name otherwise he unworthily usurpeth to be just merciful temperate humble meek patient charitable to get the habits and to exercise the acts of these and all other holy graces and vertues Nay more the Gospel imposeth upon us some moral strictness which the Stoicks themselves or whoever else were the most rigid Masters of morality never so much as thought of Nay yet more it exalteth the Moral Law of God himself given by Moses to the people of Israel to a higher pitch then they at least as they commonly understood the Law took themselves thereby obliged unto That a man should forsake all his dearest friends yea and deny his own dearest self too for Christs sake and yet for Christs sake at the same time love his deadliest enemies That he should take up his Cross and if need were lay down his life not only for his great master but even for the meanest of his fellow-servants too That he should exult with joy and abound in hope in the midst of tribulations of persecutions of death it self Surely the Mystery that driveth at all this must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest degree the great mystery of godliness That for the scope 27. Look now secondly at the parts and parcels the several pieces as it were whereof this mystery is made up those mentioned in this verse and the rest and you shall finde that from each of them severally but how much more then from them altogether joyntly may be deduced sundry strong motives and perswasives unto Godliness Take the material parts of this Mystery the Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Baptisme Temptation Preaching Life Death Buriall Resurrection Ascension Intercession and Second coming of Christ. Or take if I may so call them the formal parts thereof our eternal Election before the world was our Vocation by the preaching of the Gospel our Iustification by Faith in the merits of Christ our Sanctification by the Spirit of grace the stedfast promises we have and hopes of future Glory and the rest It would be too long to vouch texts for each particular but this I say of them all in general there is not one linke in either of those two golden chains which doth not straightly tye up our hands tongues and hearts from doing evil draw us up effectually unto God and Christ and strongly oblige us to shew forth the power of his grace upon our soules by expressing the power of Godliness in our lives and conversations That for the Parts 28. Thirdly Christian Religion may be called the mystery of Godliness in regard of its Conservation because Godliness is the best preserver of Christianity Rootes and Fruits and Herbs which let alone and left to themselves would soon corrupt and putrifie may being well condited with sugar by a skilful Confectioner be preserved to continue for many years and be serviceable all the while So the best and surest means to preserve Christianity in its proper integrity and power from corrupting into Atheisme or Heresie is to season it well with Grace as we do fresh meats with salt to keep them sweet and to be sure to keep the Conscience upright Holding the mysteries of Faith in a pure Conscience saith our Apostle a little after at ver 9. of this Chapter and in the first Chapter of this Epistle ver 19. Holding faith and a good Conscience which later some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack Apostacy from the faith springeth most an end from Apostacy in manners And he that hath but a very little care how he liveth can have no very fast hold of what he beleeveth For when men grow once regardless of their Consciences good affections will soon languish and then will noysome lusts gather strength and cast up mud into the soule that the judgement cannot run clear Seldome is the head right where the heart is amiss A rotten heart will be ever and anon sending up evil thoughts into the minde as marish and fenny grounds do foggy mists into the aire that both darken and corrupt it As a mans tast when some malignant humour affecteth the organ savoureth nothing aright but deemeth sweet things bitter and sowre things pleasant So where avarice ambition malice voluptuousness vain-glory sedition or any other dominering lust hath made it self master of the heart it will so blinde and corrupt the judgement that it shall not be able to discern at any certainty good from evil or truth from falshood Wholsome therefore is S. Peters advice to add unto Faith Vertue Vertue will not only keep it in life but at such a height of vigour also that it shall not easily either degenerate into Heresie or languish into Atheisme 29. We see now 3. Reasons for which the doctrine of Christianity may be called The mystery of Godliness because it first exacteth Godliness and secondly exciteth unto Godliness and is thirdly best preserved by Godliness From these premises I shall desire for our neerer instruction to infer but two things only the one for the triall of Doctrines the other for the bettering of our lives For the first S. Iohn would not have us over forward to beleeve every spirit Every spirit doth he say Truly it is impossible we should unles we should beleeve flat contradictions Whilest one Spirit saith It is another spirit saith It is not can a man beleeve the one and not disbeleeve the other if he hear both Beleeve not every spirit then is as much in S. Iohns meaning as if he had said Be not too hasty to beleeve any spirit especially where there appeareth some just cause of suspicion but try it first whether it be a true spirit or a false Even as S. Paul biddeth us prove all things that having so done we may hold fast what upon triall proveth good and let the rest goe 30. Now holy Scripture is certainly that Lapis Lydius that Test whereby this trial is to be made Ad legem ad testimonium when we have wrangled as long as we can hitherto we must come at last But sith all Sectaries pretend to Scripture Papists Anabaptists Disciplinarians All yea the Divel himself can vouch Text to drive on a Temptation It were good therefore we knew how to make right application of Scripture for the Trial of Doctrines that we do not mistake a false one for a true one Many profitable Rules for this purpose our Apostle affordeth us in sundry places One very good one we may gather from the words immediately before the Text wherein the Church of God is said to be the pillar and ground of truth The collection thence is obvious that it would very much conduce to the guiding of our judgements aright in the examining of mens doctrines concerning either Faith or Manners wherein the letter of Scripture is obscure or the meaning doubtful to informe our selves as well as we can in credendis what the received sense and in agendis what the constant usage and
any thing proposed to debate under any name or notion What doth that name or word import To presume then in the common use and notion of the word with us importeth ever a kinde of confidence or boldness in the Presumer And it may be taken either in a good or in a bad sense but more usually in the bad as by reason of common abuses most other indifferent words are He that hath a fast friend that he thinketh will support him will sometimes adventure upon an undertaking which he is not able to go through with all alone nor durst undergo if he had not such a friend to rely upon When a man doth so we say he presumeth upon that friend that is he is confident that friend will not fail to assist him therein to his utmost power Now if a man be bold to do but what he may and should do and that withall he have some good ground for his confidence from the consideration of his friends ability the experience of his love some former promises on his friends or merit on his own part or other like so as every man would be ready to say he had reason to presume so far of his friend this is a good reasonable and warrantable presumption But if he fail in either respect as if he presume either to do unlawful unworthy or unbefitting things or to do even lawful things when there appeareth no great cause why any man should think his friend obliged by the laws of friendship to assist him therein then is such his presumption a faulty and an evil presumption And whatsoever may bear the name of a Presumptuous sin in any respect is some way or other tainted with such an evil irrational presumption 9. But we are further to note that presumption in the worser sense and as applied to sin may be taken either Materially or Formally If these termes seem obscure with a little opening I hope the difference between these two will be easily understood Taken materially the sin of Presumption is a speciall kinde of sin distinguished from other species of sins by its proper Object or Matter when the very matter wherein we sin and wherby we offend God is Presumption and so it is a branch of Pride When a man presuming either upon his own strength or upon Gods assisting him undertaketh to do something of himself not having in himself by the ordinary course of nature and the common aid which God affoordeth to the actions of his creatures in the ordinary wayes of his providence sufficient strength to go through therewithall or expecteth to receive some extraordinary assistance from the Mercy Power c. of God not having any sufficient ground either from the general promises conteined in the Scriptures or by particular immediate revelation that God will certainly so assist him therein 10. All those men that over-value themselves or out of an overweening conceit of their own abilities attempt things beyond their power That lean to their own understandings as Solomon That minde high things and are wise in their own conceits as St Paul That exercise themselves in great matters and such as are too high for them as David expresseth it All those that perswade themselves they can persist in a holy course without a continual supply of Grace or that think they can continue in their sins so