not put it in the power and will of his Church to give unto his people the words of eternal life that they should run away either from her doctrine or from her communion The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God John 5. 25. Sweet Jesus make the dead to hear thy voice for the living do little less then scorn it And this document or instruction as it much concerns the word preached so it much more concerns the word written which hath alwayes in all ages and in all Churches been taught more incorruptly and more impartially by Translations then by Expositions For in Translations men generally follow Gods truth but in expositions they too too often follow their own inventions if not their own interests Thus have men little reason to depart from the Church because therein Christ teacheth by his word and yet much less because he therein teacheth by his spirit for it is clear that the spirit goeth along with the word in that Saint Stephen saith unto the Jews Ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. When as they had only resisted the words of the Prophets Therefore we may confidently and comfortably affirm that they who carefully observe and conscionably obey Gods holy Ordinances in his Churchâ— will be able at the last day to say unto him not as Sectaries and wanderers will be able to say Thou hast taught in our streets Lake 13. 26. to whom he will answer I tell you I know you not whence you are depart me from all ye workers of iniquity ver 27. but Thou hast taught in our hearts for I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. And indeed this doctrine concerning the state of true Christianity and the knowledge of that state and the comfort of that knowledge is a most heavenly doctrine and therefore can have its teacher only from heaven The teaching Priest is not enough to instruct us in it but we need also The teaching God Miserable was the condition of Israel to have been without a teaching Priest but irrecoverable would have been their misery had they been also without a teaching God had not the Spirit of God come upon Azariah to teach them 2 Chron 15. 1. 3. Man may teach us the way of Gods statutes and we may never keep that way at all but if God once teach it us we shall noâ— only keep it but we shall also keep it unto the end Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes and I shall keep it unto the end Psal 119. 33. Thus hath Saint John said And ye need not that any man teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 John 2. 27. His intent is not that they to whom he writ should despise his teaching he is only willing to commend them to a far better teacher for the Apostle might teach them and yet they might not abide either in the Church or in the truth but if the Annointing if the Spirit did teach them they were sure to abide both in him and in his doctrine for ever And therefore saith holy Job who teacheth like him Job 36. 22. Though he be not the only teacher for man teacheth with him yet he is the only irresistible and infallible teacher for man teacheth not like him He is the only infallible teacher because he convinceth the understanding he is the only irresistible teacher because he converteth the will teaching us by the representation of himself unto our Souls as the chiefest good from which we cannot turn away and against which we will not resist For God teacheth the soul by his own presence revealing unto it himself and his everlasting blessedness saith Alensis against which the will of man cannot resist in the judgement of some Philosophy and therefore the scoff of irresistible Grace must needs be far from the Judgement of sound Divinity The Church in the Collect for Whitsunday sheweth both the infallibility and the irresistibility of Gods teaching he teacheth irresistibly in that he teacheth the Heart which useth to make resistance against all teaching of the ear unless it self be taught in the first place wherefore none can be an irresistible Teacher but he that can teach the heart he teacheth also infallibly in that he teacheth by the light of his holy Spirit wherefore none can be an infallible teacher but he that teacheth by the Holy Ghost God which hast taught the hearts of thy faithfull people by sending to them the light of thy holy Spirit Here 's a teacher that subdues my perversness and makes me willing to learn in that he teacheth my heart here 's a teacher that enlightens my darkness and makes me able to learn in that he teacheth by the light of his holy spirit And the doctrines which he teacheth are agreeable with the manner of his teaching Recta sapere in ejus consolatione gaudere To have a right judgement in all things that is in all things of Salvation as if you would say to have a right judgement in the state of true Christianity and of your being in that state and evermore to rejoyce in his holy comforts as if you would say to comfort your self against all temptations and taibulations that you have such a right judgement Let me never uâ—dervalue much less forsake that School wherein this heavenly master is pleased to teach for fear I should lose both the right judgement and the Holy comfort which he is pleased to bestow upon his Scholars And let me not doubt but this Church wherein I have been trained up is a part of that school since it hath taught me nothing that is either Antichristian or unchristian for where I cannot deny the doctrine of Christ I may not doubt of the spirit of Christ Wherefore it is a false and an envious principle of divinity which some have so much improved of late to the advantage of their Church but to the disadvantage of Religion if at least any Christian Church can be advanced by that doctrine by which the Christian Religion is depressed and disparaged That our Saviour Christ hath set up one chair from which he would have all the world to take the documents and determinations of Christianity For the state of true Christianity is not to be confined to any one Church since the author and teacher of it is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. The Apostle proves that God vouchsafed his Grace to the Gentiles no less then to the Jews by this argument is he the God of the Jews only is he not also the God of the Gentiles yes of the Gentiles also Rom. 3. 29. and again There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him
satisfies his conscience unless he be sure and certain of the terms of his Communion for the conscience cannot be satisfied and much less can God be served upon uncertainties And since the Apostle hath expresly said That whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 13. 23. Those men do very indiscreetly who in their publick worship do rather exercise their Phansies then their Faith and those do very irreligiously who labour all they can to spread and to promote that exercise For in the work of serving God above all other works it is evident That the diminution of Faith is the addition of sin wherefore men have little reason to bring themselves and less Religion to seek to bring others to any the least diminution of their Faith in Gods service for that is to come under the hazard of Judas his curse Let his prayer be turned into sin Psalm 109. v. 6. We must then take it for an argument of true love even the love of our souls and of our salvation that the Christian Church did in imitation of the Church of the Jews offer up daily Prayers and Praises unto Almighty God for us and also teach us to offer up daily Prayers and Praises for our selves And it is to be feared That men have rewarded the Church of Christ evil for good hatred for her good will in that the dismal curse which follows in the next verses hath fallen upon so many Nations of the Christian world For it is evident that this curse set thou an ungodly man to rule over him and let Satan stand at his right hand let his days be few and his children be vagabonds c. is ushered in with this sin For the love that I had unto them loe they take now my contrary part ver 3. and is continued and confirmed for it is because his mind was not to do good but persecuted the poor helpless man that he might slay him that was vexed at the heart and ver 16. His delight was in cursing and it shall happen unto him he loved not blessing therefore shall it be far from him For nothing is more offensive to God then that men will not return love for love And yet this hath been always the portion of his Church she hath still found returns of hatred for love For there is no true Christian Church but may truely say with Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12. 15. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you it is in the Original Greek for your souls though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved No love affectionate like this which loves the soul no love abundant like this which makes the lover spend and be spent for his affection and such is the love of every true Christian Church which is the grand Apostle of its nation it loves affectionately it loves abundantly for what it wants of this charity it wants of true Christianity but doth seldome receive back again love for love It was Luthers complaint that whilst he Preached and practised mans Inventions he found too much love but after he preached Gods truth the Gospel in its own sincerity he found too little so hath it been ever since his time with Protestant Churches for those which have most deserved the peoples thanks for teaching them the true and the right way to heaven have least found their love Thus we see to our grief no less then to our mischief that the best of men may love in vain but God never loves in vain For he never loves but he is beloved again so saith the beloved Disciple 1 Joh. 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us As he loves us so we love him again though he love first we afterwards and therefore if we love not him the reason is because he hath not loved us in the Son of his love I say not if we love not God in himself for that 's impossible acccording to that excellent position of Aquinas Deus secundum essentiam suam à nullo potest odio haberi sicut neque bonitas At secundum quosdam Justitiae suae effectus potest 22. qu. 34. God cannot be hated by any man as he is in himself no more then goodness can be hated but he is hated only for some effects of his Justice therefore I say not if we love not God in himself but if we love not God in his Vice-gerency or Authority whether Civil or Ecclesiastical by our dutifulness and fidelity If we love not God in his Commands and Ordinances by our Obedience and Piety Lastly If we love not God in his image and likeness by our brotherly and Christian Charity we do indeed not love God for himself hath said I ye love me keep my commandments Joh. 14 15. And if we do not love God the reason can be no other but this because he hath not loved us And it were to be wished that some men who most think themselves the darlings of heaven would try their spiritual estate by this touchstone for if we are indeed in the love of God and in the Son of his love it will appear by our returning love back again to him And the Apostles consequence being as good for the Negative as for the Affirmative it must needs follow that if we love not God it is because he first loved not us SECT V. Gods love to us in Christ was not vain or without a cause for as much as Christ was the ground of our Election as well as the Author of our reconciliation More men reconciled by Christ to God then recommened by him or more men reconciled potentially then actually GOD had a good reason of his love to us thoug not in our selves yet in our Saviour the Son of his love For he began his first Epistle or message of love unto our souls as Saint John began his second and third Epistles Vnto the elect and welbeloved whom I love in the truth the same in effect with salutem in Christo or dearly beloved in the Lord which salutations have since been used by the Church God loves us in the truth that is in our Saviour Christ who is called the truth John 14. 6. And as no man cometh to the Father but by him so no man abideth with the Father but in him so saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them where is punctually set down both the meritorious cause of our reconciliation Christ and the formal cause of it Gods not imputing our sins to us for Christs sake For God cannot be reconciled to a sinner whilst he looks upon him as a sinner because sin is directly opposite to his own goodness and therefore he cannot but hate sin as he cannot but love himself and God cannot but look upon a sinner as a sinner whilst he looks upon him in himself not in his Saviour who hath expiated his sin Hence Scotus tels us
teach and redeem us The title of the chief corner stone blasphemously applyed to the Pope Christ was not an Apostle one sent from God but an Exapostle one sent out of God I must needs confess that being in this Eden of God in this Paradise contemplating the tree of life I am unwilling to divert my eyes from that tree and much more my heart from that contemplation but am desious to perswade my self that I see the Prophet Isaiahs vision turned into action and God acting it in heaven no less then the Prophet acting it on earth Isa 6. 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send or who will go for us then I said here am I send me For God the Father did as it were consult with himself saying whom shall I send and God the Son did forthwith answer him Here am I send me For as there was faciamus hominem Gen. 1. 26. God consulting and deliberating with his Son his eternal wisdom and with his Spirit his eternal power about our creation so there was redimamus hominem God consulting and deliberating with his Son his eternal righteousness and with his spirit his eternal love about our redemption For Gods goodness is as infinite as himself and that hath made him impart to man not only his goodness but also himself Hence that saying of the sublime Areopagite quod ipse Deus propter amorem est exstasin passus That love made God as it were go out of himself For great love is never without some kind of exstasie and therefore as it makes man go out of himself and be not where he lives but where he loves so it also made God the Son as it were go out of himself and come and be in man whom he had loved with an eternal love Thus hath love brought God from God to be in man and thus should it also bring man from man to be in God For this is the end of that blessed Mysterie and more blessed mercy which we commemorate when we celebrate the incarnation of the Son of God he was made of us that we might be new made by him he made one flesh with us that we should be one spirit with him Saint Peter accounted it a great mercy that God had sent his Angel to deliver him from the hand of Herod Act. 12. 11. How much more ought we to account it a great mercy that he hath sent his only Son to deliver us from the power of sin and Satan which persued us much more fiercely and would have wounded us much more desperately He considers his deliverance ver 12. and shall not we especially since the Apostle hath shewed us the way how to enlarge this consideration Heb. 1. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers maaners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son It was a great mercy that he spake to the Fathers by holy men a greater that he spake to them by the holy Angels for that was one of the divers manners of his speaking But the greatest mercy of all was that he hath spoken to us by his son and the reason is intimated in the following words for in time past was the beginning the inchoation of his love when he spake by his Prophets and Angels but in these last dayes hath been the accomplishment and consummation of it when he spake to us by his Son Before he had made the world and upheld all things by the word of his power but now he hath redeemed the world and having purged our sins upholds it by the hand of his mercy For till our sins were purged it was only the power of God upheld the world that he might purge it But now our sins are purged t is the mercy of God upholds the world that he may save it This is the only reason Saint Peter gives us why the last day that shall destroy all things by fire is so long in coming 2 Pet. 3. 