obstinacie and obduratenesse in their naturall state according to Christs own judgement of the world John 5. v. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life So that as it is written by Sulpitius Severus in the life of St. Martine that being endued with a marvellous gift or faculty of curing sick and impotent persons The blinde and lame and decrepit who got their living by begging were affraid of him and would not come near him lest being cured of such their defects and impotencies they should lose their livelihood In like manner many getting a miserable and beggarly livelihood by serving and complying with the world and so being blinde and crippled in an heavenly sense refuse that light and life and renovation which Christ bringeth with him An instance whereof we have in the ministrie of St. Paul preaching to the Athenians prepossessed and captivated with worldly wisdome and thereupon saying Thou bringest strange things to our eares In their judgements more strange than true And though it be Mannah it selfe and that dropt down from heaven for their edification and comfort men out of their scepticalnesse and curiositie will question it and perhaps in time loath it as the Israelites that bread from heaven there being generally too little agreement between the notions of half-sighted naturall reason and delectations of our senses naturall and the divine Revelations and more spirituall prescriptions given us by Religion though naturall reason not counterfeited nor corrupted by baser allayes of vitious men may passe also as Gods true coyne But that pure Gold it is not which the Holy Ghost counselleth us to buy Revel 3 18. that we may be rich and wherewith we may get white raiment that we may be clothed that the shame of our nakednesse doe not appear and get that eye-salve that we may see which is the word of God. For the knowledge or illumination which we have from thence and that which we have from the Holy Spirit differ no otherwise than that money a man carries about him or that which the Tradesman hath present in his Bank and that which he hath in his Books which must put him sometimes to trouble to fetch in The manner of which fetching in is by the Holy Spirit also opening the heart that we may as the Disciples going to Emaus after Christs Resurrection understand the Scriptures untill which time that will be found too true which the Prophet Hosea Cap. 8. 12. complains of in Gods behalf I have written to him the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing 4. But if we should enquire faithfully into the grounds of such incredulitie and prejudice against Religion we may finde them too often in the corrupt manners of men influencing the understanding with mistakes and grosse errours which yet some to cover with shew of greatest candour in judging and ingenuity have wished they could believe the things Christianity requires of them But if reality and common integritie be not also laid aside here how easie a thing is it to reconcile them to the truth For does not their own prime reason and of all civilized People tell them that nothing truely humane is more naturall to Man than to be of some Religion And yet if they be men but of indifferent reading and observation they shall finde that there is no Religion nor ever like to be all whose Principles are obvious to all competent understandings And so consequently that men to avoid the barbaritie of Atheisme must believe more than nature can compell them unto by her philosophicall demonstrations or fall into an absurditie little inferiour to Atheisme That every man should frame his own Religion and be so far religious as he thinks fit and no farther and which must necessarily follow call his freak and humour his reason and judgement So that it is scarce so true that a man cannot believe the mysteries of Religion as that he will not and he will not because he dares not for fear of the worst Or let it be that he cannot when St. Paul if he be but so far believed saith of some 2 Corinth 4. 4. The God of this world who that is I suppose is well known hath blinded the mindes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them vain and vitious men having by their presumed wit and evill lives tempted evill Spirits themselves and drawn them to be accessaries to their infatuations For as every good and perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights as St. James tells us Chap. 1. 17. So doth everie notorious errour and wickednesse proceed from the Prince of darknesse who ruleth in the Childeren of Disobedience they being called children of Disobedience in Scripture who obey not the Gospell nor believe it reasonably propounded 5. But it may seem strange and worth our wondering How the same effect of blindnesse of minde should be ascribed to God and also to the Devill in Scripture as John 12. 4. speaking of God out of the Prophet Isaias He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts c. This is in truth a Scholasticall difficultie which belongs to another place to which I may referre it but here I would have it observed that as Judges or Princes are said to put Malefactours to death when they doe it not themselves but deliver them over to the Executioner whose office it is so God upon just provocation delivering great Sinners to the Devill may be said to be a cause of their hardnesse and blindnesse when it is caused directly by Satan only and themselves But the true light of Faith and life of Grace doth most properly appertain to God as it is said 2 Corinth 4. 7. By grace ye are saved through faith it is the gift of God. The reason whereof is That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us And this key of knowledge which is also of the Kingdome of God did Christ deliver to his Apostles by vertue of which God assisting Lydia's heart was opened as we read Acts 16. 14. And so necessary is the assistance of God in this case that he seems to keep this key by his own side and not at all times to lend it to his Ministers no not the Apostles Nor did Christ himselfe who as God had the command of mens mindes allwayes succeed in his teaching and exhortation but by I know not what deep providence suffered his labours to be frustrated by the incredulity of men But this we may say falls out by divine dispensation that God may be all in all in the beginning continuing and consummation of every good work and to repell that spirit of presumption whereby too prosperous Labourers in Gods Harvest or Vineyard might be prone to attribute much more to themselves than