long as they think good and then repent of them and forsake them at their leasure whensoever they list or that doubt not but to be able by their own strength to stand out against any temptation All these I say and all other like by presuming too much upon themselves are guilty of the sin of Presumption To omit the Poëts who have set forth the folly of this kind of Presumption in the Fables of Phaethon and Icarus A notable example we have of it in the Apostle Peter and therein a fair warning for others not to be high minded but to fear who in the great confidence of his own strength could not believe his Master though he knew him to be the God of truth when he foretold him he would yield but still protested that if all the world should forsake him yet he would never do it 11. Nor onely may a man offend in this kinde by presuming upon himself too much but also by presuming even upon God himself without warrant He that repenteth truly of his sins presuming of Gods mercy in the forgiveness thereof or that walketh uprightly and conscionably in the wayes of his calling presuming of Gods Power for his protection therein sinneth not in so presuming Such a presumption is a fruit of Faith and a good presumption because it hath a sure ground a double sure ground for failing first in the Nature and then in the Promise of God As a man may with good reason presume upon his friend that he will not be wanting to him in any good office that by the just Laws of true friendship one friend ought to doe for another But as he presumeth too much upon his friend that careth not into what desperate exigents and dangers he casteth himself in hope his friend will perpetually redeem him and relieve him at every turne So who ever trusteth to the Mercy or to the Power of God without the warrant of a promise presumeth farther then he hath cause and though he may flatter himself and call it by some better name as Faith or Hope or Affiance in God yet is it in truth no better then a groundless and a wicked Presumption Such was the presumption of those Sons of Sceva who took upon them but to their shame and sorrow to call over them that had evil spirits the name of the Lord Iesus in a form of adjuration Acts 19. when they had no calling or warrant from God so to do And all those men that going on in a wretched course of life do yet hope they shall finde mercy at the houre of death All those that cast themselves into unnecessary either dangers or temptations with expectance that God should manifest his extraordinary Power in their preservation All those that promise to themselves the End without applying themselves to the Means that God hath appointed thereunto as to have Learning without Study Wealth without Industry comfort from children without carefull education c. for as much as they presume upon Gods help without sufficient warrant are guilty of the Sin of Presumption taken in the former notion and Materially 12. But I conceive the Presumptuous sins here in the Text to belong clearly to the other notion of the word Presumption taken formally and as it importeth not a distinct kinde of sin in it self as that Groundless Presumption whereof we have hitherto spoken doth but a common accidentall difference that may adhere to sins of any kinde even as Ignorance and Infirmity whereunto it is opposed also may Theft and Murther which are sins of speciall kinds distinguished either from
sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up The sinner possibly may gather as much together as the godly or more and raise to himself more and greater heaps of worldly treasure but when he hath done he hath but his travel for his pains He hath not wisdom and knowledge to understand the just valuation and the right use of that which he hath gathered together he taketh no joy he taketh no comfort in those heaps he findeth nothing in them but cares and disquietness and vexation of spirit All his dayes are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night It is not thefore without cause that our Apostle so speaketh of contentment as of the handmaid unto godliness But godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 4. The truth whereof will yet farther appear unto us if we shall consider of these two grounds First that in all other things there is an unsufficiency and Secondly that there is a sufficiency in the grace of God to work Contentment We cannot conceive any other things besides the Grace of God from which Contentment can be supposed to spring but those three Nature Morality and Outward things All which in the triall will appear to be altogether insufficient to work this effect First Nature as it is now corrupt inclineth our hearts and affections strongly to the world the inordinate love whereof first breedeth and then cherisheth our discontent Whiles between the desire of having and the feare of wanting we continually pierce our selves thorough with a thousand cares and sorrows Our lusts are vast as the sea and restless as the sea and as the sea will not be bounded but by an almighty power The horseleach hath but two daughters but we have I know not how many craving lusts no less importunately clamorous then they Till they be served incessantly crying Give Give but much more unsatisfied then they for they will be filled in time and when they are full they tumble off and ther 's an end But our lusts will never be satisfied like Pharaohs thin kine when they have eaten up all the fat ones they are still as hungry and as whining as they were before We are by nature infinitely covetous we never think our selves rich enough but still wish more and we are by nature infinitely timerous we never think our selves safe enough but still feare want Neither of both which alone much less both together can stand with true Contentment This flower then groweth not in the garden of corrupt Nature which is so rankly over-grown with so many and such pestilent and noysome weeds 5. But perhaps the soyle may be so improved by the culture of Philosophy and the malignity of it so corrected by moral institution as that Contentment may grow and thrive in it No that will not do the deed neither True it is that there are to be found in the writings of heathen Orators Poets and Philosophers many excellent and acute sentences and precepts tending this way and very worthy to be taken notice of by us Christians both to our wonder and shame To our wonder that they would espy so much light as they did at so little a peep-hool but to our shame withall who enjoying the benefit of divine revelation and living in the open sun-shine of the glorious Gospel of truth have profited thereby in so small a proportion beyond them But all their sentences and precepts fall short of the mark they could never reach that solid Contentment they levelled at Sunt verba voces as he said and he said truer then he was aware of for they are but words indeed empty of truth and reality The shadow of contentment they might catch at but when they came to grasp the substance Nubem pro Iunone they ever found themselves deluded As the blinded Sodomites that beset Lots house they fumbled about the door perhaps sometimes stumbled at the threshold but could not for their lives either finde or make themselves a way into the inner rooms The greatest Contentments their speculations could perform unto them were but aegri somnia Not a calm and soft sleep like that which our God giveth his beloved ones but as the slumbring dreams of a sick man very short and those also interrupted with a medley of cross and confused fancies Which possibly may be some small refreshing to them amid their long weary fits but cannot well be called Rest. Now the very true reason of this unsufficiency in whatsoever precepts of Morality unto true Contentment is because the topicks from whence they draw their perswasions are of too flat and low an elevation As being taken from the dignity of man from the baseness of outward things from the mutability of fortune from the shortness and uncertainty of life and such like other considerations as come within their own spear Vseful indeed in their kind but unable to bear such a pile and roof as they would build thereupon But as for the true grounds of sound Contentment which are the perswasions of the special providence of God over his children as of a wise and Loving father whereby he disposeth all things unto them for the best and a lively faith resting upon the rich and precious promises of God revealed in his holy word they were things quite out of their element and such as they were wholly ignorant of And therefore no marvel if they were so far to seek in this high and holy learning 6. But might there not in the third place be shaped at least might there not be imagined a fitness and competency of outward things in such a mediocrity of proportion every way unto a mans hopes and desires as that contentment would arise from it of it self and that the party could not chuse but rest satisfied therewithall Nothing less For first experience sheweth us that contentment ariseth not from the things but from the minde even by this that discontents take both soonest and sorest of the greatest and wealthiest men Which would not be if greatness or wealth were the main things required to breed Contentment Secondly those men that could not frame their hearts to contentment when they had less will be as far from it if ever they shall have more For their desires and the things will still keep at a distance because as the things come on so their desires come on too As in a coach though it hurry away never so fast yet the hinder wheeles will still be behind the former as much as they were before And therefore our Apostle in the next verse maketh it a point of equall skill and of like deep learning to know how to be full as well as how to be hungry and how to abound as well as how to suffer need Thirdly it is impossible that Contentment should arise from the things because contentment supposeth a sufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supposeth to 〈◊〉
