of Gods service and may not be neglected without scandal THE Apostle establishing our Christian liberty doth much more establish our Christian Piety Rom. 14. He establisheth our liberty ver 6. placing daies and meats in the same rank of indifferency neither of them in it self ought to be reputed a matter of Religion But withal he doth much more establish our Christian Piety ver 7. 8. That both daies and meats daies wherein and meats whereby we live are to be observed or not observed as shall most conduce to his Glory by whom we do and to whom we should all live He overthrows a legal or Iewish observation of daies for themselves because that was a typical worship But he establisheth an evangelical or Christian observation of daies for duties because that is a real and moral part of Gods service For he that so regardeth a day regardeth not it but the Lord And he that so regardeth it not being thereunto called by that authority which God hath set over him were best take heed lest it be thought that he regardeth not the Lord He was best take heed lest he give occasion of scandal or spiritual ruine to his brother whilst he gives him occasion to think that God is not worth the regarding or that those are given to superstition who do most zealously regard him For he that doth this may chance have the milstone in his heart to harden him but sure he must have the milstone about his neck to drown him SECT VIII To oppose the celebration of Christs Nativity is a scandal to Christians and a stumbling block to the Jews keeping them from Christianity PER scandalum laeditur proximus in mente ut per homicidium in corpore per furtum in possessione saith the School-man Alensis par 2. qu. ibi m. 1. Scandal wrongs my neighbour in his mind as murder wrongs him in his body and theft wrongs him in his possession and therefore I have great reason to take heed of being scandalous as to take heed of being a murderer or a thief And truly I cannot see but that our Saviours determination concerning scandal reacheth this very case Mat. 18. 6. Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better a mill-stone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea For tell me do they not believe in Christ who set apart a time of purpose to make Profession of their Belief in him And if they do believe in him how will you answer your scandalizing and offending them whiles they are professing or rather indeed practising that their belief or your scandalizing others whiles you keep them from the same Christian Practice and Profession Wherefore it can hardly be denyed but this is really a scandal or an offence to Christians because it is a way to cause some of them to forget or to forsake our Saviour Christ But surely it is a down-right stumbling-block to the Jews to keep them from embracing the Christian Religion For the main thing needful to their conversion is to prove the Messiah is already come in the flesh which the Jews will take for granted is denyed if not disproved by them who will not allow themselves nor others to celebrate the memorial of his coming for the whole course of their Religion taught them to acknowledge the receipt of far lesser blessings with much more solemn memorials as the receipt of the Law with the celebration of Pentecost So that whatsoever may be urged for serving God in Spirit in Truth to make Christians become sincere worshippers yet we had need keep up an outward solemn service and worship of Christ to make Jews become Christians For it is not imaginable they should leave the outward decency and order that they are bound to use in their own Synagogues according to the whole purport of their own Law to come to the slovenliness and Indecency that may be found in some Christian Churches under the pretence of the purity of our Gospel SECT IX The Jews equally scandalized by Idolatry and by Profaness especially that Profaness or Irreligion which immediately dishonoureth our Saviour Christ IT is much to be lamented that Christians who are bound to do what is in them to convert the Jews should so far scandalize them either by Idolatry or by Profaness as to hinder their conversion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Jew in his Disputation with the Christian in the second Nicen Council in the sift Action I am scandalized at you O ye Christians that you worship Images And is it not as great a scandal if they shall be able to say I am scandalized at you O ye Christians that you do not worship God or at least do not worship him with fear and reverence as God Or That you refuse to worship Christ whom you would have me believe to be the Son of God For is it not an act of Religious worship in Moses his Law to dedicate daies to the worship of God If then we deny the Dedication of daies to the worship of Christ How shall we perswade the Jews that we do indeed worship him as our God It is to be feared if we shall do so they will rather think us turning Jews then that themselves will think of turning Christians SECT X. That those Christians who oppose Christmas-Day do give occasion to other Good Christians to suspect them as not well grounded in the Christian Religion SInce it is the ground of our Christian Religion That all Gods gifts and mercies to mankind do concenter together in Christ it is scarce possible those Christians should be thought truly religious who make it their work to oppose the publick worship of Christ on that very day wherein as Christ he was first capable of being publickly worshipped They that are Jews may think well of this for they denying him to be the Son of God will easily deny that he is to be worshipped But sure good Christians cannot think well of it who are taught to glorifie God in Christ and much more for Christ To glorifie God in Christ is our Religion To glorifie God for Christ is our salvation Religio est motus creaturae rationalis ad Deum ut ad primum principium ultimum finem Christus autem ut Homo est via per quam fit hic motus saith Aquinas 22â— qu. 81. Religion is a motion of the reasonable creature to God as to its first beginning and to its last end But Christ as man is the way wheâ—ein the reasonable creature thus moveth so that once forget Christ as man and you shall soon forget all religion Saint Bernard tells us of a threefold coming of Christ the first was in the infirmity of his flesh to redeem us the second in the power of his spirit to sanctifie us the third in the glory of his majesty to judge us I will thankfully receive him as my Redeemer that I may securely
prayers for it was the curse of Judas Let his prayer be turned into sin and I dare not venter to bring that curse upon my self For I that now ask pardon for the sins of my prayers if I make my prayers more sinful then my infirmities do make them for me what shall I have left whereby to ask pardon for the sinfulness of my sins I will therefore ever give God humble and hearty thanks that he hath caused me to be educated in a Church which hath taught me to make my addresses to him only in and by his Son and I wil never cease so to make my addresses to him in behalf of that distressed and oppressed Church For he that hath given us the parable of the importunate widow to this end that we should alwaies pray and not faint will certainly hear our prayers and the prayers of his Church that is now a widow and therefore brought to the state of widow-hood and desolation because we her sons have hitherto been so slothful and sluggish in our prayers suffering them infinitely to out-strip us in the practise who came far short of us in the purity of Devotion and not shewing that zeal towards the eternal Son of God which others have shewed and do still shew towards their petty Deities This our abominable neglect or rather contempt of God hath made him jealous and his jealousie hath made him for a while cast us off but we hope he will not cast us off for ever even for his Truths sake for his mercies sake for his names sake yea though we have slighted his Truth abused his mercy and blasphemed his most Holy name by throwing away our Prayers with as much fury as if Truth had been a lye Invocation had Superstition and Piety had been Idolatry yet we will still hope that he will not cast us away for ever for his Sons sake because in him he is well pleased though with us he be most justly displeased For in him alone in his merits in his righteousness in his intercession have we called and do call for grace and mercy and therefore cannot doubt but in him and for his sake we shall be heard at last and relieved and shall see the salvation of our God For the unrighteous Judge himself could say Though I fear not God nor regard man yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her least by her continual coming she weary me Much more shall the righteous Judge say so Yea O Lord we know that thou fearest not thine enemies but yet regardest thy servants and therefore we thy most unworthy servants will never leave troubling thee with our continual addresses nor wearying thee with our daily prayers till thou arise and maintain thine own cause and either avenge our injuries or vindicate our innocency If our Church was once thy Spouse she is now thy widow O let not her nor us for her cry any longer in vain to thee But we beseech thee to avenge her of all her enemies not by confounding but by converting them For this will be a vengeance worthy of thy Justice and of thy Mercy both together when thou shalt indeed destroy the sin but yet save the sinners However we cannot but profess our selves so well assured of the truth of our Religion whiles we adore and worship thee only in thy beloved Son that though all the world discountenance yet we dare not discontinue much less forsake it And though for our many and grievous sins thou still suffer us to be eaten up like sheep and sellest thy people for nought and makest us to be rebuked of our neighbours and to be laughed to scorn and had in derision of them that are round about us yet we will not forget thee nor behave our selves frowardly much less falsly in thy Covenant nor suffer our hearts to be turned nor our steps to decline from thy way Yea though thou still more and more smite us into the place of Dragons creatures that are both mischievous and venemous and cover us not only with the shadow but even with the body of death yet we will ever resolve and we beseech thee to confirm and consummate our resolution not to forget the name of our God nor to stretch out or hold up our hands to any strang God For thou hast told us This is life eternal that we might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17. 3. Lord we desire so to know thee as to love thee so to love thee as to worship thee so to worship thee as to glorifie thee so to glorifie thee in this world as to be glorified by thee in the world to come Thou hast commanded us to forsake all to follow thee Lord make us readily to obey this command that we may so follow thee as at last to come to thee to be with thee and to abide in thee for ever For those who saw thy Son but in tpyes and figures have taught us this lesson of sincerity and of constancy not to be careful to answer any of our adversaries in this matter but readily and chearfully to say Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us and he will in his good time deliver us But if not be it known unto all the world that we will not worship the images which our Fathers have set up nor the imaginations which our children are now setting up for our God is too spiritual to be worshipped with images and too substantial to be worshipped with imaginations He is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Joh. 4. 24. His worship hath too much of Spirit to consist in images and too much of Truth to consist in imaginations Wherefore we knowing that our worship of God is both in Spirit and in Truth are sorry to see that any should oppose it for it is prodigious as well as odious for any Christian to oppose the glory of Christ but will not give them that occasion of joy to see that their opposition should make us forsake it For he that hath said Seek ye after God and your soul shall live Psal 69. 33. hath taught us to say in our Doctrine What shall we do with a Religion that seeks after any but God since our soul cannot live in any but in him and much more hath he taught us to say in our devotion Lord we make our prayer unto thee in an acceptable time Hear us O God in the multitude of thy mercies even in the truth of thy salvation Psalm 69. which is a prayer in times of persecution for the cause of Religion For as long as we make our prayers only to thee O Lord we are sure that we do pray in the truth of our Religion and therefore may not doubt but thou wilt at length hear our prayers in the truth of thy salvation and that for our blessed Saviours sake to whom with the Father and