9. The Lord is not slack but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance The same mercy that made him hasten his first coming makes him delay his second And was it not a mercy not only beyond our expression but also beyond our admiration that the Son of God who was the brightness of his glory should become the brightness of his enemies and the glory of his people Yet so saith Saint Luke 2. 32. to be a light to lighten the Gentiles there he was the Bridegroom of his enemies and to be the glory of thy people Israel there he was the glory of his own people It was a mercy that we could never deserve and therefore must ever acknowledge that God was pleased to send his Apostles to teach us his saving truth and to shew the way of salvation for they were the pillars of the Church Gal. 2. 9. But infinitely greater was the mercy that he pleased to send his own Son to teach the Apostles for he is the cheif corner stone 1 Pet. 2. 5. For it is observable that Saint Peter himself was content to be accounted a pillar of the Church and leaves it only for Christ to be called the chief corner stone And therefore that Preface of Bellarmine which he once made in the Roman Schools Praefatio habita in gymnasio Romano and hath since prefixed before the third general controversie of his first Tome which is de summo Pontifice had need of all the waters of Tiber to wash it from gross flattery if not from detestable blasphemy since he is pleased therein to wrest those words of the Prophet Isaiah Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation and to apply them to Saint Peters Successor which Saint Peter durst not apply unto himself but leaves them only for Christ the eternal Son of God We cannot too much prize the voice of the Apostles as for example Saint Pauls Epistles cannot be in too great esteem which saith Saint Hierom bring him every day more glory as Christ more converts But the voice of the eternal word calling to Saint Paul from heaven Act. 9. 4 5. and in him to us who can ever hear with sufficient care and attention who can embrace with sufficient reverence and estimation who can follow with sufficient alacrity and devotion Saint Paul was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sent from God and yet how greatly doth he magnifie that office in every one of his Epistles but our Saviour Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sent out of God to man for so saith Paul Gal. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sent forth his son that is God sent him not only from himself as he sent the Apostles but also out of himself as he sent none but only his beloved Son SECT VIII The Mother of Christ so
use of Christ nay concerning adoption it selfe Saint Paul seems to speake as if it were in some kind a potential and not all together an actual blessing or mercy when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut adoptionem acciperemus that we might receive the adoption of Sons Gal. 4. 5. thereby intimating that many more might be adopted Sons then are were it not for their own default and those that are adopted might if they had made a timely and full use of Gods grace in their Redemption much sooner have received their Adoption Nay yet more if the Greek Orators Criticism be justifiable for Libanius is loth to ascribe the Oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Demosthenes That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be to take or receive what we never had before but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly to receive that which we had lost then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle will tell us that the gift of Adoption was once ours before to wit by the innocency of our nature till we lost it and is ours so now by the Sanctification of our persons that if we should lose it in our selves we may again recover and receive it in our Saviour it was once ours by nature and so we lost it and do now receive it by grace the second time And we now so receive it by grace that if we should lose it we may yet hope to receive it again Which consideration ought to fill our souls not with carelesness but with comfort that as by our own weakness and unworthiness we daily fall and deserve to be put out of the number of Gods servants so by our blessed Saviours Merits and Mercies we daily rise again and are still accepted and continued as his sons SECT VIII Christs most holy prayer a very comfortable Testimony and Assurance of our Adoption in him How nearly it concerns us to say Our Father not our Brother which art in heaven The conclusion of the Lords Prayer answerable to this beginning and not to be questioned It is ill quarrelling with that prayer and much worse discountenancing and deserting it AS there is no greater comfort then the comfort of Adoption so there is not a more comfortable if there be a more evident testimony to assure us thereof then that most holy prayer which our blessed Saviour hath sanctified by his lips no less then he hath commanded and commended in his Word For this prayer teacheth us to say to God Our Father which cannot be true and right in the Invocation if it be not true and right in the Doctrine for if it be not an undoubted truth that God in Christ is Our Father then can we not truly in our worship call him so Wherefore since we are taught by Truth himself to call God Father in our worship we are sure it must be true in our Doctrine That God is our Father in Christ and consequently we his adopted Sons or we must assert the same Thing to be a Truth and not a Truth a Truth in our Prayer and not a Truth in our Belief and moreover say That we pray in Faith when we do not pray in Truth For if we pray not in faith we sin and we cannot pray in Faith if there be an untruth in our Prayers Wherefore this expression Our Father being recommended to us by our Saviours own mouth as it teacheth us to pray in his Communion in and through whom we are adopted so it affordeth us an undoubted testimony and proof of our Adoption for under what pretence can we say to God Our Father if we be not his sons and how are we his sons so as to expect any blessing from him but only by the grace of Adoption Accordingly as we cannot but say with Saint Augustine that all other prayers are reducible to the matter of this short prayer so we may likewise say with him for he alledgeth not one precedent or petition which is not immediatly directed unto God that all other prayers are reducible to this form of saying Our Father and by this rule those prayers which rather say Our Brother then Our Father which art in heaven cannot be said in Faith and do not proceed from the Spirit of Adoption and they that so pray do not communicate with Christ in their prayers who neither prayed himself nor taught us to pray to any but only to his Father And it is not sapient nor safe for us to pray out out of Christs communion since we are sure our prayers will not be heard but through his Intercession Yet in all probability that humour of praying to petty Deities if it did not at first help to thrust out the conclusion of this prayer yet it hath since helped to keep it out because we cannot with any colour of truth say to any but to God alone for thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever For this Doxologie is without doubt the conclusion of the Lords prayer in Saint Matthews Gospel as it hath been generally received both by the Greek and the Latine Church neither of which hath set down that prayer in Saint Matthews Gospel in Greek without the addition of these words at the end of it and for that allegation that it is not so in Saint Luke it is of no force since it is against that common maxime Argumentum ab authoritate non valet negativè An Argument from authority is worth nothing in the negative but only in the affirmative and we should lose very much of the Gospel if we should expunge and blot that out of one Evangelist which we cannot find in another Yet some Criticks have gone so far as to perswade the world That this heavenly conclusion did not at all belong to the Lords prayer but is both an unnecessary and an unwarrantable addition One is pleased to call it a foppery non veriti sunt tà m divinae precationi suas nugas assuere If this Doxologie be a foppery then what is true wisdom but if it be indeed true wisdom then what is this censure of it but plain blasphemy And is not that true wisdom which proceeded immediately from the mouth of the eternal wisdom Yet the learned Grotius complieth so far with those that have opposed this Doxologie as to perswade himself it came at first out of the Greek Liturgies into the Bible not considering that there cannot be allowed such chopping and changing of the Text but we must reproach the Catholick Church of Christ first as uncareful in suffering such changes then as unfaithful in obtruding them for Text First as uncareful in suffering men to make havock of Gods Word which was committed to her charge to keep then as unfaithful in obtruding the Word of man upon us instead of the Word of God and what authority or repute will be left to the Church if we suppose her to want both care and trust for God intrusted his Church with his
Holy Word that she should first faithfully keep it and after that faithfully interpret it wherefore to say the Church hath falsified her trust in keeping Gods Word is in effect to say she is not trust-worthy to interpret it which is bring all Religion to doubts and uncertainties in the knowledge to schisms and divisions in the practice thereof For surely if the Lords own most holy prayer hath been so ill kept by the Church which in all ages hath been looked upon as the sum of the Gospel and as the plat-form or rather the ground-work of all true Religion then we must needs have but very little or no assurance concerning the rest of the Scriptures wherefore it concerns all Christian Divines in the first place to vindicate the Church of Christ concerning her faithful keeping of this Prayer which would have been altogether needless had not some Criticks of later years obtruded their own observations for various Lections and by that means not cleared the Text but puzzled it But let us ask them Are the unknown manuscrips or the known and received Copies of the Church to be taken for the Text If the former we trust private men and private spirits which God never entrusted with his word If the latter we have as unquestionable a Lords Prayer as if we had heard it immediately from his own mouth For we have it thus exactly delivered us by the Greek and the Latine Church in the undoubted Originals of Saint Matthews Gospel For the Greek Church let Saint Chrysost speak who hath so elegantly and so exactly expounded at this Doxology in his nineteenth Homily upon Saint Matthew plainly shewing the necessary connexion thereof to the last Petition of the Lords Prayer that it is evident he accounted it as a part of the Prayer though as no part of the Petitions for saith he Our Saviour having told us of that evil one which we were to fight against for so he expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliver us from that evil one that is the devil thought fit to encourage us to the fight by telling us also of the King that would lead us to the battel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore he saith For thine is the Kingdom c. shewing that if the Kingdom be his we ought to fear no other but him for that the power is his to defend us and the glory is also his to reward us Thus in effect Saint Chrysoft upon the place so that t is a wonder to see Beza hath reckoned him among those Fathers who expounded the Lords Prayer of purpose and yet omitted these words in their Expositions for sure he omitted them not who expounded the Original Greek though Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose omitted them happily because they looked no further then the Latine translation which adds Amen at the end of libera nos a malo and takes no notice at all of the Doxology And yet Saint Ambrose lib. 6. de Sacram. cap. 5. asserting that our Prayers ought to begin and end with the praise of God after the example of the Lords own Prayer habes hoc in oratione Dominica c. doth in effect allow the Doxology to be the end of that Prayer since it is evident that Deliver us from evil is no matter of praise nay indeed he doth rather alledge it in sense though not in words in saying that the priest concludes with such a form of praise as is in truth no other then an exposition of this Doxology only applied to all three Persons of the blessed Trinity Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum in quo tibi est cum quo tibi est honor laus gloria magnificentia potestas cum Spiritu Sancto à seculis nunc semper in omnia secula seculorum But however if that be a good Argument why we should leave the Doxology or the conclusion out of the Lords Prayer in Saint Matth. because it is not in the Vulgar Latine it must be as good an argument why we should leave the introduction and the last petition out of the same Prayer in Saint Luke for there in the Latine translation is no mention of noster qui es in coelis nor of libera nos à malo whereas the Greek Text gives us that Prayer with its conclusion in Saint Matthew and the same Prayer not mangled but whole and entire though without its conclusion in Saint Luke and there is no greater reason but only some mens bold conjectures to say that the conclusion of that Prayer was added to the Greek Text in Saint Matthew then to say that the introduction and last Petition of it was added to the Greek Text in Saint Luke for both alike are left out of the Latine translation But though they have been both left out of the Bibles by the Latine translation yet we cannot say that either hath been left out of the Bibles by the Latine Church For the Greek copies of Saint Matthews Gospel this day agnized by the Latine Church are ready to depose the contrary all of them having the Doxology annexed to the Petitions as the conclusion to its premisses without any the least interruption and then at last adding ' A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of the whole which is an invincible argument that the Latine Church received those words of the Doxology as an undoubted part of the Greek Text and therefore durst not leave them out of their Bibles though they found no footsteps at all of them in their own Latine translation Wherefore it is evident that this Prayer both in its Petitions and in its conclusion hath alwaies been received as an unquestionable part of Saint Matthews Gospel both by the Greek and the Latine Churches and consequently those men have disparaged the Church of Christ and disadvantaged the Christian Religion who have either commenced or continued either begun or maintained any quarrels against this most holy Prayer either in it self or in its use Nay in truth such men have disparaged and disadvantaged themselves for cavilling with that Prayer which so plainly teacheth them to say Our Father must needs be accounted an ill sign that they have received and a worse means that they may retain the adoption of Sons Surely Saint Cyprian who whipped those Sectaries with scourges that refused to communicate with Christs Church as not caring by their obedience to say Our mother would further have whipped them with scorpions had they refused to communicate with Christ himself as abhorring in their Prayers to say Our Father And doubless it may reasonably be demanded of us with what certainty of faith or satisfaction of conscience we do communicate with them in their Prayers who will not communicate with Christ in his Prayer And how we shall answer it to our Saviour when he shall come to be our Judge that we have indeed renounced his Prayer and have given occasion to sober men to fear that we have also
