seven days of the week to them a great means of propagating the same And therefore the memory of the creation being obliterated by the superstition which the Devil had graffed upon it the observations of Heathen people are rather to bee imputed to this then to that And otherwise there is nothing in the Scripture to answer Tertullian with demanding of the Jews which of the Fathers before the Law kept the Sabbath But howsoever if wee bee Christians wee must not question that the blessing which God hallowed the seventh day with is the rest of Christs body in the grave on that day by which that rest from the travel of sin and the punishment of it which Christianity professeth and promiseth was purchased for Christians For upon this ground all the time of the Gospel is that Sabbath which the Jewish Sabbath signified And the fulfilling of the fourth Commandment is the rest of a Christian from all his own works all the days of his life Not that I doubt that under the Law the day was to bee set apart for the Offices of Gods Service but because there are other precepts of the Law Num. XXVIII Levit. XXIII by which that is provided for By virtue of which precepts according to the correspondence between the Law and Gospel not only the first day of the week is set aside by the Apostles for the service of God instead of the seventh day which the Jews observe but also other days of Assemblies being appointed by the Church are to bee observed by Gods people for the same reason as the seventh For even the seventh day it self was observed and was to bee observed by Christians for the same reason so long as the custom of the Church required them to observe it for that purpose Besides the letter of the Law having forbidden any work upon the seventh day common reason would serve without any precept of the Law to infer that they ought to meet for the service of God which his people had always professed when they had nothing else to do Otherwise it is true which Origen so often chargeth that they could not assemble without some breach upon the strict sense of that command not to stir out of their place on that day And this sitting still is as properly sanctifying the day as the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hâ—ifer sprinkling the pollutâ—d sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh according to the Epistle to the Hebrews IX 13. So the keeping of this Commandment under the Gospel is the serving of God all the days of a mans life as our Catechisme expoundeth it When the fifth Commandment promiseth long life to them The meaning of the fifth as to Christians that honour Father and Mother will any man say that this promise is made to Christians that profess to take up Christs Cross and to lay down their lives for Christ If hee do let him say what Land it is which Christians are promised If it bee not the Land of the living which the Land of Canaan figureth Wherefore it is manifest that the honours due to the King and all Civil Powers under him are due by the letter of this precept as properly comprized in the name of Father according to the use of that language The obedience also due to the Elders of the Synagogue is by the Metaphorical signification of the word Mother standing for
delivered by the letter of Moses Law Whereas indeed and in truth the Moral Precepts of Gods Natural Law though of greatest consequence to the everlasting estate of immortal Souls which the Law supposeth rather then expresseth are onely the matter of the Carnal Covenant which contracteth not for the doing of them out of that reason and with that intent which God requireth because it contracteth not for the world to come wherewith that intent is rewardable For as the keeping of the precepts materially qualified that people for the Land of Promise so the keeping of them in obedience to God and for his Service qualified them then for Heaven as Christians always supposing the expectation of Christs coming for the redemption of Gods people Therefore though it bee necessary for Divines under Christianity to distinguish between moral and positive in Moses Law yet they will confound the ground of that distinction as it took place under the Law to Gods people if they expect that the letter of the Law should express it The not considering of this is that which suffers not men to How the Spiritual sense of the Decalogue concerns Christians see that sense which the plain letter of the Decalogue signifieth being transported with a prejudice that the Moral Law signified as much to the Jews and required as great duty of them as the exposition of them preached by our Lord Christ requireth of Christians Whereas by that which I have said it may appear that the mistake which our Lord corrects in the meaning of Moses Law is â—he Haeresie of the Scribes and Pharisees promising everlasting life in recompense of the outward observing of it Whereas the Law indeed rewardeth it with the Land of Promise intimating onely the reward of the world to come to those that should serve the searcher of hearts from the heart in expectation of the Messias his coming So the Decalogue being the brief of those conditions upon which God contracted with the Generality of that people for the Land of Promise carries not with it the least presumption in reason that whatsoever it containeth is either moral or perpetually positive to wit according to the carnal sense which the letter of the Law first presenteth Indeed according to the spiritual intent of it by which true