yet thou oughtest to dread his infinite Majesty How much more now that he is in heaven above thee so high as to overlook thee to over-top thee to over power thee Thus the reason is enforced from Gods Majesty Again were he on earth with thee yet thou oughtest to consider and admire his transcendent purity for he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity of purer ears then to hear it of purer heart then to regard it and consequently of purer hands then not to punish it How much more now that he is in heaven the proper place of purities of pure persons of pure actions and of pure affections and thou on earth where persons and actions and affections are all unclean and impure Thus the reason is enforced from Gods purity If thou art not afraid because of his Majesty yet thou mayst be ashamed because of his purity that the word either of thy mind or of thy mouth should be injudicious or indeliberate for that is not agreeable with the purity of reason and much less with the purity of Religion Therefore let thy words be few such as have been weighed in the ballance of the sanctury before they be presented in it as an offering to that holy One whose holiness doth not only inhabit the sanctuary but also doth sanctifie it And this reason doth our Saviour himself intimate unto us not only from the shortness of his own most holy prayer but also from the introduction of it Our Father which art in heaven as if he had said God is in heaven thou art on earth therefore let thy words be few Surely this Text which was given of purpose to prevent vanities in Divine service according to the judgement of our Church as appears by the contents had need be blâ—…ed out of Gods word and out of mans heart that the world may contentedly give up Liturgy to Enthusiasm that is proper and deliberate prayers fit to engage holy affections and to express holy desires for extravagant and extemporary effusions such as are commonly improper but alwayes indeliberate if not in regard of the Minister yet surely in regard of the people who yet notwithstanding ought no more to take the truth and goodness of their Religion upon the Ministers word then to rely for the practice of it upon his righteousness or to expect the reward of it from his salvation SECT XII Set forms and conceived prayers compared together That set forms do better remedy all inconvâ—niences and more establish the conscience are not guilty of wil-worship nor of quenching the spirit nor of superstitious fromalities and that it is less dangerous if not more Christian to discountenance the gift then the spirit of prayer HE that considers the great distance of God and man the excellencies of his makers glory the miseries of his own infirmity the impertinencies and alienations of his thoughts which may as well put him out in his own as put him by in his Churches prayers the multiplicity of his imperfections the treacherousness of his memory the slowness of his apprehension the dulness of his affections will heartily bless God for providing him premeditated forms as a remedy and will carefully watch himself lest he should turn his remedy into a disease by adding to all the rest the deadness of his own heart So that all those inconveniences art not only better prevented but also better remedied by set forms then by conceived prayers Mens phansies may be elevated by extemporary effusions but their consciences are best edified by known Prayers and t is not for us to invite men to serve God with their phansies but with their consciences By the manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 4. 2. not by the pretence of Revelations commending our selves to every mans curiosity in the sight of the World That 's the ready way to bring men first to weak imaginations then to strong delusions first to beleive any thing then to believe a lye first to receive matters of Religion without judgement then to receive matters of irreligion against conscience But let us hear both parties speak for themselves against one another They say our set forms float in generalities we say their no forms rove in uncertainties both must confess that generalities in matters of Christianity may concern all Christians but uncertainties may concern none at all They say we are guilty of wil-worship in making set forms of prayer without order of the Text we say that we have Gods own express order for set forms 1. by several dictates of the Text partieularly Luk. 11. 1. Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his Disciples and t is not be doubted but he taught his Disciples to pray by a set form as teaching either their eyes or their ears but not being able to teach their hearts by several forms in the Text particularly the Psalms of which the Divine Areopagite hath said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. S. Dionys lib. de Eccl. Hier. cap. 3. The most holy writings of the Divine hymns do wholly aim at this that they may celebrate all the holy words and all the holy works of God and shall we think they do not teach and require Gods Church after their example to celebrate the same words and works 3. By the general drift and scope of the Text For God having given us a written word for the rule of our Religion hath by the same reason enjoyned us a written word for the practice of it since there is as great a necessity that we should have a certainty of practice as a certainty of knowledge in things belonging to our salvation so that our Enthusiasts ought to appeal to unknown traditions for the rule of their Religion before they ought to obtrude unknown imaginations for the practice of it However let all the world judge whether will-wil-worship can possibly be in using a Religion of Gods and not rather of mans making They say we quench the spirit but we know we inflame him because approved and known prayers do most warm judicious affections and we doubt not but the spirit assisteth a man in his Judgement or reason which he hath only as a man rather then in his phansie or apprehension which he hath common with a beast For as the spirit assisteth Angels by revelation because they know by intuition so he assisteth men by deliberation because they know by Reason and by discourse They say we are given to superstitious formalities because we desire a set form of Prayer we advise them not to be given to irreligious blasphemies in casting reproaches upon formed prayers which were at first of Gods own making in his holy Word and are still of his making not of ours if they be agreeable to his Word For all truth whosoever speaketh it is from the Spirit of Truth and therefore to blaspheme the Truth is to blaspheme the Spirit And the question will
were first Angels secondly men yet men only not Angels appointed by him as witnesses of his Ascension though not All men And that the disturbers of these witnesses that is of the Orders of Christs Ministers in his Church do sin against this Article of Christs Ascension which however is it self and puts all true believers above all disturbancet CAP. 3. Christ considered after he was Ascended Hath three Sections Sect. 1. WHat is meant by the right hand of God and by Christs sitting there Sect. 2. That Christ as man sitteth on the right hand of God Sect. 3. That to sit at the right hand of God is proper only to Christ and therefore invocation of or adoration to the blessed Virgin is not agreeable with this article of our Christian Faith That the Author of no Religion but only the Christian is said to be at the right hand of God and to administer his Kingdom and therefore no Religion to be compared with it and no power to prevail against it Christ Communicated in the coming of the Holy Ghost Hath two Chapters The first Chapter is of the Communication of Christ unto his members The second Chapter is of the coming of the Holy Ghost where Christ is Communicated CAP. 1. Of the Communication of Christ to his members Hath three Sections Sect. 1. THat we being born in sin our condition is very miserable till Christ be Communicated to us but after that very comfortable for the time of sin is a time of warfare captivity banishment the time of Grace a time of peace of restitution of liberty the admirable liberty of Gods servants the woful slavery of those who serve themselves Sect. 2. That Christ is generally Communicated to all Christians by Baptism wherein the Holy Ghost is given to regenerate and sanctifie them by taking away the imputation or guilt of Original sin and making them the members of Christ How the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ and their infidelity and uncharitableness who deny Baptism to Infants Sect. 3. That Christ is more peculiarly communicated to some Christians by the Spirit of adoption whereby they cry Abba Father calling upon God with greater earnestness confidence and comfort then did the Jews and yet they also had the Spirit of adoption though not in the same degree as well as Christians CAP. 2. Of the coming of the Holy Ghost where Christ is Communicated Hath six Sections Sect. 1. THat the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ that is the spirit of the Son as well as of the Father and that the Greeks were unjustly and uncharitably rejected by some of the Latines as Hereticks concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost Of the addition of Filioque to the Constantinopolitan Creed and that the Pope hath no authority to change any Article of Faith The Greek Church agreed with the Latine about this controversie insense though not in words Therefore not anathematized by the Western Churches which use the Athanasian Creed Bellarmines heavy doom concerning the Greek Church fitter for a souldier then a Divine Sect. 2. That the coming of the Holy Ghost for the communicating of Christ after an extraordinary manner is not now to be expected That preaching and praying with the spirit come not by infusions Enthusiasts are the worst separatists and the greatest blasphemers guilty of the worst kinds of sacriledge and idolatry in robbing God of his publick worship after such a manner as he hath commanded and idolizing their own pretended gifts Sect. 3. Hypocritical Christians who make Prayers for pretences worse Atheists then the Heathen pretenders to the spirit are the greatest enemies to the spirit and shew the least fruits of the spirit Therefore must be silenced by the Ministers of Christ and shunned by his people who have no excuse if they are misled by them because they are to be known by their works whereof the weakest and the meanest men are competent Judges Sect. 4. Vnsetledness in Religion shews we have not learned it from our heavenly Master or from Gods Exapostle The Holy Ghost being given us from the Father by the Son sheweth there is no salvation to them who believe not the Trinity The mixture of praises with prayers in the Psalms was the Abba Father of the Old Testament and proceeded from joy in the Holy Ghost which is a joy both unsequestrable and unspeakable The sacrifices and Hymns answerable to that Joy Sect. 5. Folly and Filiation are together in Gods best adopted children whilst they are in this world The three priviledges of the Saints of Gods not of their own making because of the spirit of adoption 1. That of enemies they are made servants of God of servants they are made sons 2. That being made Sons of God they have the spirit of his Son 3. That having the Spirit of his Son they have also the mind and language of his Son crying Abba Father having their hearts true to God by inward affection and their mouths true to their hearts by outward