us his hands to be stretched out to embrace us and his side to be pierced to send forth water and blood his two blessed Sacraments to cleanse and strengthen us by that same flesh was he made liable to suffering and in that same flesh did he actually suffer all those things which at first bought the purchase and which do still bring to us the joy of our salvation SECT III. True knowledge of and Faith in Christ is not without true knowledge of and Faith in the blessed Trinity That the Protestants Faith The great loveliness of Christ in the flesh as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God and man and the great mysteries of his two natures in one person KNowledge in the natural man exalts him above other men but knowledge in the good Christian who alwaies loves what he knows of Christ exalts him above himself By knowing natural truths I do improve my reason but by knowing supernatural truths I do also improve my Religion The improvement of my reason exalts me above other men but the improvement of my Religion exalts me above my self And what knowledge can improve my Religion but only the knowledge of Christ who is both the Author and the Finisher of my Faith Therefore let me ever say with Saint Paul I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3. 8. for indeed truly to know Christ in his person is truly to know the whole Christian Faith in the ground and substance of it For what is the ground or substance of our Christian Faith but that which Saint Paul hath set down 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them which is in effect a short sum of the Apostles Creed for that treats of nothing but of God and of Christ reconciling us to God and of the benefits of that reconciliation the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Accordingly Aquinas makes it equally necessary to salvation to believe explicitly the mysterie of the blessed Trinity and to believe explicitly the mysterie of the incarnation of Christ 22 ae qu. 2. art 7. 8. There is an absolute necessity saith he of believing the Incarnation of Christ for that is the only way for a man to come to eternal blessedness because it is said Act. 4. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved And there is saith he as absolute a necessity of believing the blessed Trinity for the Incarnation of Christ cannot be explicitly believed without faith in the Trinity for we cannot believe that the Son of God did take our flesh upon him but we must acknowledge God the Father and God the Son and we cannot believe that he took this flesh of a Virgn by the operation of the Holy Spirit but we must acknowledge God the Holy Ghost so that truly to believe and confess the incarnation of Christ is truly to believe and confess God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Wherefore it was not an objection but a calumny in him that said of the Protestants For these good Gospellers have a faith and a justifying faith whereby they apprehend eternal life without Father Son and Holy Ghost without Christ and his Passion or any of those other matters which are rather subtile points of the Papists historical faith then of the lively justifying faith wherewith these Evangelical Brethren in all security are warranted of the certain favour of God in this life and assured glory in the next Reynolds against Whitaker p. 282. for no true Protestant doth believe and indeed no true Christian can believe that to be a true Faith in Christ which believes not the Holy and Undivided Trinity and all other Articles of the Apostles Creed For such a faith cannot justifie it self much less can it justifie the man that hath it wherefore Protestants do not dare not say That justifying Faith doth not believe the Trinity and Judgement to come as well as the Merits of Christ and the forgiveness of sins They only say the former truths are believed with the greater astonishment and admiration the latter truths with the greater affiance or affection but neither with a greater certainty or confidence then the other Fides ex ae quo assentit omnibus articulis fidei quoad certitudinem sed non quoad modum Faith doth equally assent to all the Articles of the Creed as to the certainty of assent though not as to the manner of assenting The sublim truth of the Trinity she believes with admiration the comfortable truths of Christs dying for sinners and the forgiveness of sins she believs with joy and consolation the dreadful truths of hell and judgement to come she believes with sorrow and contristation but all the truths contain'd in the Creed whether sublime or comfortable or dreadful she believeth with one and the same certainty or undoubted confidence And those who teach us that to believe in Jesus Christ our Lord is the proper act of justifying faith for to believe the forgiveness of sins is rather an effect then a cause of justification do not confine our justifying faith meerly to the belief of this one Article but do only profess that though true faith hath as many acts as objects and hath as many objects as supernatural truths revealed from God yet it justifies the sinner only by this one act of believing in Christ and relying wholly upon his merits and mediation Thus do we desire with Saint Paul to be found in Christ not having our own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3. 9. But we dream not of a righteousness either by a vain or by a false faith either by a vain Faith that believes not entirely with affection or by a false faith that believes not truly without mistake or deception Wherefore Antitrinitarian and Antichristian may go for all one in the Protestants as well as in the Papists account for indeed they have alwaies gone for one in the account of the Catholike Church We have heard Aquinas speaking the sense of the Western let us now hear Damascene speaking the sense of the Eastern Churches for so he tels us in his third Book de Orthodox◠fide and fifth chapter That the two cheif heads of the Christian Faith are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity which he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it treats only of God and the Doctrine of the incarnation of Christ which he cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it sets forth the wonderful dispensations of God about the salvation of men And these two heads he not only joins but also compares together in one chapter shewing wherein they agree and wherein they
and therefore sought after the very day of the moneth on which the Paschal Lamb had been slain and our Saviour had been crucified But the Gentile Converts kept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Passeover in remembrance of Christs resurrection and therefore deferred their feast till the first day of the week that followed next after that day of the moneth So we see that both Churches agreed about the feast it self and thought themselves bound to observe a Passeover once a year and that they agreed also about the time of the year wherein it was to be observed their disagreement was only about the very day For the Churches of Asia had mistaken Saint Johns condescention to the Jew for an approbation to themselves as if because he had allowed this manner of celebrating the feast of the Passeover according to the known and received custom among the Iews he had also approved and by consequent established the same among the Christians The like mistake whereunto might also have been in other Eastern Churches concerning the Iewish Sabbath had they retained the observation of it with the same opinion of necessity For that the Sabbath was at first jointly observed with the Lords day by the Christian Churches appears from antient canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clement cap. 33. And Scaliger takes it for granted that those Churches were converted betimes which retained that old custom Quod Ethiopes sabbatum â—que ac Dominicum ab opere immune habent id non est argumentum Judaismi sed veteris Christianismi saith he lib. 7. de emend That the Churches of Aethiopia do keep Saturday a Holy-day as well as Sunday is not a proof that they are new Iews but that they have been old Christians The truth is the Apostles zeal busied and spent it self wholly upon duties not upon daies and so should ours They continued daily in the Temple Acts 2. 46. and again daily in the Temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Iesus Christ Acts 5 42. This daily preaching shewed their chief zeal was for duties not for daies and yet their every day doth not forbid their particular choice of one principal day for those holy purposes and performances at the same time for so we read Acts 20. 7. Vpon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them Here 's a particular day culled out from the rest of the week both for preaching the word and consequently for praying and for administring the holy Communion for so we may well expound the breaking of bread with some antient Interpreters though it be an ill inference that some of late have made from thence that they may lawfully leave out the other part of that blessed Sacrament By the same reason they might tell us that the Church hath authority to change the very form instituted in Baptism because we read in the Acts of the Apostles that many men were baptized in the name of the Lord Iesus Acts 8. 16. 19. 5. For without doubt if Christs institution may be dispensed withal in the one it may also in the other Sacrament and if not in the one then not in the other Wherefore it is ill arguing from a Synechdoche partis in dicto to a Synechdoche partis in facto from a part for the whole in speaking to a part for the whole in doing The bread may be named without the wine but it follows not therefore it may be given without it We may admit of half speeches but we must be sure of whole Sacraments For though words are not sacrilegious in putting a part for the whole because that is a right way of speaking yet works may be guilty of sacriledge by doing but a part for the whole because that is not a right way of working for in speaking we may follow the custome or practice of men but in doing we must follow the precept and prescription of God Nor can a man that wilfully transgresseth the institution of Christ be excused from infidelity if we will embrace as we cannot justly reject Aquinas his distinction Infidelis non ut habeus malam voluntatem circa finem Sc. Christum sed tamen ut deficiens in Electione mediorum quia non eligit quae sunt à Christo tradita a Christian may be an infidel not as erring about the end for he aims at Christ but yet as erring in the choice of the means when he followeth not those ways which Christ hath prescribed him And thus have they erred about the administration of the holy Eucharist who would be accounted very strict observers of the grand Christian Festivals although in truth they cannot keep a Festival in honour of Christ who falsely administer the Eucharist no more then they who Preach false Doctrine or use false devotions For it is evident from this practice of the Apostles that Christian Festivals ought to be celebrated by preaching the word and administring the holy Eucharist and much more by holy and religious prayers which may not be left out either in preaching of the word or in administring of the Sacrament unless we will not regard Gods blessing on the one nor his presence in the other Nay indeed holy and religious Prayers do in effect partake both of the word and of the Sacrament of the word as they are professions of our faith of the Sacrament as they are remembrances of our Saviour And it is accordingly observable that in all the collects of the Church there is in the first part of them a recognition or profession of some heavenly Doctrine which we are bound to believe as in the latter part there is a special remembrance of our blessed Saviour whom we are bound to honour alwayes concluding Per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum through Jesus Christ our Lord so that false devotions that is not true in themselves or not true in his certain knowledge who useth them False Doctrine and false administration do all alike profane a Festival Nay Saint Paul thinks the Lords Day not sufficiently celebrated by words and Sacraments and prayers but he requires also the giving of alms Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store 1 Cor. 16. 2. And Saint Chrysostome tels us he chose such a day for it as could not but very much advance the duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He argues from the day to the duty bidding them consider what great mercies the Lord hath bestowed on them that very day for that alone would make them willingly and liberally shew mercy to his distressed members This was the antient practice of the primitive Christians to offer up their alms as well as their prayers to God upon those Festivals which they celebrated in a thankful remembrance of his mercies conveyed unto them by his Son and therefore they might beseech him mercifully to accept their alms as well as to receive
exposition He that cometh to God must believe that God is his God and that he will be his rewarder if he diligently seek him for so did Enoch believe when he did forsake and by forsaking did provoke the men of that wicked age of the world foul enough for a flood to wash it though no washing could cleanse it only that he might walk with God His Faith strengthened him against his fears whiles it represented God thus speaking unto him Fear not I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. 1. Wherefore though Moses spake not one word of Enochs faith yet Saint Paul takes it for as good a proof that Enoch had faith because he pleased God as that he pleased God because God took him And is it possible that this faith should be in any man who is yet in his sins No certainly for he cannot believe God to be his shield whom he hath made his enemy nor to be his rewarder whom he hath made his avenger Look upon your first Father Adam after he had sinned and you will see your self in him and your sin his God called unto him and said Where art thou but he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. 3. 