charitable toward the Strong both Weak and Strong more patient and moderate and more respective either of other in all brotherly mutual condescensions 35. It is our fault too most an end We are partial to those on that side we take to beyond all reason ready to justifie those enterprises of theirs that look very suspiciously and to excuse or at least to extenuate their most palpable excesses and as ready on the other side to misconstrue the most justifiable actions of the adverse part but to aggravate to the utmost their smallest and most pardonable aberrations Thus do we sometimes both at once either of which alone is an abomination to the Lord justifie the guilty and condemn the innocent Whilest partial affections corrupt our judgments and will not suffer us to look upon the actions of our brethren with an equal and indifferent eye But let us beware of it by all means for so long as we give our selves to be carried away with partialities and prejudices we shall never rightly perform our duties either to God or man That therefore the agreement may be as it ought to be we must resolve to be patient not towards some but towards all men 1 Thes. 5. to be gentle not unto some but unto all men 2 Tim. 2. to shew all meekness not to some but to all men Titus 3.2 The concord should be Vniversal 36. It should likewise be Mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth that also either part being ready for charity sake to contemperate and accommodate themselves to other so far as reason requireth But herein also as in the former mens corrupt partiality bewraieth it self extremely The strong Romans like enough could discern a censorious spirit in the weaker one and the weak ones perhaps as easily a disdainful spirit in them But neither of both it is to be doubted were willing enough to look into the other end of the wallet and to examine throughly their own spirits We use to say If every man would mend one all would be well Ey would How cometh it to pass then that all hath not been well even long ago For where is the man that is not ready to mend one One said I yea ten yea a hundred why here it is every man would be mending one but not the right one He would be mending his brother but he will not mend himself Vt nemo in sese tentat descendere O saith the strong we should soon agree but that he is so censorious and yet himself flouteth as freely as ever he did We should hit it very well saith the weak were not he so scornful and yet himself judgeth as deeply as ever he did Oh the falsness and hypocrisie of mens hearts blinded with self-love how it abuseth them with strong delusions and so filleth the world with divisions and offences 37. For this our blessed Saviour who hath best discovered the malady hath also prescribed the best remedy The disease is Hypocrisie The Symptomes are One to be cat-eyed outward in readily espying somewhat the smallest moat cannot escape in a brothers eye another to be bat-eyed inward in not perceiving be it never so great a beam in a mans own eye a third a forwardness to be tampering with his brothers eye and offering his service to help him out with the moat there before he think a thought of doing any thing towards the clearing of his own eye The Remedy is to begin at home do but put the things into their right order and the business is done Tu conversus confirma fratres Strengthen thy brethren what thou canst it is a good office and would not be neglected But there is something more needful to be done then that and to be done first and before that and which if it be first done thou wilt be able to do that much the better then shalt thou see clearly and that is to reform thy self be sure first thy self be converted and then in Gods name deal with thy weak brother as thou seest cause and strengthen him 38. Let them that are so forward to censure the actions of others especially of their Superious and are ever and anon complaining how ill things are carried above but never take notice of their own frauds and oppressions and sacriledges and insolencies and peevishnesses and other enormities let them turn their eye homeward another while observe how their own pulses beat and go learn what that is Thou hypocrite cast out first the beam out of thine own eye We deal not like Christians no nor like reasonable men if we expect all men should come to our bent in every thing and we our selves not relent from our own stiffness in the least matter for their sakes Believe it we shall never grow to Christian Vnanimity in any tolerable measure so long as every man seeks but to please himself only in following his own liking and is not desirous withall according to our Apostles exhortation verse 2. to please his neighbour also by condescending to his desires where it may be for his good in any thing that is not either unlawfull or unreasonable The inclinations to agreement should be mutual that so we might be like-minded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 49. And then all this must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the other qualification in the Text and now only remaineth to be spoken of According to Christ Iesus Which last clause is capable of a double interpretation pertinent to the scope of the Text and useful for our direction in point of practise both and therefore neither of both to be rejected Some understand it as a Limitation of that Vnity which was prayed for in the former words and not unfitly For lest it should be conceived that all the Apostle desired in their behalf was that they should be like-minded one towards another howsoever he might intend by the addition of this clause to shew that it was not such an Vnity as he desired unless it were according to Truth and Godliness in Christ Jesus There may be an agreement in falso when men hold together for the maintenance of one and the same Common Error Such as is the agreement of Hereticks of Schismaticks of Sectaries among themselves And there may be an agreement in malo when men combine together in a confederacy for the compassing of some mischievous designe as did those forty and odde that bound themselves with a curse to destroy Paul Such is the agreement of Theeves of Cheaters of Rebels among themselves Such agreements as these no man ought to pray for indeed no man need to pray for The wisdom of the flesh and cunning of the Devil will bring men on fast enough to those cursed agreements without which he and his know well enough his kingdom cannot stand The servants of God have rather bent themselves evermore by their prayers and endeavours to dissolve the glue
and his discourse therein may serve as a Commentary upon a good part of this Text. I therefore commend it to your private meditation and you and what you have heard to the good blessing of Almighty God and that with St Pauls votive prayer or benediction here for I know not where to fetch a better Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus That you may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. To whom c. AD AULAM. Sermon IX BARWICK JULY 1639. 1 Tim. 3.16 And without all Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness 1. THe Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons ' being one of the principal acts of the Episcopal power our Apostle therefore instructeth Timothy whom he had ordained Bishop of Ephesus the famous Metropolis of that part of Asia somewhat fully what he was to do in that so weighty an affaire What manner of persons and how qualified he should assume in partem curae to assist him in his pastoral charge for the service of Gods Church and the propagation of the Gospel Which having done at large from the beginning of the Chapter unto the end of verse 13. he rendereth a reason at verse 14. why he had insisted so long upon upon that argument even lest the Church of God in his absence should be destitute of sufficient help for the work of the Gospel At Ephesus the hand of God had opened a wide dore 1 Cor. 16. but withall Satan as his manner is had stirred up many adversaries and some of them very wilde ones more like savage beasts then men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word for it 1 Cor. 15. It was at Ephesus that he fought with beasts in the shape of men Witness Demetrius the silver-smith and that Bellua multorum capitum the mad giddy multitude in a tumultuous assembly all in an uprore and no man well wist for what Act. 19. Here was work enough to be done The doore must be held open to let converts in but it must be well mann'd and maintaind too to keep adversaries out All this not to be done but with many hands The harvest being great the labourers had not need be few 2. The only thing that might perhaps make Timothy put off Ordination somewhat the longer might be the expectation of the Apostles coming to whom he might think fit to reserve that honour as to one able by reason of his Apostolick spirit to make choice of meet persons for the Churches service with better certainty then himself could do The Apostle therefore telleth him for that That true it is he had an earnest desire of a long time and still had a full purpose if God would to be with him ere long Yet because of the uncertainty of future events that was not a thing for him to rely upon so as in expectance thereof to delay the doing of any service needful for the Church of Christ. For who could tell how it might please God to dispose of him Or whether the necessities of other Churches might not require his personal presence and pains rather elsewhere He would not therefore he should stay for him but go in hand with it himself with all convenient care and speed All this appeareth in the 2 verses next before the Text These things wrote