profession Sect. 6. The having the spirit and language of the Son farther explained by three questions 1. How Abba Father is called the language of the Son and whether Saint Mark borrowed not that expression from Saint Paul 2. Who it is that cryeth Abba Father or that prays by the spirit whether he that hath most cordial affections or he that hath most voluble effusions 3. Whether the spirit may be in the heart Believing whiles t is not in the mouth crying Abba Father or whether the spirit of Adoption once truly had be not retained to the end Christ received in the State of true Christianity Hath three Chapters The first Chapter is of the state of true Christianity The second Chapter is of the knowledge of that state The third Chapter is of the comfort of that knowledge CAP. 1. Of the state of true Christianity Hath five Sections Sect. 1. THE happiness of Christians who have their conversation with Christ that lovers of themselves or of the world have not this happiness for though Christ spaek to all yet he answers only to good Christians that is to sheep not to Wolves or to Christians not to Heathen for such he accounteth all persecuters teaching the one to their instruction and contentation the other only to their conviction and condemnation The reason why so many Christians come not to the state of true Christianity Sect. 2. Many Christians not so careful of their spiritual as of their temporal estate or condition The state of true Christianity is not external in the profession but inetrnal in the love of Christ which will make us hate all sin No malitious man can be in the state of true Christianity The ground of true Christian charity generally abused to most unchristian uncharitableness charity is more safely mistaken then not maintained Sect. 3. That the state of true Christianity is best taught by our Saviour Christ and best learned of him and how far the Jews may be said to
and the Decalogue righteously taken into our Liturgie but unrighteously omitted by Innovators who vainly obtrude Variety to mens consciences instead of Certainty Sect. 11. The Gift of Prayer examined That it is not a Gift of sanctifying Grace That Prayer as a Duty is above Prayer as a Gift That the Spirit of Prayer is often without the Gift of Prayer and yet the Gift of Prayer is not perfect without the Spirit of it Those Christians who have attained the Gift of Prayer most compleatly that is joyntly with the Spirit of it are not thereby qualified to be the mouths of the Congregations Those Ministers who have not attained that Gift are not for that reason to be despised as not sufficiently qualified for the Ministry And those Ministers who have attained it may not for the exercising thereof be allowed to reject set forms of Prayer in their Congregations because set forms in publick are more for the Ministers and the Peoples good more for Gods glory and more agrecable with Gods command Sect. 12. Set forms and conceived Prayers compared together That set forms do better remedy all inconveniences and more establish the conscience Are not guilty of will-worship nor of quenching the Spirit nor of superstitious formalities and that it is less dangerous if not more Christian to discountenance the Gift then the Spirit of Prayer Sect. 13. That forms of publick Prayer are not to be disliked because they cannot or at least do not particularly provide either Deprecations against private mens occasional miseries or thanksgivings for their occasional mercies yet our Church not defective in occasionals though chiefly furnished with eternals The danger of contemning Religious forms of Prayer and gadding after conceived Prayers Sect. 14. The third and last part of the Churches Trust concerning Religion is touching the holy Sacraments wherein our Church is not faulty either in the number or in the administration of Them as exactly following our Saviours Institution Nor in the manner of Administring as following it with reverence CAP. 3. That the Communion of the Church of England is conscionably embraced and reteined by all the People of this Nation and not rejected much less renounced by any of them but against the rules of conscience Sect. 1. EVery particular man ought to labour to be of such a Communion as he is sure is truly Christian both in Doctrine and in Devotion The Rule whereby to choose such a Communion the Proofs whereby to maintain it Sect. 2. That the Communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in Doctrine free from Hereâ—ie and from the necessary cause thereof a false ground or foundation of faith That is Believeing upon the Authority of men instead of God Sect. 3. That the Communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in Devotion free from impiety either by corrupt Invocation or Adoration Sect. 4. That the Communion of the Church of England obligeth those in conscience who are members of that Church to retein â—â— and not to reject it much less to renounce it by no less then five Commandments of the Decalogue Errata PAge 7. line 4. read Menologie p. 26. l. 35. r. fatlest p. 34. l. 19. r Tria p. 39. l. 4. r. brightness p. 47. l. 3. r. ut p. 56. l. 28. r. They p. 60. l. 20. r. It is p. 61. l. 11. 12. r. likeness p. 66. l. 22. r. protension p. 77. l. 26. r. This p. 78. l. 28. dele not p. 82. l. 17. r. as p. 100. l. 23. r. He p. 101. l. 16. r. greater p. 105. l. 3. r. Turning p. 106. l. r. r. their p. 116. l. 32. dele that p. 120. l. 14. r. without p. 126. l. 36. r. Nor p. 148. l. 14. r. bring p. 150. l. 14. r. of p. 169. l. 1. r. we p. 178. l. 2. r. fully p. 178. l. 15. r. take p. 180 l. 1. r. iniquities p. 182. l. 32. r. affective p. 198. l. 22. r. before p. 208. l. 17. 1. Quid p. 208. l. 18. r. Nam p. 292. in the Contents l. 6. r. Them p. 319. l. 5. r. comely p. 345. l. 3. r. sound p. 415. l. 31. r. Then p. 449. l. 1. r. persection ibid. l. 31. r. such a division p. 549. l. 19. â— beats p. 634. l. 14. r. certainty p. 656. l. 30. r. unpremeditated p. 674. l. 5. r. Obsecration p. 680. l. 4. r. bind ibid. l. 5. r. hands Christ wellcomed in his Nativity CAP. I. The Motives of Christs welcome from God and from his Church both Triumphant and Militant SECT I. Christs image repairs the loss of Gods image in man The Churches desire that Christ should be formed in us and that Christs humiliation is the Christians exaltation IN the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost one God everlasting Blessed be the Holy and undivided Trinity world without end Amen I had once the image of God the Father in my creation and I soon lost it wherefore I now desire to have the image of God the Son in my Redemption which I may never lose O thou eternal Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son vouchsafe to breath in my soul this breath of life that I may live eternally O thou who didst form the eternal Son of God in the womb of a pure Virgin be pleased also to form him in my impure and sinful heart That Christ being formed in me I may not be an Abortive to the life and light of righteousness Thy holy Apostle travelled as in birth till Christ was formed in the Galatians so doth thy holy Church travail as in birth til Christ be formed in me Oh then let the end of her travail be the beginning of my rest that my Saviour being formed in me I may be fitted and prepared for his salvation He once condescended to be made man for me Oh that he will now give me the benefit of that condescention and be made man in me That I may put on the Lord Jesus Christ even as he hath put on me That as he dwelleth in my flesh by a personal union so he may also dwell in my Spirit by a powerful Communion That as by dwelling in my flesh he emptied himself so by dwelling in my Spirit he may fill me For Christs emptiness is the Christians fulness He that filled Heaven and Earth from the beginning of the Creation did in the declining Age of Time Empty himself that he might fill us Them he filled with his Majesty but us with his Mercy And if his emptiness was our fulness what is his fulness but our glory If his fall was our rising what is his resurrection but our salvation If the humiliation of Christ was the riches of the world how much more his exaltation If he enriched us by his Poverty how much more will he enrich us by his Glory The Apostle can mention nothing but fulness when he treats of Christ emptiness Gal. 4. 4 5. SECT II. Christs
behold him as my Judge For if I be ashamed of him in his infirmity how shall he not be ashamed of me in his glory Therefore I dare not be ashamed of this day least I should seem to be ashamed of him also no nor of his prayer least I should seem to be ashamed of his words since himself hath said Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son ef man be ashamed when â—e cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angel Mar. 8. 38. SECT XI The first Christmas-day was kept by the Holy Angels therefore no will-worship in keeping Christmas but rather a necessity to keep it from Heb. 1. 6. The Kingdom of Christ as Creator and as Redeemer IN keeping of Christmas the Church militant follows the example of the Church Triumphant for the First Christmas-Day that was ever kept on Earth was kept by the Holy Angels that came of purpose from Heaven to keep it Luk. 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel A multitude of the Heavenly Host Praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace good will towards men Shall that be accounted Superstition in men which was undoubted Religion in the Angels or can we be called will-worshippers for doing no more then they did unless you will first call them so Let will-worship go in Epiphanius his language for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for wilful and for superfluous worship for what it hath of mans will or wilfulness it cannot but have of superfluity But let us take heed of calling that will-worship for which there is a Precedent in the Text and so great a reason for that Precedent for it is most certain that the blessed Angels in Heaven had great reason to joy for the incarnation of Christ since he was the Repairer of their ruine in their fellows and the confirmer of their â—â—ay or standing in themselves whence Alensis tels us plainly that the Angels joy and bliss was greater after the incarnation of Christ then it had been before For though the substantial Joy of the Angels consist in the contemplation of the Divinity yet their accidental joy consists in the contemplation of the Humanity of our blessed Saviour as it is united to his Divinity Accrevit igitur gaudium Angelorum licet non quod substantiam tamen quantum ad multitudinem quia pluribus modis habent modò gaudium in beatitudine quà m ante Incarnationem Par. 3. q. 12. Therefore the Joy of the Angels is increased by the Nativity of Christ though not in its substance yet in its Variety for that now they rejoyce more several wayes then before for whereas before the Incarnation they rejoyced to see God in God now since it They rejoyce to see God in man And we find that they did sing and triumph that they might express their joy surely not to teach us Christians who in that we are men have much greater cause of joy from thence then the Angels could have I say surely not to teach us men a lesson of silence and of fullenss But if we will not regard Precedent yet we must regard Precept And the Angels seem to have a Precept to worship our Saviour Christ at his Nativity For the Apostles words seem to look towards a Precept Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world He saith And let all the Angels of God worship him I know this Text chiefly aims at the Proof of Christs Divinity but if the Holy Spirit thought he had sufficiently proved the first-begotten of the Father though brought into the world in the form of a servant to be no less then God when he had said And let all the Angels of God worship him It is evident they do what is in them to invalidate this Proof who at the very time that he was thus brought into the world do cry out as loud as they can let not the the sons of men worship him But where doth the Holy Ghost say this Epiphanius in his Ancorate plainly cites Moses's song for this Text which is in Deut. 32. where v. 42. The Greek interpretation hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all the Angels of God worship him but with some various lections to make the Interpretation disputable at least if not questionable However since no such thing is to be found in the Hebrew and we are not assured that the Holy Ghost spake in Greek by the Septuagint supposing their Translation hath been preserved incorruptible we may not ascribe this Greek Translation to the saying of the Holy Ghost we must therefore appeal to the Hebrew Original which we are sure came immediately from Gods holy Spirit and then we shall find this Injunction Worship him all ye Angels of God in Psal 97. 