10. A strange folly that made him think he could hide himself from Gods All-seeing eye A stranger fear that made him desire to hide himself from Gods All-saving Presence He knew that in God alone he lived and moved and had his being and yet was afraid of him when he was yet scarce fully entred into the possession of his life The reason was he had taken such an inmate into his soul as he knew God could not but hate and could not but confound and destroy Whiles he continued in his innocency nothing that God said could fright him nothing that God did could hurt him But when once he had sinned Gods voice that only called for his appearance was more terrible then his hand before that had taken away his rib a still small voice in the cool of the day makes him flie into a thicket as thinking thereby to secure himself In this miserable condition he would have lived and dyed for the same cause must have produced still the same effect had not God promised him that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head and in that promise revealed Christ unto him as a propitiation for his sins After that though he was immediately thrust out of Paradise yet he could think of comming into Gods presence with sacrifice and burnt offerings for sure t was he taught his sons those offices of Religion because he saw he had a Mediator to intercede for him whereas before that promise though he was actually in the Garden of God yet he durst not come neer him as not knowing how to intercede for himself For his sin had cast such a confusion such an amazement upon his soul that he durst not open his eyes to look on God and could not open his mouth to make supplication to him because he knew he was first to make satisfaction before he could be admitted to make intercession for that Gods offended justice was to be satisfied before his undeserved mercy might be implored And so is it with all mankind ever since being all conceived and born in sin we cannot but come into the world with a natural aversion from God that is with a fear to come neer him and with a desire to go and keep far from him if it were possible alwayes out of his sight And as we come into the world so we abide in it with a total aversion from God till he be pleased to reveal his Son to us that we may know him or rather in us that we may love him Nor would any man that is descended from the corrupt loins of Adam ever have thought much less have desired to come neer God to worship him had there not been revealed a sufficient atonement for his sin For till our sins be expiated we cannot hope that our worship should be accepted And as for the heathens and Jews who worship God without the knowledge or with the contempt of Christ we must say their worship is not good and is rather out of a good custome then out of a good conscience as too many Christians still worship God who know not Christ effectually or practically And t is better saying so then to say they can have either a good conscience or a good worship who have not faith in Christ Wherefore let my soul evermore bless God for having revealed this great mystery and greater mercy of godliness that he is reconciled to me in Christ having blotted out my sins by his precious blood And let me now be as much afraid of not coming into Gods presence to beg and gasp for his mercy as I should have feared to come to him if he had not made known to me the means and way of this reconciliation For the Son of God having expiated all my sins that by him I might come unto his Father hath in effect told me that my sin of not comming to God is now like to prove of all others the most inexpiable SECT II. That no religion adoreth God rightly which adoreth him not in Christ and of the excellencie of the Christian Religion That no other Religion teacheth such conformable truths to right reason declareth an expiation for sin promiseth so great a reward sheweth so pure a worship or so innocent a conversation REason teacheth all men to adore and worship God but t is only Religion that teacheth some few men how he is truly and rightly to be adored and worshipped and those few men were heretofore the Jews and are now the Christians for they alone rightly worship God who worship him in his Son that is in Christ So saith the beloved Disciple in honour of and in justice to his master Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father 1 John 2. 23. That is he that hath not the Son for his God hath not the Father for his God For the nature of Relatives evinceth thus much that if there be a Father there must be a Son and if there be not a Son there cannot be a Father wherefore it is a gross mistake or rather a great blasphemy to say that the Jews or Turks or other Infidels do worship the same God with us Christians for they not having the Son cannot have the Father and not having the Father have not the true God but an idol of their own making nay a lyar insteed of God as saith the same disciple He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not
follow their own unbrideled distempers which makes them that have no wives to be as though they had them And surely of the two these are the further from chastity The Heathen did glory of rapes and adulteries in their Gods and therefore could not easily be ashamed of rapines and adulteries in themselves And the Jew though he was tyed from fornication and adultery yet whiles he practiced his polygamy he did in effect commit fornication with his second wife and whiles he exercised his divorce he did in effect invite others to commit adultery with his first wife For the best that we can say in this case of Polygamy is that the text which forbad it Gen. 2. 24. was not so fitly explained to the Jews as it hath been since to the Christians and so the Jews were excusable because of their ignorance For the words of Moses did leave them some liberty of thinking a man might be one flesh with as many women as he made his wives for there it is only said and they shall be one flesh But our Saviour Christ hath plainly shewed us that those words are in truth to be confined to two persons one man and one woman by saying And they twain shall be one flesh Mat. 19. 5. whereby it appears to us Christians that Polygamy was a sin from the beginning for it was against the law but in the Jews it was a sin of ignorance and by that means not without excuse for not being able to prove that God gave them a dispensation to make more wives we must either say their ignorance excused them or their conscience condemned them but t is not safe to say their concience condemned them since no man can be saved that sins against his conscience and doth not repent him of his sin whereas without doubt the Patriarchs and King David were saved though we find not they repented for having been Polygamists However it is clearly evident that the Christian Religion teacheth a far more chaste modest and innocent conversation of man with woman then did that of the Jews and what can we require more in that conversation then chastity modesty and innocency And yet Saint Peter doth moreover add piety bidding the husband and wife to dwel together that their prayers be not hindred 1 Pet. 3. 7. Others may look only after pleasure or profit but Saint Peter bids all Christians look after prayer and piety in their marriages SECT III. The reason why God cannot be rightly adored but only by Christians is because he cannot be truly known and loved but only by those who know and love him in Christ the true way to gain that knowledge and to shew and keep that love is universal obedience both to his affirmative and to his negative precepts without which there can be no saving knowledge of God That the Christians do know and worship God in Christ cleerly and substantially and that the Jews did so know and worship him in types and figures so that the Jewish and the Christian religion differ not in substance but only in degrees of perfection GOD cannot be rightly worshipped by those by whom he is not truly known nor loved and he cannot be truly known or loved by those who know and love him not in Christ For he is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person Heb. 1. 3. The brightness of his glory so that we cannot love God but for his brightness and the express image of person so that we cannot know God but by this image which being a Doctrine that contains something of ambiguity in regard of the several states of men some having been trained up as Jews others as Christians in the true knowledge and love of God though it contain nothing of uncertainty in regard of it self yet will not unfitly be explained by way of Catechism and that in these three questions 1. Whether a man can love God save only in Christ I answer he cannot with an elective or deliberative love as a man though he may with a natural love as a creature The reason is because having defiled and corrupted both his nature and his person by his sin he hath lost the innocency and the comfort of his being though he cannot lose the obligation of it And consequently if he look upon God without Christ he cannot look upon him as a merciful Father that will relieve his infirmities and forgive his infirmities but only as an angry Judge that will pass against him the sentence and will bring upon him the vengeance of eternal condemnation 2. Whether a man can love God in Christ till Christ be revealed or manifested to his soul I answer again he cannot Ignoti nulla cupido As a man cannot desire so neither can he love what he doth not know and he doth not know God in Christ to whose soul Christ is not yet manifested or revealed So that in this case most true is that common Axiome of the Law idem est non esse non apparere It is all one for a thing not to be and not to appear All one to me if I know not God in Christ as if he were not at all to be known in him For which cause it is worth our enquiry how it comes to pass that so many who are called Christians and who perchance think and call themselves the best Christians yet do not truly know God in Christ and I must say t is because they desire to receive Christ only according to the promises and not also according to the precepts of the Gospel or only for the speculation and knowledge not for the practice and obedience of faith so that indeed they do not desire truly to know Christ and therefore he is not revealed or manifested to their souls And this is the reason there is so little love of God amongst us because there is so little manifestation of the Son of God in us We think and say we know Christ more then all other men but sure we know him less or else we would not love him less then others For what shall we say that the wise men from the East were mistaken in their love of Christ when they offered him gold frankincense and myrrh Mat. 2. but that we are now better instructed and directed in the love of Christ whiles we take away all that we can rape and rend from him This is in truth as unquoth an argument that we know him as it is an unkind proof that we love him himself hath taught us another lesson saying he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him John 14. 21. We must love his Commandments that we may love him and we must love him that he may love us and manifest himself unto us for he will not manifest himself to those whom he doth not love and he
Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make more Disciples and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To Baptize are put for one and the same thing And this may properly be the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place only to make Disciples by baptizing them without any preaching or else the words cannot concern all nations for they cannot concern children since t is in vain to labour to make them Christs Disciples by preaching but not in vain to make them so by baptizing But if we will needs have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie to teach then we must distinguish upon the Doctrine And these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be so distinguished as to shew that t is not the same Doctrine which is to be zealously preached before and after men are made Christs Disciples as if he had said Teach strangers and aliens the Doctrine of faith to make them my Disciples but teach Converts and Christians the duties of life to keep them my Disciples and to make them good Christians Though I must confess that Epiphanius hath found out all this only in the first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he hath thus explained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haer. Herodiani That is Bring them over from their wickedness to the truth and from divers Sects and Heresies to one communion which is all one with Make them my Disciples or teach them to observe all my commands Whence we may gather this definition of Christs Disciple he is one that observes all Christs commands and therefore carefully embraceth the Christian truth and as carefully maintaineth the Christian communion Whence it necessarily follows that neither Hereticks nor Schismaticks are to be accounted Christs Disciples since the one embrace not his truth the other maintain not his communion And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world I that have the power of life and death do promise or rather give you my actual assistance and favour and grace as if I were still actually present with you And this presence of my power and grace shall never be taken away neither from you nor your successors as long as this world shall last so that both you and they for they are also necessarily included since this promise cannot be made good without a succession in the Ministry may cheerfully undertake and couragiously discharge your callings notwithstanding all the contradictions and persecutions you shall meet with from disobedient and gainsaying people For I that am above all the world have placed your Doctrine above their contradictions and your life above their persecutions and the worst they shall be able to do shall be to send you the oftner to your Master for instruction or the sooner to your Master for reward Surely the Apostles understood more in this promise then we can express and therefore they made neither excuse nor delay when they were bid to go though they were sent out into the wide world already destitute and very speedily to be afflicted and tormented Of whom the worlâ—â—as not worthy if we consider them in their persons much less if we consider them in their calling yet were they sent into the world to be despised in their persons and to be opposed in their calling and sent with no other credential letters to countenance them with no other guard to protect them but only this And lo I am with you alway This was the answer that put Moses to silence though he had been almost refractory in objecting that he was slow of speech Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Exod. 4. 12. This was the answer that silenced the Prophet Jeremiah so that he replyed no more Ah Lord I am a child and cannot speak after God had once said unto him Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee Jer. 1 8. And this answer must silence all our objections in Saint Chrysostomes gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talk not to me of the difficulties that are in the work for I am with you who make all things easie and if all things then surely not only our doings but also our sufferings in his service and for his glory He will make all easie those who are called by him shall labour with more ease then others loiter and suffer with more pleasure then others domineer But those only are called by him to whom he hath said Go and teach To those alone he hath given the command of teaching and to those alone he hath given this promise Lo I am with you alwayes They that are concerned in the precept which can concern no other but such as can justly plead a succession to the Apostles in the Ministry of the Gospel are also concerned in the promise And they that are concerned in this promise may turn Preacheâ—s with confidence and preach with comfort But they that are not concerned in this promise as t is to be admired how they can have the confidence to be Preachers so t is to be affirmed they can have no true spiritual comfort in their Preaching Nor would the world so abound with uncommissionated Preachers that dares not abound with uncommissionated Souldiers were not their confidence more in themselves then in their Saviour more in their own swords then in his word for the support of their preaching which is a very sinful confidence Nor would such Preachers be so zealously disposed to preach did they not more rejoyce to advance their own then their Saviours glory and interest by their Doctrine which is a very miserable comfort But I will conclude all with Prospers gloss upon this Text as I find him cited by the learned Brugensis Nolite trepidare de vestra infirmitate sed de med potestate confidite qui vos in hoc opere non derelinquam non ad hoc ut nihil patiamini sed quod multo majus est praestiturus ut nullâ saevientium crudelitate superemini Be not afraid of your own weakness but relie wholly on my strength for I will never forsake you in this work not that you shall not suffer very much from your cruel adversaries but that notwithstanding all their cruelties I will make you more the conquerours in your sufferings SECT III. That the words which our Saviour Christ spake to his Apostles before he ascended may be reduced to these three heads words of instruction consolation benediction That the effect of them all is registred in the Text not left to unwritten tradition That the Apostles though thus instructed comforted and blessed yet preached not the Gospel till the comming of the Holy Ghost upon them whereby they had not only ability but also authority or mission and commission in a ful degree IT may not be amiss to consider some of our blessed Saviours consolations and benedictions as well as instructions which he bestowed on his Apostles before he