and deformities and finde the smart of our sores there is little probabilitie we should be sollicitous so far about our selves as to seek for redresse and remedie for the same but having attained this that which followes in the mentioned words of the Apostle viz. perfecting holinesse in the fear of the Lord may happily succeed And this advantage by the same words is put into our hands towards so great and good work as to learne the generall division of our sins and impurities to be removed and that some sins have the resemblance of a spirituall nature and others of a fleshly For according to the diverse constitution of Man consisting of Soule and Bodie whereby he partaketh both of the nature of Spirits and Beast so are his inclinations sometimes transporting him to the excesses of Evill Spirits and sometimes sinking him down towards brutish lusts but which are insinuated unto us by St. James Chap. 3. 15. thus writing This wisdome descendeth not from above but is earthly sensuall and devillish Whereby we understand that some sins and especially they of the minde of man are really devillish as having the Devill as well for their Authour as Actour viz. Envyings Gloryings Strife Lying instanced in by St. James a little before and some others of the like nature And on the other side Hatred Murthers Violences offered to others Intemperance Incontinence and slothfulnesse and such like are such which senfuall appetites dispose us unto and we have in common with beasts prone to them Yet to the shame of Man may it be spoken beasts many times governed by their senses being not so great offenders thereby as men directed to higher and better things both by Reason and Religion or Faith. For in trueth there is a fourfold restraint appointed by God for the keeping us within due compasse of living First our very Senses not made by evill customes more brutish than naturally they are doe certifie by a naturall reluctancie when we exced due measure in the use of sensible pleasures And a greater light and check to such exorbitances does our Reason give us not bribed by corruption to give false reports and dictates But the Light and Rules of Faith are yet more clear full and perfect to direction and sanctification but the life and Crown of all is the Grace of God bringing the will of man into subjection and obedience Most of which we shall here speak briefly to SECT II. Of the Office and Power of Faith in purging the Soule from sinfull defilements 1. FAith as we have shewed is by descent of heavenly extraction It is the gift of God and not owing originally to the will or election of man And it is given as an Instrument to work the work of God And this it doth well applyed and improved by the Illumination alreadie spoken of and discoveries of Gods Will and our Dutie in a clearer and fuller manner than otherwise we could attain to But this is not all this is not the greatest or chiefest part of its Power and vertue but that which impells and enables us too to doe the Will of God For as Christ our Lord and Master saies He sent me into the world to bear witnesse unto the trueth and that not by affirmation only but by exemplarie holinesse consummated in dying for the trueth so should every good Christian by doing and dying if need be testifie to the trueth 2. And surely great is the influence true and strong Faith hath to that end according to St. John 1 Ep. 5. 4. telling us This is our victory even our faith so termed because it is the principall meanes whereby we become Conquerors of Gods and our own Enemies which St. Paul 2 Cor. 10. 4. calls the pulling down of strong holds and of every thing that exalteth it selfe against God as all sinfull lusts doe and bringing it into the subjection of Christ For here is verified what Christ foretold in the Gospell A mans enemies shall be they of his own house A militant Christian never being free from intestine jars and warrings of the Law of his members against the Law of his minde and faith So that if we listen to any suggestions or lean on any other aid but what our Faith furnishes us withall we are lyable to fail and fall in our contentions For as Christ said to the Father of the Demoniacall Son. Mark 9. All things are possible to him that believeth So shall we see on the contrary all things are impossible to him that disbelieveth it being said of Christ himselfe Mark 16. 5. He could doe there viz. in his own Country no mighty works because of their unbelief as if unbelief in man had tied Gods hands and disabled him who is ever omnipotent to act accordingly though we must understand the words of Scripture not absolutely but according to the ordinary course of Gods proceeding towards man who must not expect that God will obtrude his blessings upon him contemning him as did these his Countrymen who astonished at the Wisdome and Doctrine of Christ carped at his Relations and Education and meannesse of his Person and Parentage believing with prejudice reproveable by their senses that Christ could not doe that they saw him doe and therefore refused to bring forth to him their sick and impotent so that he could not doe many mighty workes there And the case is the same in spirituall mortifications and cures of the distempered soule To him that believeth all things are possible but unbelief makes possible things impossible and easie things most difficult For Faith not doing its office of declaring to