7. And indeed the whole Argument of that Psalm is nothing else but a Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ and an exhortation both to Angels and men Joyfully to celebrate the magnificence and thankfully to acknowledge the power of his Kingdom For the Kingdom of Christ may be considered either as he is Creator Eternal God with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so the Jews themselves will not deny him to be their King or As Redeemer God and man in one Person and and so the Jews do stiffly deny his Kingdom and we Christians had need beware least we may seem to encourage or at least to confirm and Harden them in that Denial SECT XII We must embrace all opportunities of glorifying Christ that we may not be thought to desert either our Saviour or our selves whiles we are defective in our Devotions either for want of Preparation before which hath hitherto made us so bad Christians in so good a Church or of Affection in them which will keep us from being good Christians or of Thankfulness after them which wil keep us from worthily magnifying the name of Christ THe best course I know to prevent the hardening either of our own or of others Hearts is to take all the opportunities that are offered us of glorifying our blessed Saviour for he that is willing to neglect an opportunity can scarce be zealously inclined to lay hold of another time he that will not Honour Christ on his own Day will scarce pick out another Day to honour him though he may pretend to keep Christmass all the year or if he be indeed zealously inclined to honour Christ yet other Christians cannot be easily inclined to think him so and Jews must necessarily think him not so And though we ought not to judge them also that are without 1 Cor. 5. 12. yet we ought not to offend them and much less them that are within for this is the way to cause God to judge us we will therefore take that for granted which cannot be denied that we have all great need to imploy very much and cannot imploy
silent and gave no answer as if by their silence they had proclaimed that the Word was only in Judea which is not only historical but also rational not only credible for the relation but also for the reason because it was convenient that he who came to break the head of the Serpent should at the time of his coming stop his mouth Wherefore those Oracles that spake from the false and evil Spirit were all silenced at Christs coming as being unfit witnesses to Gods Truth because they were from a false Spirit and to his goodness because they were from an evil Spirit But their mouthes were then most open who spake by the Spirit of God The Angels that had been silent long before then began to sing Babes and sucklings were advanced above men to chant out their Hosanna's to the Son of David when he was made lower then the Angels In a word all tongues and languages of the world accustomed before to speak vanity were then taught to speak the wonderful works of God and Saint Peter gives us the reason of it because God did then pour out his Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2. 17. This is the Spirit that still filleth the hearts of good Christians with Thankfulness and their Mouths with Thanksgivings that they may continually more and more rejoyce in this Son of God till they come to enjoy him For as Christ is called panis descendens Joh. 6. 50. not qui descendit the bread decending to shew that he is alwaies descending in his salvation though he descended but once only in his person so our praise and thanksgiving to God for his descent may be called Cantus ascendenâ— the praise that is alwaies ascending according to that of the Psalmist Psal 71. 12. As for me I will patiently abide alway and will praise thee more and more for this praise never comes to its zenith or vertical point till our souls be there where our Saviour now is and from whence we expect him again to our salvation For good Christians can never meditate enough on their Redeemer never joy too much in that meditation They can never be weary of singing Hosanna blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord because in their souls they have tasted the sweetness of that song The Spirit of God making melodie with their hearts whiles they are making melody with their mouths SECT II. God the holy Ghosts love to man in giving him the assurance of his particular redemption without which there can be no joy of his creation It had been good for that man if he had never been born spoken of Judas according to our Saviours own judgement not our apprehension that gloss an abusing of the Text The joy of our Redemption is not to be lost WE cannot but have great joy if we have true joy in our Redeemer and we cannot but have true joy in our redeemer if we rightly weigh and faithfully embrace the mercy of our redemption therefore when the Holy Ghost hath said Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Psal 149. 2. he hath much more said in effect Let Israel rejoyce in him that redeemed him for the Joy is not so truly that he is made as that he is made Israel according to that of Saint Augustine frustra profuit hominem nasci nisi redimi etiam profuisset in vain had man been made partaker of the Creation if he had not also been made partaker of the redemption And agreable to this is our Saviours doctrine concerning Judas who in that he betrayed his redeemer forfeited his share in this redemption It had been good for that man if he had not been born Mat. 26. 24. To seek to make the contrary true by Metaphysical quiddities as a Divine of late hath done is so to be in Metaphysicks as to be out of Divinity for though singly and simply in it self being is better then not being yet a Metaphysical being which only exempts from nothing accompanied with a moral not being that makes worse then nothing is certainly not better but far worse then a bare Metaphysical not being for it is clearly better to be nothing then to be worse then nothing and consequently to be no soul at all then to be a damned soul under an eternal enmity with and eternal separation from that goodness which is the fountain of being and which only doth make our being to be good wherefore it must needs be a dangerous Position that requires such a proof but more dangerous that admits it For to admit this is in effect to say that our Saviour Christ is not a man of his word as he that first broached this desperate doctrine being urged with the authority of our Saviours forementioned words It had been good for that man if he had not been born made his answer that our blessed Saviour did there speak secundum captum vulgi according to the opinion of the common people which is little less then to put a fallacy in the mouth of Truth it self and to fasten such a blasphemy upon the word of Christ as will easily enable us to elude the whole Text and verifie his most wicked words by our more wicked practice who once said in zeal to his Church but not to his Saviour Scripturam esse nasum cereum that the Scripture was a meer nose of wax But we have not so learned Christ and dare not so revile his word least we should so learn him we will therefore rejoyce in him that made us out of nothing to be his creatures because he hath also redeemed us from being worse then nothing when we were his enemies and we will commit the keeping of our souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator because we know him to be also our merciful redeemer For the same son of God who made the world and upheld all things by the word of his Power and consequently was our Creator hath by himself purged our sins and is now sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high there making intercession for us Heb. 1. 2 3. Heb. 7. 25. and consequently is also our Redeemer The joy of our Creation we have lost by losing our Innocency but the Joy of our Redemption is never to be lost unless we lose our Repentance which is so true so great a comfort to a man who is born in sin lives in sin dies in sin that if you deny him this you can afford him no true comfort against his sinfulness SECT III. That this redemption whereof the Holy Ghost assureth us is twofold 1. Privative because we are not under the Law that is not under it as condemning us though we be under the Law as regulating and restraining us 2. Positive because we are under grace and know that we are so the right way to attain that knowledge THat would not be so great a comfort to a good Christian which Saint Paul gives him Rom. 6. 14. for
habits as by its instruments and therefore these have the least reason to boast of grace who least regard the virtuous habits whereby it worketh and so cry up Faith in Christ as in effect to beat down the cheifest duties of Christianity For grace is the beginning of spiritual actions by the mediation of virtuous habits even as the soul is the beginning of vital actions by the mediation of its powers and faculties And as the soul works not immediately from it self the actions of the natural life so neither doth grace work immediately of it self the actions of the spiritual life For grace indeed hath two acts in regard of the soul as the soul hath in regard of the body Primus ad esse Secundus ad operari The first act is to give life and that is immediate from it self the second act is to give the operations of life and that is mediate by virtuous qualities and dispositions so neerly doth it concern every Christian that desires to be under grace to lead his life in all Godliness and vertue for there can be no assurance of life but from the operations of life no assurance of the spiritual being but from the evidence of the spiritual working Excellently Aquinas Potest aliquis cognoscere se habere gratiam in quantum percipit se delectari in Deo contemnit res mundanas non est conscius sibi alicujus mortalis peccati 1a 2ae 112. 5. cap. A man may know himself to be in grace if he find that he delights in God and contemns this world and is not conscious to himself of any grievous or mortal sin There are but few signs or tokens but they are infallible And we must conclude that those men who care not what sins they commit against God their brethren and their own consciences either to get or to keep the advantages of this world as they shew but little contempt of the world so they shew a great contempt of God And they that contemn God cannot be said to delight in him and they that do not delight in him cannot receive comfort from him wherefore it is an evil spirit not the spirit of God which doth witness to such men that they are the Sons of God when their own consciences cannot but witness that they are his enemies SECT IV. The great joy of Christians for being under grace or for being adopted in Christ and how that joy is to be moderated by the consideration of our own frailty and of Gods impartial Justice in the judgement to come MAny men have a cheerful countenance that have but a sorrowful heart The yong man seems to be of this temper whom Solomon so sharply reproves or rather so plainly derides Eccles 11. 9. Rejoyce O yong man in thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes there is cheerfulness enough as to the outward man but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement There 's sorrowfulness more then enough as to the inward man whilst walking in his own wayes makes him lift up his face the thought of judgement cannot but cast down his heart therefore they alone do truly rejoyce who have such a joy as cannot end in sorrow not a joy for being the Lords over their Brethren but a joy for being the servants of their God not a joy for overcoming others but for overcoming themselves not a joy for having gained an inheritance on earth but a joy for being assured of an inheritance in heaven Our Saviour said to his own Disciple Notwithstanding in this rejoyce not that the Spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Luke 10. 