have applied unto Christ proving he was that Prophet to whom Moses had bid them hearken Act. 3. 22. Act. 7 37. so that the Jews themselves were no longer to hearken to Moses by Moses his own appointment then till the comming of Christ 2. That the Jews who would not believe Moses his writings concerning Christ were not like to believe any other Prophets words concerning him which is still a good proof that no man can possibly reject the authority of the Scripture and yet truly beleive in Christ from the authority of the Church for if the writings of Moses or of the Old Testament then much more the writings of the Apostles or of the New Testament must needs be above any other Prophets words since these writings as well as those are looked upon as the undoubted word of God And therefore if the Church hath not found Christ in the Scriptures how shall we hope to find Christ in the Church and by consequent if we will be good Christians we must above all things take heed of cavilling or rather blaspheming against the word of Christ for that is in effect to say that we will have a state of Christianity not of Gods but of our own making we question not but the Christian Religion as it hath an excellency above all other religions so it hath a certainty agreeable to its excellency And this Certainty is grounded meerly on the written word in the judgement of Saint Peter who tels us indeed that there came such a voice from the most excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and that he and some others heard this voice when they were with Christ in the holy mount but yet that the Scriptures were a more certain ground of the Christian Faith then was this Voice for so he saith after all We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a lâ—ght that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts 2 Pet. 1. 17 18 19. The voice from heaven was sure but yet the word of Prophecy was more sure for notwithstanding that voice did say Hear ye him Mat. 17. 5. yet they would have suspended their hearing but for the word of Prophecy which had said before Vnto him ye shall hearken Deut. 18. 15. So that the voice from heaven had in effect all its certainty from the word of Prophecy Therefore he said we have also a more sure word of Prophecy His full intent was to make us seek after Christ in the Old Testament much more in the New He saith we shall do well to take heed unto that much more unto this that will guide us unto Christ as a light that shineth in a dark place but this will guide us to him as a morning Star that ushereth in the day And this is no more then our Saviour himself had said before Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Luke 10. 23 24. The comparison is betwixt those under the Law and those under the Gospel and they under the Gospel are declared the more blessed For they under the Law had but a dim light which made them see Christ so imperfectly as if they had not seen him But we that are under the Gospel have a clear shining light clearly and perfectly to see our Saviour Christ and therefore are much more blessed then they if we can but see our own blessedness and will be heartily thankfull for it therefore saith Saint John The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. whereby he excludes the Law both from Grace and Truth from Grace absolutely but from Truth only comparatively The Law did neither teach Grace nor give Grace it only gave a rule of righteousness but not grace to keep it and therefore only shewed our want of a Redeemer but shewed not the way of our redemption Thus the Law was opposed to grace absolutely and left that to come wholly and entirely by Christ and it was also opposed to Truth comparatively for many truths were but obscurely and figuratively propounded in the Law which are plainly and substantially revealed in the Gospel as the doctrine of the blessed Trinity of the incarnation passion resurrection and ascension of the Son of God and indeed all the other articles of our Christian faith So that Truth substantially or compleatly that is in its full revelation and accomplishment came only by Jesus Christ Wherefore if our Saviour Christ himself who without doubt best understood the state of true Christianity sent the Jews to the Law of Moses to be assured of the truth of the Christian Religion much more doth he send us Christians to his own holy Gospel to be assured of the same truth And as Moses his writings were then so the Apostles writings are now a greater ground of assurance to us then any Prophets words can be for as Moses wished That all the Lords People were Prophets so am I willing to believe that his Church is to be accounted as a Prophet so that it commonly fareth with Christians in their coming unto Christ as it did with the Samaritans John 4. who first believed on our blessed Saviour for the saying of the woman but afterwards believed because of his own word So do we generally first believe in Christ by the testimony of the Church which he hath in mercy appointed to lead us to his Word for else it were impossible we should ever come neer it But when once we come to see and understand his Word then we believe in Christ not for his Church but for himself and may justly say to the Church as the Samaritans said to the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world John 4. 42. This may we justly say not to the undervaluing of the Church to which we are so much obliged for bringing us to the knowledge of the Word for had not she preserved and translated it we could never have known it but rather to the overvaluing of the word above the Church to shew we are infinitely more obliged to God for giving his word then we can be to his Church either for preserving or for expounding it Therefore we cannot but prefer the word above the Church and we know this may be done without either undutifulness or unthankfulness since God hath appointed that his Church should wholly rely upon his word and prove her self to be his Church from the Testimony of his Word as appears plainly in the case of the Bereans who are commended for searching the Scriptures and believing the Word
in their hearts And he dwelleth in their hearts by faith not a faith that commeth from their own Spirits but a faith that commeth from Gods Spirit A faith that cometh from our own spirits strengthneth only the outer man but a faith that cometh from Gods spirit strengthneth the inner man That faith is strong only in perswasion but this faith is strong in affection That faith is strong in phansie but this faith is strong in love even in that love which is the fulfilling of the Law loving the body for the heads sake loving the head for his own sake loving the Church for Christ and loving Christ for himself such a faith as this proceeding from the Spirit of God cannot but afford us a real communion with the Son of God and having a real communion with Christ as with our head we shall never delight in separations and divisions from the Church which is his body SECT IV. Christian communion beginneth with the Church but endeth with Christ both in the word and Sacraments and Prayers and that the Church is bound in all these to advance not to hinder our Communion with Christ either by denying the people the use of the Scriptures or by teaching them superstitious prayers as to Saints and Angels wherein Christ neither can nor will communicate with men The ready way to have communion with Christ is by peace and holiness and wherein that communion chiefly consisteth TRue Christian communion beginneth with the Church as with the body of Christ but endeth with Christ himself as with the head God hath joyned those two together let not man put them asunder Nor is it the intent of this discourse to divide this Christian communion into two several communions by reason determining or defining ratione ratiocinata because the body cannot subsist without the head but only by reason discussing or debating ratione ratiocinante because the head is different from the body And every good Christian is to take notice that though he may consider this communion severally yet he may not persue and embrace it so For he cannot have actual communion with Christ unless he have actual communion with his Church no more then he can have communion with the head unless he have also communion with the body yet may he not rest satisfied in his communion with the body the Church of Christ till they come thereby to have communion with the head even with Christ himself For our Christian communion is much like Jacobs ladder the lower part whereof was set upon the earth but the top of it reached up to heaven And behold the Lord stood above at the top of it Gen. 28. 12 13. So is our Christian communion The lower part of it is with the Church the body of Christ here on earth but the upper part or top of it is with Christ in heaven And we cannot say that our Christian communion is a true communion unless Christ be at the end of it as for example in hearing the word read and preached we at first communicate with the Church which speaketh to the outward man but we hear it not profitably to our salvation unless we at last communicate also with Christ speaking by his Spirit unto our souls or to the inward man Paedogogus est Jesus Our teacher is Jesus was thought by Clemens of Alexandria a fit subject both to fill and to name his books of Christian Institutions v. lib. 1. Paedag. cap. 9. For as the Church teacheth the people so also Christ teacheth them much more and the Churches paedagogy iâ— or should be to bring them unto Christ not to make them rest only upon their own teaching for soul-saving truths nor is this Doctrine any disparagement to the Church no more then Saint Pauls was to the Law when he said The Law was our School-Master to bring us unto Christ Gal. 3. 24. Nay indeed it is the greatest honour of the Church as it was of the Law that God is pleased to use her teaching as a means or instrument to bring us unto Christ That as the Church teacheth us by explaining saving truths to our understandings so Christ may teach us by imprinting the same truths in our wills and affections therefore the Church should above all things take heed of offering those truths in her explanations which she cannot believe nor wish that Christ should ratifie by his impressions such as are all those Doctrines which are the inventions of men and not the institutions of Christ And forasmuch as it cannot be denied that Christ teacheth more powerfully by his own word then by ours it is evident that the Holy Scriptures may not be denied to the people in their own tongue by that Church which will labour to advance their communion with Christ and as evident that the people are not bound to communicate with that Church which will not labour to advance this the highest and greatest part of their Christian communion Again in receiving the holy Eucharist we must not only communicate with the Priest exhibiting unto us the bread and wine but also and much rather with Christ himself exhibiting unto us his most precious body blood or we shall receive but half a Sacrament and enjoy but a half communion This is Saint Pauls Divinity The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Co. 10. 16. We bless the Cup and we break the bread therefore you must communicate with us which we could not say if we did refuse to do either for we could not desire you to relinquish your communion with Christs institution to follow ours But the Cup which we bless and the bread which we break is the communion of the blood and body of Christ therefore you must not communicate chiefly and much less only with us but also and much rather with Christ himself Lastly Thus is it also in our prayers we are bound in our praying to communicate not only with the Church as the body but also with Christ as the head and consequently the Church is bound to use no other prayers then such as may be agreeable with Christs communion and available by Christs intercession For if we pray out of his communion we cannot hope to obtain what we pray for by virtue of his intercession And this I conceive was one main reason why publick Liturgies were at first established in the Church that Christians might know before hand the terms of their communion and be assured in their own hearts that no other prayers should be offered unto them then such wherein Christ himself would joyn with them in intercession which assurance during the extraordinary effusions of the Spirit was grounded upon the infallibility of their persons who prayed but when it could no longer be grounded upon the infallibility of the persons that prayed then it was thought fit it should be
the Truth into their minds as they are able to receive it 2. In the object of it every man excluding none from the benefit of their Ministry who desire to be taught or to be warned though more particularly including those of their own Pastoral charge in which respect Clemens Alexandrinus his gloss may be admitted who saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 warning and teaching the whole man that he may be purified both in his body and in his soul 3. In the manner of it with all assiduity and industry for so the Participles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do set forth not only continued but also multiplyed acts 4. And lastly in the end of scope of it which is to bring men to the communion of Christ that so they may be presented to God as perfect having that perfection in their Saviour which they have not in themselves Wherefore we cannot deny but as we still need the warning so we still need the watchmen and we must confess that watchmen of Gods own setting up may not be disturbed or displaced till himself be pleased to put them away or to pull them down and sure we are that will not be till we shall no longer need them And if the watchmen are bound to give the warning then questionless the people are bound to take it when it is given For it is plain the Text said Obey them that watch for your souls Heb. 13. 17. before the civil Magistrate was yet Christian to force men to that obedience Nay indeed while he was yet Heathen to deterre them from it and to persecute them for it So that the fifth Commandment obligeth me to obey those whom God hath set over me in spirituals no less then those whom he hath set over me in temporals And I may no more forsake the Church to set up a new Religion then I may forsake the State to set up a new Government For my obedience is due to both as a moral debt by the necessity of Justice since I am as much obliged to my spiritual Father for the care of my soul as I am to my civil Father for the care of my body and therefore I can no more withdraw my duty from the Church then I can from the Common-wealth Nor may I go out of my Nation to look for a Head of the Church any more then to look for a Head of the State since the fifth Commandment obligeth me equally to the Church and to the State And I ought to be as much afraid of Schism which is a sedition against the Church as of Sedition which is a schism against the State Sure I am if I will be a true Gospeller I must see that my conversation be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ and that 's a conversation which requires Unity no less then Verity Unity of Spirit no less then Verity of Faith So the Apostle advising the Philippians that their conversation should be as becometh the Gospel of Christ sheweth them in the next words wherein consisteth that conversation saying That ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind there 's the Vnity striving together for the faith of the Gospel there 's the Verity Phil. 1. 27. He permitteth not the pretence of Verity to break the bonds of Unity for he saith striving together not striving one with or against another for the faith of the Gospel Their concord and communion was to be the credit of their Religion not the pretence of Religion to be the bane of their communion He accounts it as necessary to their salvation that they should stand fast in the same Unity as that they should strive for the same Verity that they should stand fast in one spirit with one mind as that they should strive for the faith of the Gospel This is the true way to set up Christs Discipline for himself hath said By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another John 13. 