Israelites were conducted even then to the world to come it signified and required the same spiritual obedience which the Gospel obliges us to though in a measure proportionable to those helps of grace which God then gave compared with those which the Coming of Christ hath brought forth So that in one word admitting the literal sense â—f the Decalogue to bee that which obliged the Jews the spiritual sense which it is to carry with Christians is to bee valued by the correspondence of the New Testament with the Old in the mater of every particular precept What can bee more manifest then this in the Preface to it The meaning of the first Commandment in this sense Can Christians say truly that God ever delivered them out of the Land of Aegypt and the bondage of it must they not all say that God hath delivered them from the bondage of sin and Satan correspondent to it might not all true Israelites in whom was no guile say the same in regard of that worship of Idols which all other Nations were enslaved with and the sin to which it engaged therefore a Jew understands this first precept to bee the chief point of his Law that hee acknowledg but one God but that one whom his Fathers knew And if the Mater bee examined it will appear that both Jews and Mahumetans stand at distance with Christians upon this false pretense that the Faith of the holy Trinity agreeth not herewith For the Alcoran insinuateth this poyson every where But the Christian goes farther in the meaning of this precept And believing the Father Son and Holy Ghost to bee that one God which gave them this precept believes himself redeemed from the bondage of sin by the blood of the Son and by the Grace of the Spirit And therefore making the will of God the ground and his glory and service the intent of all his doings renounces all respect to the pleasure or profit or honour and greatness of this World so far as it is not the means to serve God Acknowledging that when hee declines from this resolution hee makes his Belly his God or his riches his Idol as St. Paul saith or rather the Devil that offers him some little part of that which our Lord refused in gross the God whom hee worships The second Commandment setting forth God for a God The extent of the sâ—coud Commandment that is jealous of his people whether they worship him or not manifestly supposeth their Covenant to forsake all other Gods beside him a contract of Mariage between him and his people Which if it bee so it is no less manifest that the Images which the precept supposeth are the representations of other Gods which his people were went to commit adultery with by worshipping them for God For seeing it is manifest how much Idolatry was advanced by Imagery though it may bee without it there can bee no marvel that there should bee a peculiar precept against it Wherefore it is manifest that Jews by the letter of this precept are tied from all Images which their Elders who had the power of limiting what is lawful and what is not by the Law should declare to bee unlawful But to think that their declarations ought to bind Christians were to imagine that Christians ought to bee Jews And the letter of the Law forbidding all Images at all times and in all places as well as some it is not possible to show how Christians can bee tied from any kind of Image at any time or in any place more then others by the letter of this precept But by the positive part of the precept implied in the negative which it expresseth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them Christians must needs find themselves bound to that worship of God in spirit and truth which it is not possible for Jews to think themselves tied to in consideration of the Land of Promise And therefore having the Word of God for the rule of their worship must needs condemn the worshipping of God by any imagination of their own devising for superstition and will-will-worship In standing upon that which God declareth not that hee regardeth for the discharge of their duty to him and in tendring him things of their own chusing for the worship which they acknowledge to bee due For as I said afore it is not possible that they who lay such a weight of their diligence upon things of their own choise should discharge the duty of worshipping him in spirit and truth in that measure which the comparison of Gods will with our own choise requireth And by this rule wee condemn all excesses of the Church of
sinner exact of himself that Penance which the Church would or ought to impose But whether all sinners can bee brought to know what that is or knowing to impose it upon themselves let the common reason of Christians judge They that assure them of pardon and the favour of God without it whether it bee themselves or their false teachers plainly they murther their souls The Church of Rome in making the Keys of the Church the necessary means for pardon of all sin that voids the Grace of Baptisme goes beyond the bounds of truth In procuring a Law that all submit to it once a year goes not beyond the bounds of Justice It were to bee wished that the abuses of that Law might be cured without taking it away For if it bee the power of the Keys that makes the Church the Church It will bee hard to shew the face of a Church where the blessing of the Church and the Communion of the Eucharist is granted and yet no power of the Keys at all exercised Nay it will appear a lamentable case to consider how simple innocent Christians are led on till death in an opinion that they