20. If it be not the cause of a true Christians joy to have power and dominion over evil spirits which is the peculiar priviledge of Christs own Church much less can it be the cause of a true Christian joy to have dominion and power over good men which is the common priviledge of Christs enemies The joy then of a Christian is not for having his name far spread on earth but for having his name written in heaven not for overcoming his Brother but for overcoming his lusts And to him that thus overcometh will he that holdeth the seven Stars in his right hand and walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks give to eat of the hidden Manna Rev. 2. which without doubt affords a marvellous sweetness to all those that eat of it But who can eat of this heavenly Manna save only they who have their names written in heaven for it is not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it unto the dogs Mark 7 27. Nor can the dogs eat so much as the crumbs that fall from this heavenly table We must be children before we can eat of this bread and then may we not always expect to eat our fill of it least that Scripture be fulfilled of us the second time He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me John 13. 18. For Jesurun waxed fat and kicked then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation Deut. 32. 15. Therefore do the most judicious Divines advise us that though we stedfastly believe our selves to be Gods adopted Sons yet we may not too suddenly make sure of our inheritance but must work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. And though we be indeed the called of Jesus Christ Rom. 1. 6. yet we must give diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Saint Peter is very zealous in this point as by his own sad experience having known the mischeif of too much confidence And therefore although in Saint Pauls words there be reason enough for our fear and trembling because our salvation is to be worked out before it can be enjoyed for no man but hath cause more then enough to suspect his own works and much more the continuance of his good working yet Saint Peter gives us another reason of our fear because we must all be judged before we can be saved 1 Pet. 1. 17. And if ye call on the Father who â—…hout respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Here is supposed an adopted child for he cals on the Father but he is not supposed to be puffed up with his adoption for he is to pass his time of sojourning in fear and the reason is because his Father is to be his Judge and will judge him according to his works for which one reason are alledged three reasons by Aquinas when he saith Expedit quandoque praesentiam Dei in nobis per gratiam ignorare ut timor Divini judicii nos humiliet ne praesumpta securitas nos praecipitet ut desideranter Gratiam Dei expetamus It is expedient for us sometimes to be ignorant of Gods
grace in us and which is all one of his favour towards us that the fear of Gods judgement may humble us that the presumption of our own secure state and condition may not ruine us and that the desire of Gods grace may daily more and more increase in us All these three reasons are intimated by Saint Peter If ye callon the Father there 's the desire of the increase of grace who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans works there 's the fear of Gods judgement pass the time of your sojourning here in fear there 's against the presumption of our own secure state and condition As then I desire to be humbled as I desire not to be eternally ruined and as I would increase in my soul more and more such holy desires so I must take heed that I be not puffed up with the conceit of my adoption for he that hath given me that inestimable grace when I did not deserve it hath not promised to continue his gift if I will needs abuse it SECT V. Our adoption in Christ not spoken of by Saint John without a double Preface one practical another speculative and is here according to the likeness of his grace shall be hereafter according to the likeness of his glory The threefold Image of God in man ADoption is the assumption of a stranger into a son Adoptio est personae extraneae in filium assumptio saith the Civilian so that our adoption implies three things 1. An assuming or taking of a man from his own kindred into Gods family 2. An assuming or taking such a man as was a stranger into that family 3. An assuming or taking that stranger to be one of the best of Gods family to be a Son A most blessed assumption which gives to the true Christian soul not an imaginary but a real not an anniversary but an everlasting Holy day Hence it is that Saint John cannot speak of this infinite mercy without a double Preface 1 John 3. 1. Behold what manner of the love of the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! Behold there is one Preface a practical Preface that concerns the person to fix his attention to raise his affection and to confirm his devotion what manner of love the Father hath bestowed there is another Preface a Doctrinal Preface that concerns the thing shewing in it that sublimity which challengeth the best of our attention that excellency which challengeth the purest of our affection that immortality which challengeth the firmest of our devotion There can be no Preface appositely made but is either practical to exite and move the reader or didactical to make way for the explication of the work the end and scope of the first is to shew that the thing taught is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to beloved of us the end and scope of the second is to shew that the thing taught is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovely in it self for so is Aristotles distinction 20. Magn. Moral c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle joins these two several ends and scopes of Prefaces both together before he treats of our adoption saying Behold to shew this lovely and amiable to us richly worth our looking after and what manner of love to shew it is most lovely and amiable in it self And we may easily see by the ensuing words that it is such a good as is not to be valued by the judgement of the flesh for the world knows it not nor sufficiently to be valued by the judgement of the spirit for we our selves yet scarce know it it doth not appear what we shall be It doth not appear to the world what we are nor to our selves what we shall be only this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him ver 2. as if he had said there are at least two degrees if not two parts of this filiation or adoption of sons one in this life when we are regenerated into the hope of everlasting glory the other in the next life when we shall be admitted into the possession of it When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Col. 3. 4. The first degree of our adoption the world knows not of us the second we do not cannot in this life fully know of our selves Of the first degree of adoption speaks the same Saint John in his Gospel John 1. 12 13. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God Of the second degree speaks Saint Paul Rom. 8. 23. We our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body as if the adoption were not to be obtained here but to be expected hereafter wherein however he speaks as it were out of Christs own mouth as well as by his spirit for our blessed Saviour himself useth these words Luke 20. 36. They are the children of God being the children of the resurrection not that they were not the children of God before but only that they were not compleatly and perfectly children till they were admitted to their inheritance and were come to a full similitude and likewise with their Father For as a natural son of man is partaker of his humane nature or else he cannot be his son so also is an adopted Son of God partaker of his Divine Nature though not Originally because he is adopted yet sure derivatively because else he cannot be a Son for on the participation or communication of the Divine nature is founded our adoption or being the Sons of God according to that of the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 4. That by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinae consortes naturae consorts or companions of the Divine Nature that is communicants in it as well as partakers of it And upon this ground it is we do assert that as the participation of the Divine nature to us is different in degrees so also is our adoption different in degrees as inchoate in this life and consummate only in the next For in this life we are made partakers of the Divine Nature but inchoately and imperfectly that is as it is resembled in grace but in the next life we shall be made partakers of it consummately or perfectly that is as it will be revealed in glory For there is in man a threefold Image of God Imago creationis Imago recreationis Imago similitudinis as saith the angelical Doctor 1 2ae qu. 93. ar 4. The first Image is by likeness of Nature the Image of creation the second is by likeness of grace the Image of regeneration the third Image is by likeness of glory the Image of perfection Tbe first Image hath been so defaced and blotted and slurred by our sin that we are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. So that in and from this Image of God
the zeal of our piety and the constancy of our saith by the unweariedness of our piety that neither faith nor piety may be reproved in thy sight when thou shalt come to Judge us who rulest and governest all things with the Father and the Holy Ghost ever one God world without end Amen Christ communicated in the coming of the Holy Ghost CAP. I. Of the Communication of Christ to his Members SECT I. That we being born in sin our condition is very miserable till Christ be communicated to us but after that very comfortable for the time of sin is a time of warfare captivity banishment The time of Grace a time of Peace of Restitution of Liberty The admirable liberty of Gods servants the woful slavery of those who serve themselves IT is no small part of mans misery who is born in sin and sorrow and therefore born in sorrow because in sin that the afflictions of this world may grieve his soul but all the comforts of this world cannot rescue or release it from grief The Spirit may be perplexed from the flesh but cannot be relieved from it it is only the lover of souls that can exhilerate the soul only the God of Spirits that can comfort the Spirit And till this lover of souls shew his love to us we are hateful to our selves till this God of Spirits do comfort our spirits we cannot but remain altogether comfortless For we are of our selves strangers and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and consequently from the comforts and immunities of that Common-wealth being alienated from God as far as earth from heaven in our affection as far as hell from heaven in our condition T is a sad truth which may be lamented but may not be denied for in its denyal though a man may shew himself a good Sophister yet he must shew himself a bad divine and cannot shew himself a good Christian That we are all by nature children of disobedience and children of wrath The Jew though he came of the stock of Abraham yet came not into the world without disobedience nor without wrath no more then the Gentile for so saith Saint Paul we were born the children of wrath even as others that is we Jews who came of Abraham no less then the Gentiles who came of the most unworthy and most unrighteous stock in the world Among whom sc the children of disobedience we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Eâ—h 2. 