I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly But if I tarry long that yet thou mayest know how to behave thy self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of Truth 3. This seemeth to be the Scope and Contexture of the whole foregoing part of the Chapter and then immediately fall in the words of the Text And without all cantroversie great is the mystery of Godliness c. Which seem to have but a very slender dependance upon the foregoing discourse and indeed no more they have For the Apostle having in the end of the fifteenth verse and that but incidentally neither mentioned the word Truth he thereupon taketh occasion in this sixteenth verse a little and briefly to touch upon the Nature and Substance of that holy Truth The whole verse containeth Evangelij Encomium Compendium A brief description of the Nature in the former part and a brief summary of the Doctrine of the Gospel in some remarkable heads thereof in the later part of the verse 4. With that later I shall not now meddle In that former part we may observe Quid Quantum and Quale First Quid what is Christianity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a mystery But there are greater and there are lesser Mysteries Quantum therefore Of the bigger sort sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Great Mystery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by all confessions and without all contradiction or controversy Great But the greater the worse if it be not good as well as great Quale therefore What a kinde of Mystery is it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a Mystery of Piety or Godliness CHRISTIANITY IS THE GREAT MYSTERY OF GODLINES◠That is the total Now to the Parts and first of the Quid The Gospel a Mystery But then first What is a Mystery for the Quid Nominis and then why the Gospel a Mystery for the Quid Rei The Word first then the Thing 5. For the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I finde sundry conceipts ready collected to my hand by learned man out of the writings of the Greek Fathers and out of the commentaries of Grammarians and Criticks both ancient and modern whereof I spare the recital because it would neither much conduce to my present purpose nor profit the present auditory The word is clearly of a Greek original from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shut the eye or mouth Of all the mysterious rites used among the Heathen the Eleusinia sacra were the most ceremonious and mysterious in so much as that when in their writings the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used by it self without any farther specification it is ordinarily conceived to be meant of those Eleusinian mysteries These none might be present at but they that were solemnly initiated thereunto who upon their first admission which yet was but to the outer and lesser mysteries were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if after a sufficient time of probation a twelvemoneth was the least they were adjudged meet to be admitted to the greater and more secret mysteries they were then called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereto there seemeth to be some allusion as there is frequently to sundry other customes and usages of the Heathens even in the holy scriptures themselves But whether they were admitted to their lesser or the greater mysteries strait order was evermore taken with them by Oaths Penalties and otherwise as strong as could be devised that they should by no means reveal
it nor benefit to them from it but yet by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God who most wisely and powerfully ordered all those various and vitious motions of the creature for the effectuating of his own most glorious and gracious purposes That is one Reason 10. Secondly we use to call all such things Mysteries as cannot possibly come to our knowledge unless they be some way or other revealed unto us whether they have or have not otherwise any great difficulty in them Nebuchadnezzars dream is so called a Mystery Dan. 2. And S. Paul in one place speaking of the conversion of the Iews calleth it a Mystery I would not Brethren that you should be ignorant of this Mystery Rom. 11. and in another place speaking of the change of those that should be found alive at Christs second coming calleth that a Mystery too Behold I shew you a Mystery we shall not all dye c. 1 Cor. 15. In this notion also is the Gospel a Mystery it being utterly impossible that any wit of man by the light of Nature or strength of humane discourse should have been able to have found out that way which Almighty God hath appointed for our salvation if it had not pleased him to have made it known to the world by supernatural revelation The wisest Philosophers and learnedst Rabbies nor did nor could ever have dreamt of any such thing till God revealed it to his Church by his Prophets and Apostles This mystery was hid from ages and from generations nor did any of the Princes of this world know it in any of those ages or generations as it is now made manifest to us since God revealed it to us by his spirit as our Apostle elsewhere speaketh 11. The Philosophers indeed saw a little dimly some of those truths that are more cleerly revealed to us in the Scriptures They found in all men a great proclivity to Evil and an indisposition to Good but knew nothing at all either of the true Causes or of the right remedies thereof Some apprehensions also they had of a Deity of the Creation of the world of a divine providence of the immortality of the soule of a final retribution to be awarded to all men by a divine justice according to the merit of their works and some other truths But those more high and mysterious points especially those two that of the Trinity of persons in the Godhead and that of the Incarnation of the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers use to call them together with those appendices of the later the Redemption of the world the Iustification of a sinner the Resurrection of the body and the beatifical Vision of God and Christ in the kingdom of Heaven not the least thought of any of these deep things of God ever came within them God not having revealed the same unto them 12. It is no thanks then to us that very children among us do believe and confess these high mysterious points whereof Plato and Aristotle and all the other grand Sophies among them were ignorant since we owe our whole knowledg herein not to our own natural sagacity or industry wherein they were beyond most of us but to divine and supernatural revelation For flesh and bloud hath not revealed them unto us but our Father which is in heaven We see what they saw not not because our eyes are better then theirs but because God hath vouchsafed to us a better light then he did to them Which being an act of special grace ought therefore to be acknowledged with special thankfulness Our Saviour hath given us the example I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11.25 13. Truly much cause we have to bless the holy Name of God that he hath given us to be born of Christian parents and to be bred up in the bosome of the Christian Church where we have been initiated into these sacred mysteries being catechised and instructed in the doctrine of the Gospel out of the holy Scriptures even from our very childhood as Timothy was But we are wretchedly unthankful to so good a God and extremely unworthy of so great a blessing if we murmur against our Governours and clamour against the Times because every thing is not point-vise just as we would have it or as we have fancied to our selves it should be Whereas were our hearts truly thankful although things should be really and in truth even ten times worse then now they are but in their conceit only yet so long as we may enjoy the Gospel in any though never so scant a measure and with any though never so hard conditions we should account it a benefit and mercy invaluable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St Paul esteemed it the very riches of the grace of God for he writeth According to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdome and prudence having made known to us the mysterie of his will Eph. 1. If he had not made it known to us we had never known it And that is the Second Reason why a Mystery 14. There is yet a Third even because we are not able perfectly to comprehend it now it is revealed And this Reason will fetch in the Quantum too For herein especially it is that this mysterie doth so far transcend all other mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great marvellous great Mysterie In the search whereof Reason finding it self at a loss is forced to give it over in the plain field and to cry out O altitudo as being unable to reach the unfathomed depth thereof We believe and know and that with fulness of assurance that all these things are so as they are revealed in the holy Scriptures because the mouth of God who is Truth it self and cannot lie hath spoken them and our own Reason upon this ground teacheth us to submit our selves and it to the obedience of Faith for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so it is But then for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nicodemus his question How can these things be it is no more possible for our weak understandings to comprehend that then it is for the eyes of bats or owles to look stedfastly upon the body of the Sun when he shineth forth in his greatest strength The very Angels those holy and heavenly spirits have a desire saith S. Peter it is but a desire not any perfect ability and that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither to peep a little into those incomprehensible mysteries and then cover their faces with their wings and peep again and cover again as being not able to endure the fulness of that glorious lustre that shineth therein 15. God hath revealed himself and his good pleasure towards us in his holy