35. As we are made Christs Disciples by the Verity of our Faith so we are known to be his Disciples by the Unity of our Love and if we desire to set up his Discipline we must take a course that men may know we are his Disciples which they cannot do unless we have love one to another and surely factions divisions strifes contentions are very ill arguments and worse evidences of love So that I cannot be a Schismatick in with-drawing my love from Christs Church but I must be a piece of an Atheist in withdrawing my love from Christ himself as refusing to be accounted his Disciple This makes Saint Paul come like clypei Dominus septemplicis Ajax holding out a Buckler with no less then seven folds in it to keep off all the assaults of schism saying 1. There is one Body that is one Catholick Church of Christ whereof we are all members that profess our selves to be Christians 2. One Spirit to quicken and enliven that body 3. One hope of immortality to comfort and confirm it 4. One Lord to wit our Saviour Christ that hath purchased and doth claim it 5. One faith to feed and nourish it 6. One Baptism to wash and cleanse it 7. One God and Father of all to rule and govern it Eph. 4. 4 5 6. So that I dare no more be a Schismatick then I dare think to divide this one body to multiply this one Spirit to falsifie this one hope to renounce this one Lord to forsake this one faith to despise this one Baptism to deny this one God for I must be zealous to maintain this Christian Communion in its authority that I may be so happy as to enjoy it in its excellency CAP. II. Christian Communion in its excellency SECT I. The excellency of Christian Communion because of its large extent as reaching to all Christians though of different perswasions and professions THE Christian Church is truly Catholick in that it comprizeth all true Believers of what nation sex age or condition soever for God acknowledgeth them all for his children by faith in Christ Jesus So saith Saint Paul Gal. 3. 26 27. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ So that whosoever believeth in Christ and is baptized in his name must be acknowledged a member of the Christian Church whether he be Jew or Greek bond or free which was not so before Christs coming in the flesh for then it was said only of the Jews ye shall be my people and I will be your God Jer. 30. 22. But since our blessed Saviour hath broken down the partition wall God hath called to himself a people not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles and it hath come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there they are now called the children of the living God Rom. 9. 24 26. Those whom
be feared we have no true faith in him and consequently no true communion with him Did we indeed look upon our Saviour as the beginning we would begin in his fear and in his faith not in our own phansies and much less in our own factions that we might live to him did we look upon him as the first born from the dead we would go on in his favour that so we might at last die to him and through him be made partakers of a joyful resurrection from death to everlasting life This would we all do if indeed we had communion with our Saviour Christ and we would before and above all things seek to have communion with him if we did rightly understand or could sufficiently value not only the future but also the present excellencies of his communion For what excellency is there not to be found here and not to be expected hence He is the beginning that 's ground for Christian piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to begin with God or else we must begin without our beginning He is from the dead that 's ground for Christian verity no religion in the world teaching this truth of the resurrection but only the Christian and that teaching it as the consummation of all other truths And lastly he is the first born from the dead that 's ground for our Christian unity or charity in that we are all under the same Captain of our Salvation and therefore should upon no pretences fall into mutinies and much less into outrages one against another For that Disciple who leaned in his Masters bosome and therefore probably knew most of his heart plainly tells us we cannot have a share in the resurrection of this first born from the dead or at least not know we have it unless it be from our love to those that are to follow after him We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren He that loveth not his brother abideth in death 1 John 3. 14. Were it possible for any man to pass from death to life who loveth not his brother yet it were not possible for him to know so much We know that we have passed because we love therefore they who will not have this love cannot have this knowledge and indeed they cannot have this passage for he that abideth in death hath not yet passed from death unto life And he that hath not passed from death hath not yet communion with the first born from the dead and consequently is no less destitute of piety and of verity then he is of charity I was willing to find out all these three heavenly virtues together in the Apostles expression but sure I am I shall find them altogether in my Saviours communion for without doubt therein is piety to keep us from being hypocrites verity to keep us from being hereticks and unity to keep us from being schismaticks or sectaries agreeably to those three honourable compellations given to the Colossians by Saint Paul and in them to all good Christians the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ Col. 1. 2. Saints faithful and brethren Saints from the piety faithful from the verity and brethren from the unity that is in the true Christian Religion wherein he is adored who is the beginning author of the piety who is from the dead author of the verity and the first born from the dead to raise us all after him author of the unity I must now confess with Saint Chrysostome That those of Saint Pauls Epistles have something more of Divinity in them which were written in his bonds as this was to the Colossians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since I find both the grounds and the excellencies of all Christian Religion twice fully expressed in three words once speculatively in those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beginning first born from the dead another time practically in those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saints Faithful brethren I cannot hear those compellations of Christ the Beginning the first born from the dead but I think my self called to the blessed speculation of piety verity and charity I cannot hear those compellations of Christians Saints faithful brethren but I must confess my self called to the more blessed practice of them since he is not a Saint who is without piety he is not faithful who is without verity and he is not a brother who is without charity Wherefore the best and readiest way to be a good Christian is to have communion immediately with Christ for by this means we shall be sure never to be destitute either of piety or of verity or of charity to make us perfect Christians or of immortality to make us happy Christians but in the midst of hypocrites we shall have piety in the midst of hereticks we shall have verity in the midst of schismaticks we shall have Charity there is our purchase in the midst of death and destruction we shall have immortality there is our happiness In the midst of life we be in death as men but in the midst of death we be in life as Christians And for this cause I conceive the Church did more peculiarly enjoyn Communions at Easter because then she did more especially commemorate the resurrection of Christ thereby putting us in mind that if we did indeed communicate with him we should not only be partakers of his piety verity and charity but also of his immortality and be not only strengthened against the errours of our life but also against the terrours of our death For through his blessed resurrection even the grave it self hath teemed to eternity and is become a second Eve to be called the mother of all living at least in respect of the true life that is to say the life everlasting For by vertue of this first-born from the dead corruption it self is become a father and the worm is become a mother to bring forth children to incorruption and to immortality So that what was holy Jobs complaint I have said to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister Job 17. 14. must be our joy and triumph ever since that text hath been verified Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption For ever since that day hath our corruptible put on incorruption in our blessed Saviour and our mortal hath put on immortality so that although we still carry about us mortality in our condition yet we have already put on immortality in our Communion Hence was the time between the Resurrection and Ascention of Christ antiently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Cedrenus calls that week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Zonaras calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Meursius partly for the historie that our Saviour abode in Galilee altogether after his resurrection till his ascension but much rather for the mysterie the reason why he chose Galilee for the place of his abode and that
man in general neither as lame nor as blind nor as perverse nor as ignorant nor as false but an excellent creature made to know and enjoy his maker So though I see many defects and imperfections in particular Churches for in many things we offend all men and Churches too yet I consider the Catholick Church or the Church in general neither as defective nor as imperfect but as the body and Spouse of Christ holy and undefiled without spot called to the knowledge of God here in this world and to the enjoyment of him hereafter in the world to come And if all men would look more upon the perfections then upon the defects of the Churches wherein they live if they would rather look upon what Christ hath made them then what they have made themselves the world would be more given to devotion then now it is to disputes and would be more filled with Religion then it is now with faction For Christ is so well preached in every true Christian Church notwithstanding the great corruptions and divisions of Christendom that if he were but half so well practised we should most of us soon become very good Christians And truly we can scarce give a better reason why State policy and self-interest hath not generally corrupted the principles as it hath the Practise of Christians but only that those who sit in Moses his chair think themselves concerned in Moses his Trust which was this Thou shalt speak all that I command thee Exod. 7. 2. Hence it is they commonly speak as they ought though they seldom do as they speak their tongues are sanctified though not their lives they remain holy and innocent in their Functions though not in their Actions circumcised in their lips though uncircumcised in their hearts Their Persons unregenerated but their calling such as worketh regeneration Therefore said Truth himself concerning them Mat. 23. 3. All whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do for they speak with Moses but do not ye after their works for they say and do not they act with Jannes and Jambres They speak they teach according to their Trust but they act they do according to their lusts it being much easier to talk by Rule then to walk by it God often giving to his Ministers the grace of â—â—iâ—ication for his names sake that they may preserve his Truth when yet he denyeth them the grace of Regeneration for their own sakes because they will not obey his truth Gratia gratis data may be given to the calling when Gratia gratum faciens is denyed to the Person we find that God threatneth the wicked Priests saying I will curse your Blessings Mal. 2. 2. What is their Blessing but their calling and how is that cursed but when it is blessed to all men save only to themselves When the Ministers shall be like so many statues in a doubtful Road directing the travellers in the right way but themselves not moving therein at all The comparison is not much amiss For as it is not from the substance of the statue but from its office or employment that men are directed by it so is it also in the Ministers t is not from their persons but from their calling that they are so highly qualified as to be our guides to heaven And as men can make a stock so much more God can make a man discharge the office of a faithful guide And as the rottenness of the statue hinders not the soundness of its directions so a Minister that hath a false and a rotten heart may have a true and a sound mouth And as the traveller thanks not the statue for his good directions but those that set it there so we are not to thank such a Minister for his good directions but God that set him over us For if the efficacity and operation of a good Instrument be ascribed to the efficient cause then much more of a bad instrument And if such holy Apostles as Saint Peter and Saint John rebuked the amazed Jews after this manner Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk Act. 3. 12. then we may be sure that when words of power or of truth proceed from the mouth of a wicked Caiaphas That he spake not this of himself but being High Priest that year he prophesied John 11. 51. And as Caiaphas though he was not a true man yet he was a true Prophet because in that respect he was Gods Trustee for the propagation of that truth which he then prophesied So is it still with many Christian Ministers and Churches as they are Gods Trustees for preserving and propagating the saving truths of the Gospel so they are enabled by his Spirit to discharge that Trust in so much that we may take it for granted that God hath entrusted them because we cannot deny but God hath enabled them For if he had not given them a Trust why should he either give them Authority to undertake it or ability to perform it Therefore since we cannot deny the Authority nor the Ability we may not deny the Trust And indeed the Trust is too palpable to be denyed by any that will not shut his eyes against the truth lest he should see it or that will not open his mouth against the truth that he may oppose it for so saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 9. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dispensatio mihi credita est I am entrusted with a dispensation sc of the Holy Gospel And t is evident he spake not this in regard of his person that the Trust should die with himself but in regard of his Calling to shew the same trust was to remain with his Successors for ever And if we will look upon all his Epistles we may there see accordingly that he hath derived this Trust to particular Churches after him that is to those Bishops and Presbyters that were set over the people For as the Epistles that were sent to the seven Churches of Asia were directed and sent to the Angels that is to the Bishops and Ministers of those Churches and not to the common people Apoc. 2. 3. So was it in all Saint Pauls Epistles they were sent not to the people but to the Ministers that were set over them God entrusting them with his saving Truth whom he had entrusted to bring others to salvation nor are we beholding to the Citizens of Rome or to the Burgers of Corinth but to the Ministry of both those Churches and of other Churches since them that we now enjoy the true Copies of Saint Pauls Epistles the like is to be said concerning all the other parts of the New Testament For as the Books of the Old Testament were known to have come from God because they were deposited in the Ark and committed to the custody of the Priests whence Damascene saith concerning the Wisdom of Solomon and of the son of Sirach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