3. as if he had said we were children of disobedience in our affection children of wrath in our condition strangers from God in our affection for being under such lusts strangers from God in our condition for being under such wrath The Apostles intent is fully to declare unto us the state of mans misery which he is in by nature till he be relieved by his blessed redeemer and we may reduce all his doctrine to these four Heads First that our misery consisteth of two parts that we are under the dominion of sin and that we are under the guilt and punishment of Sin Secondly that all men in general as well Jews as Gentiles as long as they are without Christ and his Grace are subject to this misery that is are dead in trespasses and in sins and obnoxious to punishment for the same Thirdly that this our misery is meerly voluntary in regard of the sin though not in regard of the punishment for it is the course of this world and the fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind i. e. perverse and inordinate desires both external of the body and internal of the Soul for body and soul both are alike infected both are corrupted by sin and the desires of the mind are sinfull no less then the desires of the flesh This course of the world we are all desirous to run these desires of the flesh we are all inclined to nourish and to fulfill So that our misery is altogether voluntary in regard of our sin though it be altogether involuntrary and necessary in regard of the punishment we are willingly under the sin as pleasing our corruption but unwillingly under the punishment as bringing our destruction we are contented with the disobedience but we are afraid of the wrath and yet as long as we are under the sin we cannot but be under the punishment as long as we are children of disobedience we are also children of wrath Fourthly and lastly that as it is not in our will so it is not in our power to redeem our selves from this misery for that our corrupt nature doth not so much as desire and therefore cannot recover the state of true liberty either from sin or punishment but t is only the infinite goodness and mercy of God that recovers us by his Grace which is as far beyond our desires as above our deserts such a grace as we could not imagine and therefore did not desire such a grace as we did not desire and therefore could not deserve as saith the Apostle But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ The first Adam communicated nothing to us but sin and death t is only the second Adam that hath communicated to us Grace and Life and therfore t is only in relation to him to our Saviour Christ that the Prophet begins his Sermon of Comfort Isa 40. 1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned The beginning of the pardon is the end of the war Her warfare is accomplished and her iniquity is pardoned do both signifie the same peace Completa est malitia ejus saith the Latine translation for militia by a small mistake of the letter and that in the printer not in the translator but none of the sense for our malitia is our militia our iniquity is our warfare the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is both her work and her time of war Kimchi in his gloss saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vult dicere tempus quod in captivitate vel exilio dâ—buit transigere He means the time that she was to pass in banishment or captivity we may well admit the gloss For sin is a time of war banishment and captivity of war with God of banishment from God and of captivity not under God for he can be no tyrant but under the devil A sad time surely And therefore the time of Grace must needs be a joyfull time wherein this warfare this captivitâ— this banishment is brought to an end For Christ being communicated the sin is pardoned and the Sin being pardoned the sinner is in peace and in prosperity and in liberty to say this is to speak truly to the heart 〈◊〉
as Master Brerewood hath demonstrated in his enquiries cap. 14. SECT II. That the coming of the Holy Ghost for the communicating of Christ after an extraordinary manner is not now to be expected That preaching and praying with the Spirit come not by infusiâ—ns Enthusiasts are the worst separatists and the greatest blasphemers guilty of the worst kind of sacriledge and Idolatry in robbing God of his publike worship after such a manner as he hath commanded and idolizing their own pretended gifts SInce it is an undoubted truth that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ we may not doubt but his coming unto men alwayes was and still is of purpose to communicate Christ unto them either after an extraordinary manner by immediate infusions and revelations as to the Prophets and Apostles or after an ordinary manner by habitual improvements and assistances as at this day For the extraordinary manner of his coming and the extraordinary manner of his communicating Christ to men by immediate infusions or revelations did both cease together And we may truly say concerning those miraculous and extraordinary dispensations of the spirit what Saint Paul hath said concerning tongues one of the principal effects thereof They were for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not 1 Cor. 14. 22. and therefore were to continue and remain no longer then signes and wonders that is till the preaching or publishing of the Gospel or till the planting and setling the Christian Religion For Saint Peter plainly sheweth in the second of the Acts That this Prophecy of Joel In the last dayes saith God I will your out of my spirit upon all flesh was fulfilled in the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles that these were the last dayes meant by that Prophet and therefore after those dayes men were not to expect any more such extraordinary dispensations Wherefore those that will now preach or pray by the Spirit may not rely upon infusions for which they have no warrant but must betake themselves diligently to read and consider the word of God that so they may have the assistance of the Spirit of God For they that go about to separate the Spirit from the Word are the most abominable Separists that ever were or can be in the world because they endeavour to separate God from himself for Gods word is Gods truth and Gods truth is himself Be it then taken for granted which may not be doubted it cannot be denyed that they are very wicked Separatists who separate man from man for they fill the world with sedition and privy conspiracy They yet worse Separatists who separate man from God for they fill the world with false doctrine and heresie But yet still they are the worst Separatists of all who separate God from God that is Gods Spirit from Gods Word for they fill the world with hardness of heart contempt of Gods Word and Commandment which is the ready way to make men first impenitent and then unpardonable and what more can be said of the sin against the Holy Ghost Yet these three separations do so naturally and necessarily spring from one another that they may be accounted themselves inseparable For the sedition begets the heresie and the heresie begets the hardness of heart separating man from man by sedition will separate man from God by heresie and that will also in a short time endeavour to separate God from himself by contempt of his Word and Commandments What an unhappy age do we live in wherein men think they do God good service to run away from his Word by pretending to his Spirit But this is the wit of wickedness the order of disorder the method of atheism that the persons of the holy and undivided Trinity should be sinned against by succession and blasphemed in the same order that they are to be confessed first the Father secondly the Son and thirdly the Holy Ghost For under the Law men were generally given to Idolatry took an Idol for God and so more immediately sinned against God the Father he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself Under the first times of the Gospel men were generally addicted to Arrianism denying the Divinity of Christ and so more immediately sinned against God the Son for he is God of God But in these latter times of the Gospel for so it is to be feared our sins have made them men are generally addicted to cry up their own phansies for the dictates of the Spirit and so more immediately sin against God the Holy Ghost not considering how unconscionable a thing it is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby they are sealed to the day of redemption and how impossible a thing it is for those not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God who constantly blaspheme him and what an unsufferable blasphemy it is to entitle those rude and crude impertinencies to the Holy Spirit which few sober men can hear with patience and no zealous man can hear with profit and no conscientious man can hear with piety Well may such a worship profit some men by exercising their patience but yet it scarce deserves the name of worship because it doth not rather exercise their piety so that we must confess that such pretenders to the Spirit are the greatest enemies of the Spirit and whilst they would be thought the best reformers are in truth the worst blasphemers for as much as they impute those imprudencies and indescretions or rather impieties and irreligions for imprudencies in the service of God are impieties and indiscretions are irreligions to Gods Holy Spirit which are meerly their own vaiâ— imaginations and carnal inventions and in the mean time reject and disesteem those prayers and praises which are the undoubted dâ—ctates of that same Holy Spirit as if they rather hindred then helped us to cry Abba Father what is this but in effect to blaspheme God instead of blessing him for giving us so many admirable forms of prayer and praise in the holy Scriptures and for giving us a Church to teach us to pray exactly according to that pattern in the Mount according to those patterns of prayers and praises whâ—ch came immediately either from God the Son or from God the Holy Ghost What is this but in effect to distract and to hinder men instead of setling and helping them in their Religion whilst they are made beleive that nothing is truly from the spirit of prayer but what is new and unknown to them whereby they are taught first to contemn the known prayers of the Church and then the known prayers of the Scriptures for that the spirit is as much confined by the one as by the other and to hunt after novelty instead of certainty which is a way to exercise the phansie before the conscience because the conscience first tries the spirits then follows them 1 John 4. 1. but the phansie first follows the spirits and never at all tries them A way