Reason Only in Divinity great offence is taken at the multitude of Controversies wherein yet difference of opinions is by so much more tolerable then in other sciences by how much the things about which we are conversant are of a more sublime mysterious and incomprehensible nature then are those of other Sciences 21. Truly it would make a religious heart bleed to consider the many and great distractions that are all over the Christian world at this day The lamentable effects whereof scarce any part of Christendome but feeleth more or less either in open warrs or dangerous seditions or at the best in uncharitable censures and ungrounded jealousies Yet the infinite variety of mens dispositions inclinations and aimes considered together with the great obscurity that is in the things of God and the strength of corruption that is in us it is to be acknowledged the admirable work of God that these distractions are not even much more and greater and wider then they are and that amid so many sects as are in the world there should be yet such an universal concurrence of judgement as there is in the main fundamental points of the Christian Faith And if we were so wise as we might and should be to make the right use of it it would not stumble us awhit in the belief of our Religion that Christians differ so much as they do in many things but rather mightily confirme us in the assurances thereof that they agree so well as they do almost in any thing And it may be a great comfort to every well-meaning soule that the simple belief of those certain truths whereon all parties are in a manner agreed may be and ordinarily is sufficient for the salvation of all them who are sincerely careful according to that measure of light and means that hath vouchsafed them to actuate their Faith with piety charity and good works so making this great mystery to become unto them as it is in it self Mysterium pietatis a Mystery of Godliness Which is the last point proposed the Quale to which I now pass 22. As the corrupt doctrine of Antichrist is not only a doctrine of Error but of Impiety too called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mystery of Iniquity 2 Thes. 2. So the wholsome doctrine of Christ is not only a doctrine of Truth but of Piety too and is therefore termed here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mystery of Godliness Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Godliness since there appeareth not any great necessity in the Context to restrain it to that more peculiar sense wherein both the Greek and English word are sometimes used namely to signifie the right manner of Gods worship according to his word in opposition to all idolatrous superstitious or false worships practised among the Heathens I am the rather enclined to understand it here as many Interpreters have done in the fuller latitude as it comprehendeth the whole duty of a Christian man which he standeth bound by the command of God in his Law or of Christ in his Gospel to perform 23. Verum and Bonum We know are neer of kin the one to the other And the spirit of God who is both the author and the revealer of this mystery as he is the spirit of Truth Joh. 14. so is he also the spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. And it is part of his work to sanctifie the heart with grace as well as to enlighten the minde with knowledge Our Apostle therefore sometimes mentioneth Truth and Godliness together teaching us thereby that we should take them both into our care together If any man consent not to the words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the doctrine which is after Godlinesse 1 Tim. 6. And Tit. 1. according to the Faith of Gods elect and acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness And here in express termes The Mystery of Godliness And that most rightly whether we consider it in the Scope Parts or Conservation of it 24. First the general Scope and aime of Christianity is by the mercy of God founded on the merits of Christ to bring men on through Faith and Godliness to Salvation It was not in the purpose of God in publishing the Gospel and thereby freeing us from the personal obligation rigor and curse of the Law so to turne us loose and lawless to do whatsoever should seem good in our own eyes follow our own crooked wills or gratifie any corrupt lust but to oblige us rather the faster by these new benefits and to incite us the more effectually by Evangelical promises to the earnest study and pursuit of Godliness The Gospel though upon quite different grounds bindeth us yet to our good behaviour in every respect as deep as ever the Law did if not in some respects deeper allowing no liberty to the flesh for the fulfilling of the lusts thereof in any thing but exacting entire sanctity and purity both of inward affection and outward conversation in all those that embrace it The grace of God appearing in the revelation of this mysterie as it bringeth along with it an offer of salvation to all men so it teacheth all men that have any real purpose to lay hold on so gracious an offer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly and godlily in this present world 25. It is not to be wondred at if all false Religions give allowance to some ungodliness or other when the very gods whom they worship give such encouragements thereunto by their leud example The gods of the Pagans were renowned for nothing so much most of them as for their vices Mars a bloudy God Bacchus a drunken God Mercury a cheating God and so proportionably in their several kinds all the rest Their great capital God Iupiter guilty of almost all the capital vices And where the Gods are naught who can imagine the Religion should be good Their very mysteria sacra as they called them were so full of all wickedness and filthy abominations as was already in part touched but is fully discovered by Clemens Alexandrinus Lactantius Arnobius Tertullian and other of the Ancients of our religion that it was the wisest point in all their religion to take such strict order as they did for the keeping of them secret 26. But it is the honour and prerogative of the Christian Religion that it alone alloweth of no wickedness But as God himself is holy so he requireth an holy worship and holy worshippers He exacteth the mortification of all evill lusts and the sanctification of the whole man body soul and spirit and that in each of these throughout Every one that nameth himself from the name of Christ doth ipso facto by the very taking of that blessed name upon him and daring to stile himself Christian virtually binde himself to depart from all iniquity nor so only but to endeavour also after the example of him whose
his conclusions he is easily carried away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our Apostle elsewhere speaketh with vain words and empty arguments As S. Augustine said of Donatus Rationes arripuit he catcheth hold of some reasons as wranglers will catch at a small thing rather then yield from their opinions quas considerantes verisimiles esse potiùs quà m veras invenimus which saith he we found to have more shew of probability at the first appearance then substance of truth after they were well considered of And I dare say whosoever shall peruse with a judicious and unpartial eye most of those Pamphlets that in this daring age have been thrust into the World against the Ceremonies of the Church against Episcopal government to passe by things of lesser regard and usefulness and more open to exception and abuse yet so far as I can understand unjustly condemned as things utterly unlawful such as are lusorious lots dancing Stage-plays and some other things of like nature When he shall have drained out the bitter invectives unmannerly jeers petulant girding at those that are in authority impertinent digressions but above all those most bold and perverse wrestings of holy Scripture wherewith such books are infinitely stufft he shall finde that little poor remainder that is left behinde to contain nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vain words and empty arguments For when these great undertakers have snatcht up the bucklers as if they would make it good against all comers that such and such things are utterly unlawful and therefore ought in all reason and conscience to bring such proofs as will come up to that conclusion Quid dignum tanto very seldom shall you hear from them any other arguments then such as will conclude but an Inexpediency at the most As that they are apt to give scandal that they carry with them an appearance of evil that they are often occasions of sin that they are not commanded in the Word and such like Which Objections even where they are just are not of force no not taken altogether much lesse any of them singly to prove a thing to be utterly unlawful And yet are they glad many times rather then sit out to play very small game and to make use of Arguments yet weaker then these and such as will not reach so far as to prove a bare inexpediency As that they were invented by Heathens that they have been abused in Popery and other such like Which to my understanding is a very strong presumption that they have taken a very weak cause in hand and such as is wholly destitute of sound proof For if they had any better arguments think ye we should not be sure to hear of them 27. Marvel not therefore if I charge them with Ignorance although in their writings some of them may shew much variety of reading and other pieces of learning and knowledge For if their knowledge were even much more then it is yet if it should not hold pace with their zeal but suffer that to out-run it there should be still in them that disproportion that before I spake of and they might so far forth be ranked with those silly women our Apostle speaketh of for such