the ignorant minde the nature of God an implacable Enemie to sin and the nature of sin an intolerable Enemie to God man must needs be carried away by that false naturall light that he hath after those pleasing objects that seem rather than are good to him And again He whose faith is firme is also operative as well as intuitive and so far influenced and excited by it that he cannot choose but he must act according to his judgement perswasion and principle of life 3. For what was that which moved Moses to forsake Egypt and bid adieu to the Courtly pleasures of it and to suffer affliction with the people of God and to esteem the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt but that as the Scripture tells us He by his faith saw him that was invisible and by his faith had respect unto the recompence of the reward He by faith both believed aright in God and by the same loved what appeared to him most noble and desireable Which held not good then only but is of perpetuall truth as is that of our Saviour Christ also According to thy faith so be it unto thee So it is and so it ever will be unto Christian Soules If a man believes truely but does not fully his faith is impotent in its hands and feet and can profit very little to the main
end of Faith. If a man believes firmely but not soundly nor truely his faith like to the knowledge acquired by our first Parents upon the eating of the forbidden fruit brings him to shame and confusion of face And of this sort are innumerable mistakes not to be here instanced in that only excepted which is of most generall evill consequence whereby men are wont and willing to divide and rend faith from it selfe I mean the Forme or inward act of believing from the power and effect of Faith perswading themselves that Faith alone so taken gives us Justification and if so it must needs give us Sanctification too For none are justified but such as are thereunto prepared by a competent degree of Sanctification And so in trueth at length it will be found that whatever is pretended and more dangerously presumed no man is more Justified alone by Faith than he is Sanctified by it alone and the workes of Faith are in no place of holy Scripture opposed to Faith it selfe the cause of such workes in reference to our Justification And it is altogether as derogatory to Christs merits and the freenesse of Gods Grace to rest upon such Faith for justification and salvation as upon such workes of Faith. But this I speak as I passe 4. However therefore the Authours of such Doctrine or at least formes of speaking as have lately prevailed disown the necessary ill consequences of the same and allow yea urge much good workes and with many flourishes commend the use of them yet advancing immoderately and injudiciously the Act of Faith creeple it and binde it up from the free course and full influence it may and otherwise would have upon mens lives to the purging of the Soule from evill and impregnating it to good works of vertue and holinesse 5. But leaving that Controversie let us proceed to what is without Controversie shewing by plain instances what we have propounded concerning the power of Faith in our militant state here And let it be ingenuously judged how a man by Faith thorowly convinced of that one first Principle that there is a God Creatour of all things Judge of all things and of all Men especially and their hearts and actions and infallibly rewarding the good and the evill can easily omitt the good so amply hereafter to be remunerated or rashly fall into the evill of Sin-tempting standing by his Christian Faith assured that his temporary trifling vanishing as soon as felt pleasures shall end infallibly in bitternesse and never-failing sorrowes Who would sow that seed in his Field which he might easily believe will rise up to an harvest of Serpents which will sting him to death Or can a man stedfastly believe that Article of his Creed teaching and assuring him that Christ that righteous Judge shall appear a second time in glorie and severe Justice towards quick and dead rendering to every man according to the good or evill he hath done in his bodie viz. Life Everlasting or shame and torment everlasting and not feare or fear and yet committ such things as will weigh him down into the place of such miserie What wise man would be tempted so with the beautie and desireablenesse of drinking out of a Golden Cup when he knowes it is filled with deadly Poison Or would any man eat of that bread fair to the Eye and perhaps pleasant to the palate which he knowes will suddenly after breed gravell and stones in his reins and bladder and infinitely torture him Certainly such a mans perswasion which in Religion we call Faith must needs be verie weak and his fondnesse strong which can impose so hard things on him unrejected 6. No more can any man have a sound and sufficient perswasion of the heavenly Mansions and the unspeakable Glories thereof yea the perfection and beautie of Vertue and Divinenesse of holie Life and good Conscience and neglect or contemn the same for the fallacies vitious practices put on the outward senses for a moment or lesse if lesse we can imagine Is not this next to a Miracle if we may allow the Devill to be able to work Miracles contrary to the Doctrine of the Schools For what way we call a Miracle if not deluding the senses and so far changing the natures of things to mans eye and common sense that he shall call good evill and evill good and have no other opinion of Flames into which he must be cast than of a Feather bed 7. To him that lives by Sense the present sweet is most sweet and the present bitter most bitter but to him that lives by Faith and not by Sense the future exceeds in both kinds And to a truly wise man knowing the worst of troubles and hardships in this world no more to be compared to the miseries wicked men suffer hereafter than the joyes of sin in this life are to the glorie to be hereafter enjoyed in Heaven by the Righteous it