unto me saith Christ not go from me there 's the temper of charity to invite and embrace not to repell and reject others for I am meek and lowly in heart there 's the temper of humility lowly in heart and cannot be of that pride as to forget my self meek in heart and cannot be of that presumption as to disdain and reproach my brother where you find not this temper there you may not seek for Christ where you do find the contrary distemper in the forenamed works of the flesh there you are sure not to find the Spirit of Christ and therefore must come with your libera nos Domine though you care not to have the Letanie and say Good Lord deliver me from such professors and from such a profession of the Christian Religion where I can neither find the temper nor the Spirit of Christ SECT IV. Vnsetledness in Religion shews we have not learned it from our heavenly Master or from Gods Exapostole The Holy Ghost being given us from the Father by the Son sheweth there is no salvation to them who believe not the Trinity The mixture of Praises with Prayers in the Psalms was the Abba Father of the Old Testament and proceeded from joy in the Holy Ghost which is a Joy both unsequestrable and unspeakable The Sacrifices and Hymns answerable to that joy IT is very easie for a man to depart and fall away from God but not so easie to return and to cleave unto him No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him saith our blessed Saviour John 6. 44. The Father draws us before we go unto his Son and he draws us with loving-kindness Jer. 31. 3. with bands of love Hos 11. 4. that is by the power of the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of love The Father draws by his Spirit to his Son He that believes not the Trinity cannot hope to be thus drawn and he that is not thus drawn cannot hope to come unto God which is plainly shewed by the Apostle when he saith God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 4. 6. The Greek word is very observable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for here 's another Exapostle even God the Holy Ghost as in the fourth verse we had before one Exapostle God the Son There it was God sent forth his Son here it is God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son that is He sent such a Messenger as was not only an Apostle one sent from God but also an Exapostle One sent out of God There was one Exapostle to plant the Christian Religion in the world God sent forth his Son and there is another Exapostle to plant it in our hearts God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts the same word is used in both places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God made use of Exapostles as well as of Apostles for the planting of the true Religion Messengers sent from God would not have served the turn to make men believe the truth much less to love and practise it unless there had been also Messengers sent out of God Therefore God sent forth his Son and the Spirit of his Son that he might settle and stablish our hearts in the Christian faith So that if we be unsettled in our Religion and carried away with every blast of vain Doctrine as being not firmly established in the truth of the holy Gospel it is a plain case we have not inclined our ears and much less our hearts to those two Messengers who came immediately out of God even his own Son and his own Spirit and therefore it is no wonder if we slightly esteem of all Gods other Messengers God the Father hath sent out God the Son And God the Father and Son hath sent out God the Holy Ghost The salvation of one is the work of three the salvation of one sinful soul is the work of all three persons of the blessed Trinity The Father sending the Son the Father and Son sending the Holy Ghost which of these three persons can we lose or let go and not withall lose or let go our own Salvation which of these three needs not work as God a work of All-mighty power of All seeing wisdom of All-sufficient and All-saving goodness to turn us from our evil waies that we may be sanctified and to keep us in the waies of righteousness that we may be saved God the Son sent out of the Father into your flesh and God the Holy Ghost sent out of the Father and the Son into your hearts His Son and your flesh his Spirit and your hearts both certainly most miraculous conjunctions the one the cause of the other For his Spirit and your hearts could never have met in man had not his Son your flesh met together in God And this produceth yet another miraculous conjunction a conjunction of Prayer and of praise both together in the same mouth and from the same heart and at the same time that a righteous man cannot be so over-burdened with sorrow in himself as not to be relieved and refreshed with joy in his Saviour Thus Hannah was was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore but she found that joy and comfort in her prayer that the Text saith She went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad So that in effect she was so of a sorrowful Spirit as also of a joyful Spirit and as her sorrow afforded matter of Prayer so her joy afforded matter of Praise Her own spirit made her sorrowful but Gods Spirit made her joyful And this was indeed the Abba Father of those in the Old Testament who had but dark promises of a Saviour yet did with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation Isa 12. 3. who had scarce any knowledge or revelation of the person yet were very well acquainted with the joyes of the Holy Ghost Hence it is that most of the Psalms as they are exceeding devout prayers wherein Gods own Spirit teacheth us to pray and helpeth our infirmities in praying so they are also most thankful praises wherein the same spirit teacheth us to rejoyce in God for hearing our prayers They are not only prayers but they are also praises concerning the same deliverance whether it be corporal or spiritual whether it be from bodily or from Ghostly enemies as for example The 30. Psalm is a prayer to be delivered from sickness and death and damnation as that noble Champion of Christ both for his Church and for his Truth and for his Authority hath piously and judiciously stated it in his Book of Collects upon the Psalms which should never be out of the hands of good Christians till it be fully imprinted in their hearts I say the 30. Psalm is a Prayer to be delivered from sickness and death and damnation three such sad considerations as were enough to make
and therefore when we have the greatest joyes we should also have the greatest sacrifices For the analogie or proportion is not only historical but also causal which we find set forth betwixt the joy of Gods people and their Sacrifices Nehem. 12. 43. Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoyced for God hath made them rejoyce with great joy Because their joy was great their sacrifice also was great God had made them rejoyce with great joy on that day and therefore also on that day they offered great sacrifices And this is the reason why the Church of Christ recommendeth to us solemn Festivals as daies wherein the Lord hath made us rejoyce with great joy and as solemn sacrifices for those festivals particularly the receiving the holy Eucharist and the giving of alms the two proper sacrifices of Christians that our sacrifices may be in some sort answerable to our joy For all the sacrifices we can offer unto God cannot be answerable to the joy we have in him and from him and much less answerable to the joy which we hope to have with him And will you see the reason of this joy it is by reason of the comfort and consolation that good men have in and from God when they cannot have it in or from the world They have comfort from the Comforter and may well have joy with their comfort This made Saint Paul bless God for all the troubles and tribulations he had from men because the more they troubled him the more his God comforted him and enabled him to comfort others 2 Cor. 1. 3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God that is with internal and spiritual comfort which proceedeth from the Spirit of God q. d. I will not repine for mens cruelties but bless God the Father of mercies whiles the more man is my Persecutor the more God is my Comforter enabling me to comfort both my self and others with such comforts as this world is not able to give and therefore sure is not able to take away And the same way doth God please to comfort the soul as the Prophet describes him comforting of Zion for what is Zion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but an illuminated or enlightened soul For the Lord shall comfort Zion He will comfort all her wast places and he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desart like the garden of the Lord joy and gladness shall be found therein thanksgiving and the voice of melody Isa 51. 3. What an immense an immortal comfort is this that the wast places of the soul are comforted and that her wilderness is made like Eden and her desart like the garden of the Lord for the waste place of the soul that needs be comforted is the conscience which is wasted by sin the wilderness or desart of the soul is the same conscience overgrown with cares as a wilderness is with thorns and over-awed with fears and terrours as with so many wild beasts and overcome with drouth and barrenness like the desarts of those hot Countries that starve their inhabitants This wast place this wilderness this desart must be quite changed before it can be comforted The Lord makes this wilderness like Eden a place of pleasure this desart like a garden of the Lord a place of fruitfulness before joy and gladness can be found therein thanksgiving and the voice of melody Till the conscience is purged from dead works it is like a wilderness unlovely and unfruitful unlovely it makes the man out of love with himself and much more his God out of love with him unfruitful it brings forth no fruits either of righteousness or of repentance But after it is purged from sin then it is like an Eden or a Paradise a place of pleasure and of plenty of loveliness and of fruitfulness Saint Paul joyns them both together That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work Col. 1. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all pleasing of God of your neighbours and of your selves there 's the pleasure and the loveliness for no man truly pleaseth himself whiles he displeaseth his God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bringing forth fruit in every good work or bringing forth the fruit of every good work there 's the plenty and the fruitfulness for no man walketh worthy of God but he that is fruitful in every good work that is to say fruitful in the works of piety of temperance and of charity of piety towards God of temperance towards himself of charity towards his neighbour He that thus walks worthy of God cannot but exceedingly rejoyce in God For he cannot but say with the Psalmist And now shall he list up mine head above mine enemies round about me Psalm 27. 6. Hoc erit lentum est nimis He shall lift up mine head would make him stay too long for his joy He may therefore say He hath already lifted up mine head even my blessed Saviour above all mine and above all his enemies that I should not fear them and he is daily lifting me up to my head that I should not fear my self Therefore will I offer in his dwelling an oblation with great gladness I will sing and speak praises unto the Lord ver 7. Hoc erit lentum est nimis I will sing keeps him too long from his duty he therefore doth sing and say Praised be the Lord for he hath heard the voice of my humble petitions The Lord is my strength and my shield my strength to support me when I am not assaulted my shield to defend me when I am my heart hath trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart danceth for joy and in my song will I praise him Psal 28. 7 8. All this and much more then this is set down to express the joy of the Holy Ghost and it is nothing but Abba Father in the language of those under the Law who though they did not see God in his Son and in his Spirit so clearly as we do under the Gospel yet they praised him as loud both for his Son and for his Spirit as we can praise him for though in some sort they came short of us in the Object of Faith because the Son and the Holy Ghost were not so fully revealed unto them yet they came not short of us in the Act of faith whether exercised in prayers or in praises for they prayed in the mediation of the Son and they praised in the joy of the Holy Ghost SECT V. Fâ—lly and Filiation are together in Gods best adopted children whiles they are in this world The three priviledges of the Saints of Gods not of their own making because of the Spirit of Adoption First