disproportion is very incident to the weaker sex that are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth And this kinde of Ignorance is evermore very troublesome and hath been the raiser of most of those stirs that so much disquiet either whole Churches or particular congregations as the lame Horse ever raiseth the most dust and the faster he putteth on still the more dust Have you observed any men to be fuller of molestation in the places where they live then those that have been somewhat towards the Law or having some little smattering therein think themselves for that a great deal wiser then the rest of their neighbours Although such busie spirits for the most part make it appear to the World before they have done that they had but just so much Law as would serve them to vex their neighbours withal in the mean time and undo themselves in the end Zeal is a kinde of fire An excellent creature Fire as it may be used but yet may do a great deal of mischief too as it may be used as we use to say of it that it is a good servant but an ill Master A right zeal grounded upon certain knowledge and guided with godly discretion like fire on the hearth is very comfortable and serviceable but blinde or undiscreet zeal like fire in the thatch will soon set all the house in a combustion 28. So much for Ignorance the first great Fountain of Errour the other is Partiality And this is causa causarum much of that ignorance and ill-governed zeal from which so many other errours spring doth it self spring from this corrupt Fountain of Partiality Which maketh the Errour so much the worse and the judgement so much the more unrighteous For where an Errour proceedeth meerly from weakness though it cannot be therefore excused much lesse ought to be therefore cherished yet may it be even therefore pitied horum simplicitas miserabilis and the rather born with for a time But if it shall once appear that partiality runneth along with it or especially that it proceedeth from partiality this renders it odious both to God and man S. Paul therefore well knowing what mischiefs would come of it if Church-governours in the administration of their weighty callings should be swayed with partial affections either for or against any layeth a great charge upon Timothy whom he had ordained Bishop of Ephesus and that with a most deep and solemn obtostation by all means to beware of Partiality I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality 1 Tim. 5. 29. And reason good there being scarce any thing more directly contrarious to the rules of Charity Equity and Iustice then Partiality is as might be easily shewen if we had time for it And yet as unjust unequal and uncharitable as it is the world aboundeth with it for all that Not to instance in the writing of histories handling of Controversies distribution of rewards and punishments and other particulars take but a general view of the ordinary passages of most mens lives either in the carriage of their own or in the censuring of other mens actions and you shall finde partiality to bear no little sway in most of the things that are done under the sun The truth is we are all partiall and shall be as long as we live here more or less For Partiality is the daughter of Pride and Hypocrisie both which are as universally spread and as deeply and inseparably rooted in our nature as any other corruptions whatsoever Pride ever maketh a man to look at himself and his own party
they do edifie they are not onely lawful but expedient too and we may do them But when they edifie not but destroy though they be lawful still yet are they not expedient and we may not do them All things are lawful but all things edifie not 23. To this edification it appeareth S. Paul had a great respect in all his actions and affairs We do all things brethren for your edifying 2 Cor. 12. And he desireth that all other men would do so too Let every man please his neighbour for his good unto edification Rom. 15.2 and that in all the actions of their lives Let all things be done to edifying 1 Cor. 14. It is the very end for which God ordained the ministery of the Gospel the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes. 4. and for which he endowed his servants with power and with gifts to enable them for the work the power which God hath given us for edification 2 Cor. 13. Whatsoever our callings are whatsoever our power or guifts if we direct them not to Edification when we use them we abuse them 24. But then what is Edification for that we are yet to learn The word is metaphorical taken from material buildings but is often used by our Apostle in his Epistles with application ever to the Church of God and the spiritual building thereof The Church is the house of the living God All Christians members of this Church are as so many stones of the building whereof the house is made up The bringing in of unbeleevers into the Church by converting them to the Christian faith is as the fetching of more stones from the quarries to be layed in the building The building it selfe and that is Edification is the well and orderly joyning together of Christian men as living stones in truth and love that they may grow together as it were into one entire frame of building to make up the house strong and comely for the masters use and honour 25. I know not how it is come to pass in these later times that in the popular and common notion of this word in the mouths and apprehensions of most men generally Edification is in a manner confined wholy to the Understanding Which is an errour perhaps not of much consequence yet an errour tho and such as hath done some hurt too For thereon is grounded that Objection which some have stood much upon though there be little cause why against instrumental musick in the service of God and some other things used in the Church that they tend not to edification but rather hinder it because there cometh no instruction nor other fruit to the understanding thereby And therefore ought such things say they to be cast out of the Church as things unlawful A conclusion by the way which will by no means follow though all the premises should be granted for it is clear both from the words and drift of the Text that Edification is put as a meet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed of Expediency but not so of lawfulness And therefore from the unserviceableness of any thing to Edification we cannot reasonably infer the unlawfulness thereof but the Inexpediency only But to let go the inconsequence that which is supposed in the premises and laid as the ground of the objection viz. that where the understanding is not benefited there is no Edification is not true The objecters should consider that whatsoever thing any way advanceth the service of God or furthereth the grouth of his Church or conduceth to the increasing of any spiritual grace or enliving of any holy affection in us or serveth to the outward exercise or but expression of any such grace or affection as joy feare thankfulness cheerfulness reverence or any other doubtless every such thing so far forth serveth more or less unto Edification 26. The building up of the people in the right knowledge of God and of his most holy truth is I confess a necessary part of the worke and no man that wisheth well to the worke will either despise it in his heart or speak contemptibly of it with his mouth yet is it not the whole work tho no nor yet the chiefest part thereof Our Apostle expressly giveth charity the preheminence before it knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth And for once he speaketh of Edification in his Epistles with reference to knowledge I dare say he speaketh of it thrice with reference to peace and brotherly Charity or condescension The truth is that Edification he so much urgeth is the promoting and furthering of our selves and others in truth godliness and peace or any grace accompanying salvation for the common good of the whole body S. Iude speaketh of building up our selves and S. Paul of edifying one another And this should be our daily and mutual study to build up our selves and others in the knowledge of the truth and in the practise of godliness but especially to the utmost of our powers within our several sphears and in those stations wherein God hath set us to advance the common good by preserving peace and love and unity in the Church 27. The instructions corrections or admonitions we bestow upon our private brethren the good examples we set before them our bearing with their infirmities our yielding and condescending from our own power and liberty to the desires even of private and particular men is as the chipping and hewing and squaring of the several stones to make them fitter for the building But when we do withall promote the publick good of the Church and do something towards the procuring and conserving the peace and unity thereof according to our measure that is as the laying of the stones together by making them cowch close one to another and binding them with sillings and cyment to make them hold Now whatsoever we shall finde according to the present state of the times places and persons with whom we have to do to conduce to the good either of the whole Church or of any greater or lesser portion thereof or but of any single member belonging thereunto so as no prejudice or wrong be thereby done to any other that we may be sure is expedient for that time 28. To enter into particulars when and how far forth we are bound to forbear the exercise of our lawful liberty in indifferent things for our brothers sake would be endless When all is said and written in this argument that can be thought of yet still as was said much must be left to mens Discretion and Charity Discretion first will tell us in the general that as the Circumstances alter so the expediency and inexpedieny of things may alter accordingly Quaedam quae licent tempore loco mutato non licent saith Seneca There is a time for every thing saith Solomon and a season for every purpose under heaven Hit that time right and what ever we do is beautiful but