may seem most reasonable to choose the least of Evills and to run the least of hazards too as that poore simple austere man vilely and coldly clad and as ill fed did with whom as our own histories tell a boisterous and soft Gallant meeting demanded of him Why he used himselfe so hardly and was answered by him I doe this to escape Hell-fire But said the Gallant again If there be no Hell what a Fool art thou to use thy selfe so ill But he more wittily and sharply replied But what if there be an Hell how much more Fool art thou to live so as thou doest Put the case to common Reason for true Faith is infallibly assured of it that it was a doubtfull point Whether there were an Hell or not a Heaven or no Heaven and the Scales weighing both sides were equall would not generall Reason advise so to believe as to take the safest course and live that life which may lead to the supposed happinesse and escape the threatened torments What hurt befalls that man that lives continently temperately modestly justly soberly yea and selfe-denyingly as to those things which are not necessarie though no reward followes upon his rigours but the ordinary comforts of health and peace of minde which are greater to him than the riotous liver and pleaser of his appetites and senses without restraint But what hurt doth not befall him hereafter who by indulging to his sensible Soule bereaves himselfe of everlasting happinesse in the world to come that not being all neither as our Religion truely informes us 8. Let us therefore truely examine our selves as St. Paul exhorteth whether we be in the faith and prove our selves knowing of our own selves that Jesus Christ is in us except we be reprobates 2 Corin. 13. 5. Surely if Christ be in us it must be by Faith and if Faith be in us it will discover so much of the events of an holy and wicked life as not to be like a Horse and Mule which have no understanding nor like such men who have
comes to their share 6. For this reason God sends such tempestuous and dark weather at Sea to the skilfull Navigatour that he shall not be able readily to know or say where he is till the restored calme Light better informes him And sends Shipwracks sometimes to the subtill Merchant that he may understand better who it is that gives skill and strength to get Riches And diappointeth the hopes of the understanding and painfull Husbandman And as the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 44. maketh diviners mad and turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish teaching them all and us too and that in all senses more perfectly that necessary lesson of humility Deuteronomy 8. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God. For it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth c. And as it is with the riches of this world it is with the riches of the world to come or being rich towards God as the Scripture speaks Luke 12. 21. For undoubtedly God may and doth apparently denie the ordinary meanes of Salvation sound knowledge and holy faith in him and of divine mysteries to some To others he grants to be initiated and to have some knowledge of the saving trueth who there stop and proceed no farther as tender plants rising out of the earth wither and perish for want of the blessings of heaven falling on them without which they can proceed no farther towards perfection and some proceed farther and promise fair and for the same reason attain not to the intended end 7. But nothing of this nature can reasonably be taken into an Apologie or defence of the unprofitable servant whom God hath delivered such talents and meanes unto that in themselves tend unto such progressions and consummations as are saving and beatificall But admit thou art becalmed and canst make no way through want of divine aspirations and influence How canst thou how darest thou impute this cessation and oscitancie of thine in not doing the known Will of God unto an unknown cause or rather a not cause of doing which whether it is so as thou imaginest or givest out at least that thou imaginest when thy heart contradicteth thy tongue thou knowest not For who can say that God denies him the inward power and meanes of Salvation that is of effectuall Grace to whom he giveth the outward meanes of Illumination Faith and Salvation Whatsoever may be wanting in the abstruse counsell and dispensations internall of God and known to him cannot be so known to a man without divine Revelations It is an uncharitable and rash act in any man directly to charge his Neighbour with denying him his due or taking away his goods from him when he can prove nothing against him and much more injust it is and impious for a man to say directly that God denies him grace or doth harden his heart so that Rules and exhortations and sufficient reasons of becoming faithfull righteous and holy before God and man are of no effect upon him 8. It is not so much pardonable as commendable in all Good Christians to be sensible of their naturall insufficiencie and infirmity to doe any good act St. Paul having taught us 2 Corinth 3. v. 5. That we are not able to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiencie is of God. But doe not the very next words as well as the latter part of that argument plainly tell us that God hath a sufficiencie for us and God doth make us able Ministers of his Will And doth not St. James tell us that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights James 1. 17. And doth not our Saviour Christ direct us how we should fill our selves from that Fountain when he saith Matth. 7. 11. If ye being evill know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more should your Father which is in heaven give you good things that ask him And this good thing is the best and fullest of all good things being interpreted in St. Lukes Gospell Chap. 11. 