again And this gloss of the Jewish Doctor is agreeable with the best Christian Doctrine For it is Saint Pauls argugument for the Justification of the Christian as well as of the Jew from whence he proves that Justification cannot be by the Law because the Law was given only to the Jew That God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews Rom. 3. 29. And it is the same Saint Pauls argument for the salvation of the Christian as well as of the Jew For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him Rom. 10. 12. according to that of the wise man But thou sparest all for they are thine O Lord thou lover of souls Wisd 11. 26. The Text saith Gods supream Dominion over all is the reason why he is willing to shew mercy unto all and how shall we say his Dominion over all is the reason that he hath excluded much the greatest part from mercy Let us seriously consider this and we will never quarrel with our Church for teaching us this prayer That is may please thee to have mercy upon all men For in truth God himself is Originally the general Pastor of souls according to that of the Psalmist The Lord is my Shephard therefore can I lack nothing A Psalm made concerning all Israel saith Kimchi that they should say so when they go out of captivity we need not change but only rectifie his gloss by extending it to all the Israel of God and to their going out of spiritual captivity the bondage of sin and Satan for all the souls that go out of this captivity have God for their Shephard to guide them to feed them to protect them thus is God himself originally the general Pastor of souls and all others that take care of souls are but his Substitutes and Curates For he hath imparted this cure immediately to his Son whence he is called the Shephard and Bishop of our souls 1. Pet. 2. 3. But mediately by his Son unto his Ministers for so it is averred from Christs own mouth as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world John 17. 18. viz. To take the charge and care of souls And every true Church of Christ may borrow these words from her Masters mouth should speak them with his zeal and justifie them with his constancy To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth John 18. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I should be a witness to the truth and if need required also a Martyr for it the first in the affection of my soul the latter also in the preparation of it A witness I am in the best times may be a Martyr in the worst a witness when men love the truth a Martyr when they oppose it They are first enemies to the truth before they can be enemies to me as it follows Every one that is of truth heareth my voice and by the Rule of conversion every one that heareth not my voice is not of the truth But the less they will hear my voice the more they shall feel thy hand the less they will let me speak for the truth the more the truth will cry out against them they may bring the Martyrdom upon me but they will bring the destruction only upon themselves So saith Saint Peter There shall be false teachers by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of What then shall they therefore be able to destroy Gods Church the witness of his truth and the Martyr for it no they shall destroy only themselves as it is said in the same place and bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. But as for the Church that shall be preserved though so as by fire as just Lot was delivered when Sodom was destroyed verse 7. Whence is inferred this Doctrinal conclusion for the strengthning of our Faith for the establishing of our Hope for the inflaming of our Piety and for the encreasing of our Patience The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations ver 9. All the persecutions that can befall the godly though they are others sins yet they are only their temptations and they that have the zeal to pray not to be led into temptation shall atleast have this benefit of their prayers not to be left in but to be led out of them They may be thought to be in captivity but they are not for the truth shall make them free John 8. 32. They may be thought to be in death but they are not For he that is their Truth is also their Life John 14. 6. They will not be false to the Truth and the Truth cannot be false to them they bear witness to the Truth not only for Gods sake to obey his command and for their own sakes to discharge their consciences but also for the peoples sake to save their souls For the same must be the Trustees for Gods Truth and for the peoples souls because there is no way to save their souls but by his Truth And therefore Saint Paul telleth the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. that he had discharged his Trust concerning their souls by teaching them the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth for saith he I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you ver 20. Whence it is evident he preached the whole Truth And again But have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from house to house Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ver 20. 21. Whence it is evident he preached nothing but the Truth nothing but the right practical Truth such as concerned the good ordering of this present life by repentance towards God nothing but the right speculative Truth such as concerned the knowledge and enjoyment of the life to come by Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ We see by Saint Pauls example what is to be the chief Doctrine of every particular Christian Church which succeedeth him in the same Trust and care of souls even Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and consequently the Church is most truly Apostolical which most incorruptly preacheth this doctrine of faith and repentance and most zealously practiseth what it preacheth Nor may such a Church be dismayed that by this means she is like to have many enemies even as many enemies as there are Pharisees and Sadduces in the whole world ready either to deride the Repentance or to corrupt and deny the Faith for so was Saint Paul assured that bonds and afflictions did abide him v. 23. yet he plainly answereth and thereby teacheth every one who succeedeth him in the same Trust what to answer But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy and
would give them life by his ordinary as well as by his extraordinary Ministers For we cannot but say that those are words of eternal truth as well as of eternal comfort Psal 73. 1. Truly God is loving unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart for there is no doubt of Gods being loving unto Israel no more then of Israels being of a clean heart If they be of a clean heart they must be of Gods Israel though they may be of several Tribes And if they be of Gods Israel they are sure of Gods love He will here guide them with his counsel and hereafter receive them with glory For he sanctifieth them by his Truth that he may save them by his mercy And accordingly S. Paul saith to Timothy Take heed unto thy self and unto the Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim 4. 16. Thereby shewing he had left the people of Ephesus sufficient means of being saved in that he had left them an infallible doctrine though he had not left them an infallible Doctor For if Timothy by taking heed unto himself and to the Doctrine he had received was able to save both himself and those who were committed to his charge t is evident the people of Ephesus had no more need in Gods account of an infallible Bishop to teach them then they had of an impeccable Bishop to govern them and indeed infallibility cannot be in the understanding without impeccability in the will since the will doth necessarily follow the last dictate of the understanding and it self being depraved may corrupt and deprave both the first and the last dictate of it Nay yet more lest we should make light account of the authority of particular Churches because we can neither prove nor believe their infallibility any more then we can their impeccability we find plainly that S. Paul calleth the particular Church of Ephesus even that Church with which Timothy was entrusted and in which he was taught by this Epistle how to behave himself The house of God the pillar and ground of the truth 1 Tim 3. 35. Though we may justly and should willingly infer that if a particular Church by cleaving to the word of Truth deserved to be called the pillar and ground of Truth then sure the Universal Church much more For so the argument will proceed à minore ad majus If one Minister shall be able to teach the saving Truth whilst he swerves neither to the right hand nor to the left from the word of Truth then much more a whole National Church and most of all the Catholike and Universal Church that is diffused over all Nations if she carefully attend and stedfastly cleave to that same word of Truth And if any man think this condition unnecessary let him consider that those four general Councils which Saint Gregory received as four Gospels did set the Bible upon a Throne in the midst of their assembly appealing to it for all their Doctrines and proving by it all their determinations which if all other general Councils at least so reputed had done since that time well we might have had fewer Articles but certainly we must have had a surer Creed and a founder faith nor can we deny but some provincial Councils by cleaving to the Text have more truly shewed themselves the pillars of Truth then some reputed general Councils that have forsaken it as the Council of Gangra which had in it but thirteen Bishops yet suppressed no less then twenty Schismatical opinions together whereas the Council of Constance that consisted almost of all Nations making light regard of Christs institution and order concerning the Eucharist though it ended the Schism of the Popes yet it began such a Schism in the Church as is like to continue to the worlds end for surely there will alwaies be some conscionable men who will prefer the Institution of Christ in his own Sacrament above the constitution of a Council and who will think there can be no Schism either less curable or more damnable then that which dares set up the pretended authority of the Church against the undoubted Authority of Christ This is most certain Saint Paul took it for granted that the Church of Ephesus was instructed in the whole Doctrine of the Scriptures for in the first Chapter he mentions both the Law and the Gospel and that she also followed those instructions before he called her the house of God the pillar and ground of Truth For indeed the first part of every Churches Trust is the Word of God which she is entrusted withal in a threefold respect 1. That she should keep it 2. That she should expound it 3. That she should obey it Wherefore those men who of late have cavilled at the written Word thereby thinking to resolve all Religion into the Authority of the Church have in truth taken a direct course to resolve the Authority of the Church into nothing For if the Church hath not been Gods faithful Trustee in keeping the substance or letter of his word who can think her faithful in expounding the sense or in observing the commands of the same And so then farewell to the Churches faithfulness and consequently to her authority which is grounded chiefly upon her faithfulness For it is as just an exception now as it was in the Apostles times Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye Act. 4. 19. The intent of your arguments against the Scriptures is to advise us not to hearken unto God that we might only hearken unto you But the reason and force of your arguments will certainly â—eep us from hearkning unto you because they make it evident that you have not hearkned unto God Nay you have set light by his Word that you might not hearken unto him But this argument is good only against the men not against the cause and it is therefore best when it is against the worst men Those who have least hearkned to Gods voice have given the greatest cause to others not to hearken unto their voices And if they will needs be angry with us let them consider that God is first angry with them and therefore they ought to be angry with themselves For they took not only a very impious but also a very indiscreet way by vilifying the authority of Gods word to magnifie the authority of their own And yet to speak the plain truth this is rather to be called a cavil then an argument For let all the Original Bibles be examined both of the Papists and of the Protestant Churches we shall find them all exactly agreeing in one Hebrew and Greek Text and their disagreement to be only in their several glosses and Translations in so much that all these parts of Christendom would soon be of one and the same profession as well as they are of one and the same
Bishops and Presbyters in Italy shall give an account for souls in England and as much against reason to say or think that souls in England shall not give an account for their disobedience And as this Position concerning the Authority of our own particular Church is reasonable so is it also religious For this is Saint Pauls own argument to the Corinthians Though you have ten thousand instructers in Christ yet have ye not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me 1 Cor. 4. 15 16. Whence we cannot but collect this dogmatical conclusion That this Church which hath begotten us in Christ claimeth our obedience in Christ and to renounce that obedience is in effect to renounce our being made Christians And as no other Church can truly say to us I have begotten you through the Gospel so no other Church can justly say unto us Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me To sum up all in one word This Doctrine concerning the acknowledging and obeying the authority of mine own Church being both rational and religious I dare not wilfully oppose it for fear of sinning against the God within me that is to say mine own conscience which will certainly by a most terrible and just remorse vindicate the violated dictates of Reason And much more for fear of sinning against the God without me Father Son and Holy Ghost which will certainly by a more terrible and just vengeance at the last day vindicate the violated dictates of Religion CAP. II. That the Church of England hath most carefully discharged her Trust concerning Religion as a most Christian or most Catholick Church SECT I. Gods intent in trusting his Church with Religion was her honour and happiness which should cause our thankfulness to God and our reverend esteem of his Church IT is a great honour to be trusted and as great a happiness to discharge a Trust Accordingly God entrusting his Church with Religion did intend her both honour and happiness Honour with men happiness with himself Honour in earth and happiness in heaven wherein we cannot but admire the goodness and Justice and liberality and mercy of God His Goodness in that he communicateth to his Church his own most excellent property even a will and desire that all men should be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth 1. Tim. 2. 4. His Justice in that he giveth abilities proportionable to that desire enabling his Church to promote the salvation of men and to bring them unto that heavenly knowledge his Liberality in that he giveth this desire and those abilities meerly of his free grace to enrich our souls not himself And lastly his Mercy in that by giving this desire these abilities and these riches he expelleth our natural defects arising from errour and ignorance whereby we do walk in the false and cannot find out the true way and prepareth us for that bliss and glory which is above nature who can think of this goodness of this Justice of this liberality of this mercy and not say with the Psalmist Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is withâ—n me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities which saveth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness Psalm 103. 