some few respects Take them super totam materiam and they are starke fools for all that Very Naturals if they have no Grace The Limitation here in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terminus diminuens and must be understood accordingly The Children of this world are said to be wiser then the Children of light But how wiser Not in genere simply and absolutely and in every respect wiser but in genere suo wiser in some respect wiser in their kinde of wisdome such as it is in worldly things and for worldly ends a very mean kinde of wisdom in comparison For such kinde of limiting and diminuent terms are for the most part destructive of that whereunto they are annexed and contain in them as we use to say oppositum in apposito He that saith a dead man or a painted Lion by saying more saith less then if he had said but a man or a lion only without those additions it is all one upon the point as if he said no man no lion For a dead man is not a man neither is a painted lion a lion So that our Saviour here pronouncing of the Children of this world that they are wiser but thus limited wiser in their generation implieth that otherwise and save in that respect only they are not wiser 33. The truth is simply and absolutely considered the child of light if he be truly and really such and not titular and by a naked profession only whatsoever he is taken for is clearly the wiser man And he that is no more then worldly or carnally wise is in very deed and in Gods estimation no better then a very fool Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world saith the Apostle That interrogative form of speech is more emphatical then the bare Categoricall had been it signifieth as if it were so clear a truth that no man could reasonably deny it What Solomon saith in one place of the covetous rich man and in another place of the sluggard that he is wise in his own conceit is true also of every vitious person in every other kinde Their wisdom is a wisdom but in conceit not in truth and that but in their own conceit neither and of some few others perhaps that have their judgments corrupted with the same lusts wherewith theirs also are Chrysippus non dicet idem Solomon sure had not that conceipt of their wisdom and Solomon knew what belonged to wisdom as well as another man who putteth the fool upon the sinner I need not tell you indeed I cannot tell you how oft in his writings 34. His judgment then is clear in the point though it be a Paradox to the most and therefore would have a little farther proof for it is not enough barely to affirm paradoxes but we must prove them too First then true saving wisdom is not to be learned but from the word of God A lege tuâ intellexi By thy commandements have I gotten understanding Psal. 119. it is that word and that alone that is able to make us wise unto salvation How then can they be truly wise who regard not that word but cast it behinde their backs and despise it They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them saith Ieremy Again The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome and a good understanding have they that do thereafter Psal. 111. How then can we allow them to passe for wise men and good understanding men that have no fear of God before their eyes that have no minde nor heart to do thereafter that will not be learned nor understand but are resolvedly bent to walk on still in darkness and wilfully shut their eyes that they may not see the light 35. Since every man is desirous to have some reputation of wisdom and accounteth it the greatest scorn and reproach in the world to be called or made a fool it would be very well worth the labour but that it would require as it well deserveth a great deal more labour and time then we dare now take to illustrate and enlarge this point which though it seem a very paradoxe as was now said to the most is yet a most certain and demonstrable truth That godliness is the best wisdom and that there is no fool to the sinner I shall but barely give you some of the heads of proof and referr the enlargement to each mans private meditation He that first is all for the present and never considereth what mischiefs or inconveniences will follow thereupon afterwards that secondly when both are permitted to his choise hath not the wit to prefer that which is eminently better but chuseth that which is extremely worse that thirdly proposeth to himself base and unworthy ends that fourthly for the attaining even of those poor ends maketh choise of such means as are neither proper not probable thereunto that fifthly goeth on in bold enterprises with great confidence of success upon very slender grounds of assurance and that lastly where his own wit will not serve him refuseth to be advised by those that are wiser then himself what he wanteth in wit making it upon in will no wise man I think can take a person of this character for any other then a fool And every worldly or ungodly man is all this and more and every godly man the contrary Let not the worldly-wise man therefore glory in his wisdom that it turn not to his greater shame when his folly shall be discovered to all the world Let no man deceive himself saith S. Paul but if any man among you seem to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise That is let him lay aside all vain conceit of his own wisdom and learn to account that seeming wisdom of the world to be as indeed it is no better then folly that so he may finde that true wisdom which is of God The God of light and of wisdom so enlighten our understandings with the saving knowledge of his truth and so enflame our hearts with a holy love and fear of his Name that we may be wise unto salvation and so assist us with the grace of his holy spirit that the light of our good works and holy conversation may so shine forth both before God and men in the mean time that in the end by his mercy who is the Father of lights we may be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the light of everlasting life and glory and that for the merits sake of Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. To whom c. AD AULAM. Sermon XVI Newport in the Isle of Wight Decemb. Heb. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself that ye be not wearied and faint in your mindes 1. THere is scarce
Magistrate to temporize Or may he slug in his office or desert his bounden duty for fear of Bug-bears or by pretending there is a Lion in the way Nothing less God forbid any man that occupieth the place of the Lords Messenger should utter a syllable of encouragement to any Magistrate to make himself a slave to the times either by running with a multitude to do any evil action for the winning of their favour or by forbearing out of a base fear and a faint heart to do any good whereunto his power and opportunity will serve him 20. But the thing I say is this It is a point of Christian wisdom for a Magistrate or any other man if the Lord cast him upon evil times to yield to sway of the times so far provided ever that it be done without sin as not wilfully to deprive himself of the power and opportunities of doing the good he can by striving unseasonably to do more good then he can The reason whereof is grounded upon that well known Maxim so generally allowed of by all Divines That affirmative precepts such as this of delivering the oppressed is do not oblige ad semper at all times and in all places and with all circumstances as Negative precepts do But for exercising the offices of such affirmative precepts there must be a due consideration had of the end and of all requisite Circumstances to be laid together one against another in the ballance of prudence and according to the exigence thereof the duty is for that time to be either performed or omitted Our Solomon telleth us Eccl. 3. that there is a time for every thing and that every thing is beautiful in its time implying withal that taken out of the right time nothing is beautiful He saith there also that there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak And surely the evil time is the proper time for keeping silence Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time 21. Now seeing that by so many several wayes as these which I have already mentioned most of which doe frequently happen besides infinite more which may happen according to the infinite variety of particular occurrents Magistrates and others may be excused for not helping those to right that suffer wrong it should make us all very watchful over our speeches and sparing in our censures wherein yet for the most part we take to our selves a marvellous Liberty a great deal more then becometh us concerning the actions and dealings of our Governours It is no wonder to hear light-headed people and such as can look but a little way into the affairs of the world clamorous as shallowest becks run with the greatest noise and the emptiest vessels give the lowdest sound Nor is it a new thing to see such men as by their own unconscionable dealings help to make the times as bad as they are to set their mouthes wide open in bitter invectives against their betters and to be evermore declaming against the iniquities of the times But it grieveth my very soul when I see men otherwise discreet and such as are in some reputation for vertue and godliness sometimes to forget themselves so much as they do and to be so far transported beyond the bounds of sobriety and duty as to speak their pleasure of those that are in place either of supream or of high though subordinate authority as if all were naught every man looked only after his own ease or his own gain or his own advancement but none regarded to amend any thing amiss or took to heart the wrongs and sufferings of poor men 22. To see the manifold oppressions that are done under the Sun even in the best times Solomons reign was a time blessed with peace and plenty yet did he complain of the oppressions of the poor in his dayes but for all that large measure both of power and wisdom wherewith God had endowed him he could not remedy all will stir up in every man that hath any holy warmth in him a just indignation there-against But commonly such is our selvishness we are most fiery when the mischief lighteth upon our selves or upon those that stand in some near relation to us Therefore I cannot in charity but impute those excesses of such men to their zeal of justice and indignation against those that either pervert it or but neglect it but heightened through the violence of the perturbation to the distemper of Fury Which maketh me now and then to think of those words of Solomon which perhaps hath another meaning yet are very fitly applyable this way in Eccles. 7. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad For as a man who whilest he was master of his reason was quiet and companyable fallen afterwards raging mad raileth and striketh and flingeth stones about him sparing none that cometh within his reach be he never so good little otherwise doth a wise man mis-behave himself in his language towards his betters when he is put a little as it were out of his right wits through the distemper of some violent perturbation of minde by a mis-noâ—mer called zeal 23. It would be some bridle both to our tongues and passions seriously to consider that it becometh not the servant of God to speak evil of Governments or Governours openly though some things should be much amiss in the land and little done in order to the amending thereof for that is a kinde of blasphemy for so the Apostles word is Openly did I say I did so because too often men do so But the truth is the servant of God is not allowed by his Master to speak evil of dignities no not in his private chamber more yet not so much as in his private thoughts Much less to proclaim the infirmities of his Governours to the wide world for fear Cham's curse should light upon him over which he ought rather with blessed Sem and Iaphet to cast the mantle of Charity to hide their nakedness from the eyes of scorners Least of all to smite Princes for Equity and to cry out upon them as men that make no conscience of the discharge of their duty in that their high calling so long as they are careful in the generality to promote the execution of Iustice within their territories only for suffering those evils which they cannot so easily remedy as we can observe and for not doing that good which is not altogether in their power to do So long as God is pleased to suffer noisome corruptions to remain in the hearts of the best and strong lusts to reign in the hearts of the most which will be so long as the world lasteth it cannot be but often times offences will come disorders and abuses will grow right will be overborn by might the plain-dealing will become a prey to the crafty wrongs and indignities will be offered which the wisest and greatest and
practise of the Church especially in the ancienter times hath been concerning those matters and that to consider what conformity the doctrines under triall hold with the principles upon which that their sense or practise in the premises was grounded The Iudgment and Practice of the Church ought to sway very much with every sober and wise man either of which whosoever neglecteth or but slighteth as too many do upon a very poore pretence that the mystery of iniquity began to work betimes runneth a great hazard of falling into many Errors and Absurdities If he do not he may thank his good fortune more then his fore-cast and if he do he may thank none but himself for neglecting so good a guide 31. But this now-mentioned Rule although it be of excellent use if it be rightly understood and prudently applyed and therefore growing so nere the Text I could not wholly baulk it without some notice taken of it it being not within the Text I press it no farther but come to another that springeth out of the very Text it self And it is this a very good one too viz. That when we are to try the doctrines we should duly examine them whether they be according unto Godliness yea or no. Our Saviours direction for the discovery of false Prophets Mat. 7. is to this very purpose Ex fructibus Ye shall know them by their fruits Meaneth he it trow you of the fruits of their lives in their outward conversation Verily no not only no nor principally neither perhaps not at all For Falshood is commonly set off by hypocrisie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the next following verse here Shews of sanctity and purity pretensions of Religion and Reformation is the wooll that the wolfe wrappeth about him when he meaneth to do most mischief with least suspition The Old Serpent sure is never so silly as to think his ministers the ministers of darkness should be able to draw in a considerable party into their communion should they appear in their dismal colours therefore he putteth them into a new dress before he sendeth them abroad distinguishing and transforming them as if they were the ministers of righteousness and of the light Our Saviour therefore cannot mean the fruits of their lives so much if at all as the fruits of their Doctrines that is to say the necessary consequents of their Doctrines such conclusions as naturally and by good and evident discourse do issue from their Doctrines And so understood it is a very useful Rule even in the Affirmative taking in other requisite conditions withall but in the Negative taken even alone and by it self it holdeth infallibly If what is spoken seem to be according to godliness it is the better to like onward and the more likely to be true yet may it possibly be false for all that and therefore it will be needfull to try it farther and to make use of other Criterians withall But if what is spoken upon examination appear to have any repugnancy with Godliness in any one branch or duty thereunto belonging we may be sure the words cannot be wholsome words It can be no heavenly Doctrine that teacheth men to be earthly sensual or Devilish or that tendeth to make men unjust in their dealings uncharitable in their censures undutiful to their superiours or any other way superstitious licentious or prophane 32. I note it not without much rejoycing and gratulation to us of this Church There are God knoweth a foot in the Christian world Controversies more then a good-many Decads Centuries Chiliads of novel Tenents brought in this last age which were never believed many of them scarce ever heard of in the ancient Church by Sectaries of all sorts Now it is our great comfort blessed be God for it that the Doctrine established in the Church of England I mean the publick Doctrine for that is it we are to hold us to passing by private opinions I say the publick Doctrine of our Church is such as is not justly chargeable with any impiety contrarious to any part of that duty we owe either to God or Man Oh that our conversations were as free from exception as our Religion is Oh that we were sufficiently carefull to preserve the honour and lustre of the truth we profess by the correspondency of our lives and actions thereunto 33. And upon this point we dare boldly joyn issue with our clamorous adversaries on either hand Papists I mean and Disciplinarians Who do both so loudly but unjustly accuse us and our Religion they as carnal and licencious these as Popish and superstitious As Eliah once said to the Baalites that God that answereth by fire let him be God so may we say to either of both and when we have said it not fear to put it to a fair trial That Church whose Doctrine Confession and Worship is most according to Godliness let that be the Church As for our Accusers if there were no more to be instanced in but that one cursed position alone wherein notwithstanding their disagreements otherwise they both consent That lawful Soveraigns may be by their Subjects resisted and Arms taken up against them for the cause of Religion it were enough to make good the challenge against them both Which is such a notorious piece of Vngodliness as no man that either feareth God or King as he ought to do can speak of or think of without detestation and is certainly if either St Peter or St Paul those two great Apostles understood themselves a branch rather of that other great mysterie 2 Thes. 2. the mysterie of Iniquity then of the great Mysterie here in the Text the Mysterie of Godliness There is not that point in all Popery besides to my understanding that maketh it savour so strongly of Antichrist as this one dangerous and desperate point of Iesuitism doth Wherein yet those men that are ever bawling against our Ceremonies and Service as Antichristian do so deeply and wretchedly symbolize with them The Lord be judg between them and us whether our Service or their Doctrine be the more Antichristian 34. I have done with the former Inference for the trial of Doctrines there is another yet behinde for the bettering of our Lives For sith Christianity is a Mysterie of Godliness it concerneth every Christian man so to take the mysterie along with him that he leave not Godliness behind That is whatsoever becometh of doubtful controversies to look well to his life and to make conscience of practising that which without all controversie is his duty I know Controversies must be looked into and it were well if it were done by them and by them only whose gifts and callings serve for it For truths must be maintained errours must be refuted and the mouths of gainsayers must be stopped All this must be done it is true but it is as true when all this is done still the shortest cut to heaven is Faith and Godliness 35. I know not how