I am sure I have the true Christian Religion for I cannot oppose such a Communion because of its authority but I shall be guilty of faction nor because of its excellency but I shall be guilty of Blasphemy nor because of its sincerity but I shall be guilty of Irreligion And I cannot be either Factious or Blasphemous or Irreligious much less all three together but I shall sin grievously against the glory of my God scandalously against the good of my neighbour dangerously against the salvation of mine own soul In a word since God of his infinite goodness which I could not deserve may not abuse hath made me an Israelite I will not strive to make my self an Idumaean a Babylonian or an Aegyptian Saint Bernard finds all these three in one persecutor or opposer of that Church which professeth and practiceth the true Christian Religion saying thus Herodiana malitia Babylonica crudelitas est nascentem extinguere velle Religionem allidere parvulos Israel Si quid enim ad salutem pertinens si quid Religionis oritur quicunque resistit quicunque repugnat planè cum Aegyptiis parvulos Israelitici germinis necare conatur imo cum Herode nascentem persequitur salvatorem It is the malice of a Herod who was an Idumaean and no less then Babylonian cruelty to labour to suppress Religion and to dash the children of Israel against the stones For if indeed what is brought forth doth conduce to salvation or belong to true piety who ever resisteth or opposeth it doth plainly endeavour with the Aegyptians to slay the young children of Israel nay with Herod he doth seek out his new born Saviour to destroy him And he that doth this forgets all the curses denounced against Edom in the Prophets for persecuting his brother Jacob particularly that of Obadiah v. 10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever A Text the fittest that can be alledged in this case because the Jews tell us that this Obadiah from being Ahabs Steward was made a Prophet of the Lord for the kindness which he had shewed to the Lords Prophets when they were persecuted by Jezebel Hic igitur quia centum Prophetas paverat accepit gratiam Prophetalem de duce exercitus fit dux Ecclesiae Tunc in Samaria parvum gregem paverat nunc in toto orbe Christi pascit Ecclesias saith Saint Hierom prol in Abdian Proph. This man because he fed an hundred Prophets received the Grace of Prophecy and from being a Captain under Ahab was made a Captain under Christ Then he fed but a small number in Samaria now he feedeth many millions in all the world and I doubt not but God hath still reserved the same blessing for all those who have hitherto sustained his persecuted Prophets not to give them the Spirit of Prophecy for he will not violate his own orders and institutions but to give them the Spirit of Grace in this ungracious the Spirit of perseverance in this backsliding age of ours So that we may be truly say The reason why they have not lost their faith as well as others is because they would not lose their Charity whereas many that were of an other temper as at first they lost their charity so now at last they have lost their faith and know not whither to go to seek it but may truly say with Mary Magdalen and so much the more truly by how much the less sorrowfully for they would with her have more tears in their eyes if they had grace in their hearts They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him John 20. 13. They who were among the head-men of Tekoa Amos 1. 1. and taught to keep cattell from their youth Zach. 13. 5. and so made themselves Prophets without the Lord Nay they who were among Sauls messengers sent to take David 1 Sam. 1. 20. and so made themselves Prophets against the Lord They have taken away my Lord my Saviour from me and I know not where they have laid him A very sad complaint which they now least make who have most reason who from their Sedition and privy conspiracy have fallen into false doctrine and heresie and from their hardness of heart towards men have fallen into contempt of Gods word and commandments from which we pray God to deliver them and to keep us For since his mercy hath made us Christians we may not let our own Unthankfulness make us Antichristian and such are all they who will needs be of a Religion fitter to serve themselves then to serve their God It is Musculus his observation upon Ps 52. Saul hic typum gerit â—ntichristi qui habet in regno suo Sacerdotes tabernaculum cultum Dei verum haec omnia vult sui Juris esse sib ministrare Vult Sacerdotes Domini esse iniquitatis suae Ministres Non indicastis mihi inquit quod David venerit ad vos Saul was the very type of Antcâ—hrist who had indeed Priests and Tabernacle and the worship of God in his kingdom but would have them all under his command and would make them all serve his designs He would have the Priests of the Lord become Ministers of his wickedness and destroyed them because they had not been so Turn and slay the Priests of the Lord saith he because their hand also is with David and because they knew when he fled and did not shew it to me 1 Sam. 22. 17. This Sin of Antichrist in striving to make Religion stoop to Interest that is in effect to make God serve Mammon to make Christ serve Belial being most directly against the end of the fourth Commandment plainly shews that the end of that Commandment is chiefly to set up the honour of Christ the eternal Son of God All the Jews service did all the Christians service should tend only to this end Do this in remembrance of me concerned their Sacrifices no less then our Sacraments Their Sabbaths no less then our Lords dayes their weekly on less then our weekly their anniversary no less then our anniversary festivals and all by vertue of the fourth commandment Do this in remembrance of me concerned the Jews in the general reason of it no less then it concerneth us Christians only it concerned them in types and shadows it concerneth us in body and substance So saith Saint Paul of their Sabbaths which are a shaddow of things to come but the body is of Christ Col. 2. 17. They were to look after the shaddow but we are to look after the Body they were to look after the types but we are to look after Christ They were to be zealous for the Sabbath Day but we are to be most zealous for the Sabbath Duty which is to do all in remembrance of Christ to magnifie our Redeemer in the first place and for his sake to magnifie the memorials of our Redemption
to examine the other exigencies which this excellent Divine is put to that he may gratifie his Church by seeking to make good this Tenent but sure other Churches look upon it as an invasion of their Christian liberty and as a Doctrine which cannot pretend to Christian verity or antiquity though it may fondly pretend to some external unity T is certain the Greek Church took it for a Novelty and therefore would not admit this position as a dispensation from the Anathemas denounced by the two Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon against such as should presume to alter the former Creeds And yet in truth the alteration was more in word then in sense and the Greek Church had the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son in their Faith though not in their Creed And this appears plainly by Simeon the Metaphrast who lived about the year eight hundred and fifty after Christ neer the same time with Walefridus Strabo yet useth these words in the Greek Menology on October 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Lord Christ is Ascended into heaven and returned to his Fathers throne and from thence hath sent down the Holy Spirit which proceedeth from himself upon his Disciples He saith in his Faith the Spirit proceeded from the Son though neither he nor any of his Church would change their Creed to say so And upon this ground the Western Churches may still retain the use of Athanasius his Creed in their Liturgies notwithstanding the addition of Filioque without cutting off the Greek Church from the hope of salvation though they allow not that addition because the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son is also in their Faith according to the sense though not according to the words of the Article And to speak the plain truth in this controversie concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as from the Father the animosity was greater betwixt the Greek and Latine Church then the disagreement the quarrel larger then the difference And thus much Scotus ingenuously confesseth in these words Sed forte si duo sapientes unus Graecus aâ—ter Latinus uterque verus amator veritatis non propriae dictionis de hac visa contrarietate disquirerent pateret utique tandem ipsam contrarietatem non esse veraciter realem sicut est vocalis Alioquin vel ipsi Graeci vel nos Latini sumus verè haeretici Sed quis audet Johannem Damascenum Basilium Gregorium Theologum Nazianzenum Cyrillum similes patres Graecos arguere haereseos Quis iterum argueret haereseos B. Hieronymum Augustinum Aâ—ibrosium Hilarium consimiles Latinos Verisimile igitur est quod non subest dictis verbis contrariis contrariorum Sanctorum sententia discors Scotus in 1. Sent. dist 11 qu. 1. But happily if two wise men the one of the Greek the other of the Latine Church did enquire concerning this seeming contrariety and both of them would prefer the truth above their own words or expressions they might in time find that this is but a verbal not a real controversie For if it be real either the Greeks or the Latines must needs be hereticks But who shall dare to accuse Damascene or Basil or Gregory the Divine or Gregory Nazianzene or Cyril and the rest of the Greek Fathers of heresie Again who dares take Saint Hierom Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose Saint Hilary and the rest of the Latine Fathers for hereticks It is therefore most probable that in these contrary expressions was no contrary sense but they both meant one and the same truth concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost Thus far Scotus and indeed no less appears in the Council of Florence where from the twentyeth Session to the twenty fifth exclusively is a long disputation betwixt Johannes Provincialis for the Latine Church and Marcus Ephesius for the Greek Church And the Ephesian professing that the Spirit did proceed from the Father by the Son the Provincial confesseth it was in effect the same as from the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That by is here as much as from saith Johannes Concil Flor. Sessione 24. For the Father begetting and the Son begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeding being all confessedly coequal and coeternal whether it be said the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son or from the Father by the Son the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity is uncorrupt and inviolable for the three distinct persons with their three distinct properties are believed in one God none afore or after none greater or lesser then other In personis proprietas in essentia unitas in Majestate aequalitas property in the persons unity in the essence equality in the Majesty of the Godhead being no less acknowledged and believed by the Greek then by the Latine Fathers which is the short confession of the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity For it is manifest that the Greeks who denyed not the Son to be consubstantial with the Father could not exclude him in the procession of the Holy Ghost Wherefore we must needs reject that harsh and heavy doom which Bellarmine hath left upon record against the Grecians Ac ut intelligant causam exitii sui esse pertinaciam in errore de processione Sp. S. in ipsis â—eriis Sp. S. capta fuit Constantinopolis à Turmay understand the cause of their destruction to be their pertinacy in their error concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost in the very Festival of the Holy Ghost that is at Whitsontide was Constantinople their cheif City taken by the Turks This he thinks he hath sufficiently proved but the learned Scaliger thinks no man can sufficiently prove and laments this Queen Regent of the East in these words ut cujus calamitas ignorari non potest dies calamitatis ignoretur And though he incline to their opinion who said that City was besieged the morrow after Easter and taken upon the day of Pentecost yet he concludes it dangerous to determine so much Sed periculosum est haec definire De anno quidem non dubito fuisse 1452. sed de mense delibero utrum sc mense Maii an mense Aprilis capta fuerit Scal. lib. 5. de emend temp He dares not define the month whether it were in April or in May and sure Whitsontide cannot fall in April much less the week or the day he sayes t is dangerous to assert it was taken in Whitsontide but sure it is dangerous to assert it with so much uncharitableness against a whole Church whose ruine should be thought on with pitty not with insolency However though the assertion it self be true yet the argument is fitter for a Souldier then for a Divine to appeal to the success of the sword for the justification of the cause and will much better advance Turcism which hath full six parts then Christianity which in all the several professions of it hath but five parts of thirty in the known habitable world