want nothing requisite for the obtaining and assuring of the pardon of their sins when it is as manifest that they want the Keys of the Church as it is manifest that the Keys of the Church are not in use for that purpose St. James ordaineth that the Presbyters of every Church Of anointing the sick according to S. James pray for the sick with a promise of pardon for their sins This supposeth them qualified by submitting their sins to the Keys of the Church which the Presbyters do manage The promise belongs not to the Office of Presbyters upon other terms Hee requireth them also to anoint the sick with oyl promising Recovery upon it Not to all that should bee anointed For Christians then should not dye if true Christians But as the Disciples of our Lord had used it to evidence their Commission to the World So was the manifestation of Gods Spirit residing in the Church granted for the benefit of his Church Neither is there any cause why the same benefit should not bee expected but the decay of Christianity in the Church In the mean time the forgiveness of sin according to St. James comes by the Keys of the Church Recovery of health from the prayers of it So the Unction of the sick is to recover health not to prepare for death as the Church of Rome now useth it But supposing the health of the soul restored by the Keys of the Church All the pretenses for Divorce of lawful Mariages all the incestuous Mariage of Christiaâ—â— not to bee Ruled by Moses Law Contracts all the unchristian solemnizing of Christian Wedlock which the blessed Reformation hath authorized are to bee attributed to one mistake that the Mariage of Christians stands by the Law of Moses not by the Gospel of Christ Our Presbyterians in their Confession of Faith duely prohibit Mariage in those degrees of alliance which are prohibited in blood But out of Leviticus if they will prove it their word must serve for our warrant that this is the sense If Man and Wife bee one flesh then is a Man as neer his Wifes Kin as his own But man and wife are not one flesh by Moses Law licensing plurality of wives and divorce though by the Law of Paradise It was dispensed with after the Flood and not revived but by our Lord. That Divorce and plurality of wives was not restrained but by the Gospel it is impudence to Dispute much more to deny The Mariage of the Niece with the Uncle of the half blood hath puzzled all them that would make it unlawful by Moses Law The Mariage of a Christian with two Sisters successive will bee as hard to condemn by the same Granting the premises all these Disputes cease Mariage is the Bond of one with one not to bee dissolved till death by the Law of Christ not by the Law of Moses Whether Adultery dissolve the Bond or not I leave it disputable for the present as I find it Mariage with a Pagan was void by Moses Law St. Paul enables Christians to hold to it Therefore hee refers them not to the Law Christianity improves Moses Law in all things Therefore Christians cannot be regulated by Moses Law in Matrimonial causes Therefore in the prohibiting of degrees as well as of divorce For Moses Law prohibits more then that Law which the Children of Noah received after Flood had done It were better to restrain all that which the present Canon Law restrains then that the incests of the late licentious times should bee tolerated For the present Canon Law restrains not much more then the Greek Church restrains But if the Authority thereof bee not binding by reason of the Usurpations of the Church of Rome yet to depart from the Canons of the Whole Church and of those times which wee acknowledg would bee a departure from the whole Church Hee that would bar the Cross in Baptisme for fear it should Instituted Ceremonies are Sacraments with the Fathers bee taken for a Sacrament what would hee say to St. Ambrose that cals it down right a Sacrament I know not what hee would say I know what hee should do Hee should understand St. Ambrose by St. Ambrose when hee makes a Kiss to bee a Sacrament as a Religious sign of that Religious Affection which Kinsfolk professed to their neer Kinsfolk whom in his time they saluted with a Kiss to signifie that as St. Ambrose declareth At this rate St. Pauls holy kiss must needs bee a Sacrament For it was a Religious signe of that charity which Christians professed to Christians when they were to receive the Communion with them At this rate it is no marvel that there are found seven Sacraments in the Fathers For there are more then seven to bee found if there bee as many Sacraments as Ceremonies instituted by the Church If this bee true the discharging of instituted Ceremonies The Ceremonies of these Offices justifie instituted Ceremonies will bee a Defection from Gods Church If Confirmation Ordination and Penance bee Offices in which the Church is indebted to God and to his Church If the effect of them bee of such consequence that they have been always solemnized with the Imposition of hands that Ceremony shall bee enough to make them Sacraments at this rate and yet no neerer to Baptisme and to the Eucharist then that reason of the difference which I have setled will allow Nay let the prayers of the Church for the recovery of the sick who submit to the Keys of the Church bee solemnized with anointing a thing fit enouâ—h to bee done may but the ground upon which and the intent to which it is done appear and that shall bee a Sacrament and yet the want of it no more prejudice to salvation then the disusing of the Kiss of peace which