1 2 3 4. For it is his goodness that he forgiveth sin and healeth infirmities his Justice that he forgiveth only the penitent sinners and healeth only those who are broken in heart His mercy that he saveth our life from destruction and his liberality that he crowneth us with mercy and loving-kindness Accordingly he hath commanded his Church to teach especially the Doctrine of Faith to set forth his goodness by which he is reconciled The Doctrine of Repentance to set forth his Justice which hath been satisfied The Doctrine of Free Grace to set forth his mercy in saving us from destruction The Doctrine of eternal glory to set forth his liberality in crowning us with loving kindness O my soul consider the immortal comfort of these heavenly Truths and look upon thy Church which teacheth them as the daughter of immortality as the mother of comfort and as the Bride of the King of Heaven Then wilt thou no more be contentedly without thy Church then thou canst be comfortably without these Doctrines Then wilt thou say with the Psalmist I am fearfully and wonderfully made but with thy self I am more fearfully and wonderfully saved Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Psalm 139. 13. I am much amazed at thy great care and providence over my body but much more at thy great care and providence over my soul Thou madest use of my carnal Parents to make me communicating to them as far as they were capable the honour of my Creation Thou makest use of my spiritual Parents to save me communicating to them as far as they are capable the honour of my salvation should I be a monster of nature if I dishonoured the one and shall I not be a monster of grace if I dishonour the other Didst thou confer on them the Dignity of Causality by thy goodness that I should cast upon them the indignity of contumacy by my undutifulness Can I indeed truly honour thee the Principal and dishonour thy Church the instrumental cause of my salvation Thou laid'st thine hand upon me to make me but thou laid'st thine heart upon me to save me O make me wholly to fix my heart upon thee my Saviour and upon thy salvation Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book were all my members written wstilst thou madest my Body But thine eyes would not see my sinfulness nor my imperfections and thou didst blot all my transgressions out of thy Book that thou mightst save my soul Therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels unto me O God Psalm 139. 17. Dear are thy counsels about my Creation much dearer are thy counsels about my Redemption Counsels they were till thou wert pleased to reveal them by thy Church Since therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels I beseech thee suffer me not to say How cheap is thy Counsellor SECT II. The Churches Trust concerning Religion is to see there be right Preaching Praying and Administring the holy Sacraments That preaching belongs rather to the knowledge then to the worship of God and ought not to thrust out Praying which is the chiefest act of Gods worship and most regarded by him especially when many pray in one communion CHristian Religion teacheth us to know and worship God as is agreeable to his Glory and profitable for our salvation So that the Churches trust concerning the Christian Religion is reducible to these two heads the knowledge and the worship of God And because the Church is trusted with the
mente super Altare offero quam in primo publico consistorio solenniter repetam Concil Basil sess 40. I made this digression only to shew That unless the Holy Scriptures be taken for the foundation of our faith we are like to have none For a general Council is not this foundation saith Bellarmine The Pope is not say these two Councils and the Pope himself swears on their side So Bellarmine defines against the Councils the Councils define against the Pope and the Pope not only defines but also swears against himself And we conceive that Saint Paul defined against them all when he said He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 31. and again That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 5. T is only Gods truth which can be the foundation of our faith whether propounded by the Scriptures or by the Church as saith Aquinas Formale objectum Fidei est veritas prima secundum quod manifestatur in Scripturis sacris Doctrina Ecclesiae quae procedit ex veritate prima The formal object of faith is the first truth according as it is manifested in the holy Scriptures and in the doctrine of the Church which proceedeth from the first truth He is willing to take in the Church but he is not willing to leave out the Scriptures nay indeed he preferreth the Scriptures above the Church in the manifestation of Gods truth when he saith Doctrina Ecclesiae quae procedit ex veritate prima in Scripturis sacris manifestata 22ae qu. 5. art 3. c. The Doctrine of the Church which proceedeth from the first truth manifested in the holy Scriptures So that according to Aquinas Gods truth first cometh to the Scriptures from them to the Church That truth the Scriptures propound to the Church by way of definition That same truth the Church propoundeth to us by way of declaration Shall we think the declaration may overthrow the definition of truth or the Church may overthrow the Scripture This were in effect to allow that we as Christians do glory in men more then in God and that our faith in Christ doth more stand in the wisdom of man then in the power of God Such a foundation of faith as this which relyes upon man is laid upon the sand or upon grass For all flesh is grass But the foundation of faith which relyes upon the Scriptures is laid upon a Rock The word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you 1 Pet. 1. 24 25. This foundation which is laid upon Gods word is as firm and as infallible as God himself for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2. Tim. 3. 16. And this is the foundation of our faith not as Protestants but as Christians we vindicate it as Protestants but we hold it as Christians For no Christian Church or Council did lay any other foundation of faith before that unhappy Council of Trent which began not till the year of our Lord 1545. and ended not till the year 1563. All the cavils that have been raised against the holy Scriptures have been raised since that time to the great dishonour of Christ the great disturbance of Christendom the great discontent of good Christians the great disadvantage of the Christian Faith For the foundation cannot possibly give that firmness to the building which is not in it self therefore there cannot be a greater disadvantage to the Christian Faith then to ground it upon an infirm and an unsure foundation And such a foundation is the word of man instead of the word of God For he that believeth the most Divine truths only upon humane authority can have but an humane an infirm an uncertain Faith Therefore Divine truths must be believed upon Divine authority that we may have a Divine faith concerning them For t is absurd in Reason impious in Religion to have but a humane faith of Divine Truths because the habit and act are infinitely unproportionable to the Object For there may be a twofold errour in our faith the one materially when we believe what God hath not revealed And so they only are erroneous in the faith who believe falsities or uncertainties The other formally when we believe what God hath revealed but not upon the authority of his revelation and so they also may be erroneous in the faith who believe the most sure and certain Truths The ready way to avoid both these errors is to take the written word of God for the foundation of our faith wherein we are sure to meet with Gods truth or verity for the matter of our belief and with Gods Authority or Testimony for the cause of our believing And since our Church teacheth this and no other faith no man can say she is guilty of Heresie that will not make himself guilty of Blasphemy For the Communion of our Church is free from Heresie not only Materially in that she believes no untruths or uncertainties but also Formally in that she believeth Gods truths upon Gods own authority So that to call such a faith Heresie which is wholly of God and through God must needs be blasphemy For my part I confess that I do not see how I can be sufficiently thankful to God for making me a member of such a Communion and therefore am sure I cannot be too zealous for it nor too constant in it A Communion which neither hath Heresie in the Doctrine of faith nor the cause of Heresie in the foundation of faith And truly to be rid of Heresie in its self and in its cause are both very great blessing but yet the latter is the greater of the two For a true reason of believing which rids us from Heresie in its cause may partly excuse even a falsity in the belief when a man believes what is not true because he thinks God hath revealed it But a false reason of believing can scarce justifie a truth in the belief when a man believes what is true but not upon the authority of Gods revelation The one desires to be a true believer in a false article the other resolves to be a false believer in a true article of faith The one in the cause of his faith believes the truth whilst in the doctrine of it he believes an errour the other in the cause of his faith believes an errour for every man is a lyar and may suggest a lye whilst in the Doctrine of it he believes a truth the one in the uprightness of his heart cleaves to God when in his mouth he departs from him the other in the perversness of his heart departs from God when in his lips he draws neer unto him The uprightness of heart makes the one a true man in his errour as S. Cyprian in his false Tenent of rebaptiz ation the perversness of heart makes the other a false man in his truth as
Tertullian in any true doctrine which he maintained after he attributed more to Montanus then to the Holy Ghost A faith which is unsound in its Doctrine but sound in its foundation is so explicitely false in its profession as that t is implicitely true in its affection and the truth which is in its affection may recover must restrain the untruth which is in its profession So that such a man may say with Saint Augustine Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo I may be erroneous I will not be an Heretick but a faith which is unsound in its foundation though it be sound in Doctrine is so explicitely true in its profession as that t is implicitely false in its affection the falseness which is in its affection may destroy must diminish the truth which is in its profession so that we may justly say of such a man he may not be erroneous and yet he must be an Heretick because he believes truth not upon the authority of the first truth but upon that authority which may teach him a lye instead of truth that is upon that authority which is not in fallible and therefore must beget in him a fallible may beget in him a false faith SECT III. That the communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in devotion free from impiety either by corrupt Invocation or Adoration THE choice as well as the Duty of Religion being enjoined in the three first commandments concerning its internal acts in the first concerning its external reverence in the second concerning its external profession in the third and the choice as well as the Duty of communion being enjoyned in the fourth Commandment t is evident that every man is bound first to make choice of his Religion then of his Communion first to make sure that his worship of God be true and right before he communicate in the publick exercise of that worship This is the Method Saint Paul commended in the Macedonians and therefore commandeth in us saying They first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God 2 Cor. 8. 5. They gave themselves first to the Lord in the choice of their Religion then to us his Church in the choice of their Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Chrysostome fulfilling the Laws of God and also by charity being linked and joyned to us So that in his gloss the faith is before the charity the Law of Religion before the bond of Communion And so he explaineth these words by the will of God to shew they gave themselves unto him not for his own sake but for Gods sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They gave themselves to us not through any humane affection but for the Divine command therein following Gods will not their own If this were the Method they observed in giving of their substance then much more in giving of their souls they gave themselves first to God then to his Church so must we And consequently we must be sure the Communion of our Church is truly Christian in devotion as well as in Doctrine that we may give our selves to our Church and conscionably joyn in her Communion And when we are sure of this we must give our selves to our Church and to her Communion by the will of God For it is the will of God that we should keep his Commandments in that order which he hath given them and consequently nothing but the apparent breach of the three first Commandments concerning Religion can enervate the obligation of the fourth concerning Communion or of the fifth concerning Obedience And I am clearly bound to my Church both by the fourth Commandment to embrace her Communion and by the fifth Commandment to obey her authority unless I can prove that she hath disobeyed God in setting up a false Religion against the three first Commandments For truly there can scarce be a false or superstitious publick worship without the united breach of all the three first Commandments for what prayer is against the first Commandment in the Object invocated is against the second Commandment in the gesture accompanying against the third in the words expressing that invocation For as with the heart man believeth according to the first so with the body man worshippeth according to the second and with the tongue man confesseth according to the third Commandment Wherefore if the faith be false the adoration and the confession cannot be true As for example in that prayer to the blessed Virgin Tuspes certa miserorum Verè mater orphanorum Tu levamen oppressorum medicamen infirmorum Omnibus es Omnia Te rogamus voto pari laude digna singulari ut errantes in hoc mari nos in portu salutari Tâ—asistat gratia Amen Sequentia in conceptione B. Mariae There is a false faith in believing that of the blessed Virgin which is true only of God particularly that she is all in all which the Apostle peculiarly saith of God 1 Cor. 15. 28. and reason it self bids us say of him only for what is it to be all in all but to be wisdom righteousness sanctification redemption and salvation which are the immediate effects or effluencies and emanations of omnisciency omnipotency and al-sufficiency And as there is in this superstitious prayer a false faith against the first so there is also a false adoration against the second a false profession against the third Commandment and we can do no less in right to Religion then charge such prayers as these both with idolatry and with blasphemy and till those that use them can justifie their Religion and t is palpable from their very composures such prayers have been of no long use in the Church they cannot in justice claim our Communion Therefore it is a singular blessing which we enjoy that we have no other object of our publick prayers but God alone in whom we may must believe as our Almighty Creator and Al-merciful Saviour for there is no other way to keep us from idolatry and from blasphemy in praying since the Apostles question is so propounded as to be declared unanswerable How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed Rom. 10. 14. Where it is evident that faith is made the only ground of invocation and consequently since we can believe only in God we ought to pray only to God For when the Apostle speaks only of God saying The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed t is rather for Sophisters then for Divines to bring in the Saints as his fellow-sharers either in the faith or in the invocation unless we could also bring them in to be his fellow-sharers in the Lordship for because men have faith in God as Lord over all and as rich unto all that call upon him that is because