13. to be the Holy Spirit it selfe the fountain of all Grace which he giveth to them that ask him The Querie then must needs be made to our selves whether upon sense of our infirmities and defects we ever did and that as we ought invoke Almighty God implore the gift of his Spirit and its concurrence and whether we ever submitted to its Dictates and directions to that power God hath given us For to doe this as well as believe that we have an excellent president from the wise Man Wisdome 8. v. 21. Neverthelesse I perceived I could no otherwise obtain her i. e. True Wisedome comprehending all intellectuall graces except God gave her me and that was a point of Wisedome also to know whose gift she was I prayed unto the Lord and besought him and with my whole heart I said O God of my Fathers and Lord of mercie c. Which prayer for that illuminating gift and Grace so necessarie might not very unfitly be transcribed hither and used by all true lovers of light rather than darknesse at least untill the Day-star shall arise in their hearts according to which true Believers may shape their course more steadily towards Heaven but I shun prolixnesse SECT VI. Of the Gift and guidance of Gods Spirit towards true Illumination The abuse and true use of the same and necessity of Believing 1. BUT the use or act of the grace of Faith resteth not here but is wonderfully assistant to the naturall understanding in discerning the minde of God revealed unto us in his Word For as the discreet and diligent Master doth not only set his Schollar whom he teacheth to write an exact and fair Copie to imitate and follow but also guides his hand in the making the Letters and joyning them together according to their true shape and order in like manner doth he whose Chair is in heaven teaching the hearts as his Instruments and Officers doe the eares and eyes of men below to understand receive believe and act according to the Rule and scope prescribed For man naturally is apt to believe those things only which his Reason assures him of but his reason how acute soever cannot demonstrate the Scriptures to be the Word of God which we believe and must believe to be so if we would be accounted good Christians And having the Scriptures in that esteem we cannot out of our promptitude and acutenesse of wit discerne clearly and readily many usefull things therein contained without the direction of that great Authour the Blessed Spirit principall in the composing them For 't is truly said The Scriptures must be understood by the Spirit that indited them According therefore to the gifts and grace given unto Mee doe they understand the mysteries of Faith Rom. 12. 6. And to every man is given grace according to the measure of Christ Ephes 4. 7. whereby that light revealed shineth unto the true Believer as out of a dark place So that
without true wisdome the Apostle St. Paul so flattly contradicting and confuting mens opinion vainly conceived of themselves thus writing 1 Corin 8. 2. If any man thinke that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know Which is most true when he would needs know as Adam and Eve did without God or what God would have hidden and concealed from him And when a man would needs know all things but can be content not to know himselfe For as Charity of which the Apostle there allso speakes according to the common and generally true saying begins at home so doth or ought to doe knowledge For the Alpha of true knowledge and the Omega too is to know God but a man cannot know God as becometh him when he stands in his own light And in his own light may he be said to stand when he understands not himselfe his measures his capacitie and meanes to true knowledge He that layeth hold of more than he can well span or embraceth more than his Armes can contain commonly letteth all goe and loseth it And so it is in curiosity of knowledge he knoweth nothing that would pretend to all things Like to the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. 17. which because she gloried in her riches was poor and wretched and blinde and naked and knew it not What blindenesse what ignorance so grosse lamentable and dangerous as this And yet loth are men to have their eyes opened to perceive it as if in the mist of their minde they discerned and feared that which he who was cured of a phrenzie bewailed in himselfe that in his distemper he was much more happie than in his cure For in that he imagined and pleased himselfe with nothing lesse than a fair Principalitye under him subjects obsequious Pallaces stately with Crown and Scepter but reduced to his true reason found the contrary to all these to his great losse and trouble And to such excesses doth our presumptuous knowledge betray us For as St. Paul before saith Knowledge puffeth up swells and apostemateth the Soule with corruption which often breakes out into rottennesse scandalous Hence it is that if a man erres wilfully and notoriously to all he is not ashamed as Seneca observeth as when in Grammar he speakes false Latine or English or gives a false pronunciation to a word but if he doth it ignorantly and be told of it then he either blushes or boldly defends his errour against his own tacit perswasion least he should seem not to have known as much as another And Cardane himselfe a Physican tells us he knew one of the same facultie who having through ignorance destroyed his Patient rather than he would be thought ignorant professed he killed him on purpose though there was no such matter to such a monstrousnesse of absurdities and iniquitie doth this unbridled and untamed humour of seeming wise and appearing so transport a man. 2. This evill Appetite wars against nothing so much as Religion and is inconsistent with nothing more and therefore should Religion war against that turning the forces of the Spirit against this Tower of the Flesh built up to this dangerous height by the evill spirit of Pride and affectation of vain-glorie And this I look on as a prime and materiall part of our selfe-deniall when we shall be able and willing to submitte our private busie and clambering Reason to the simplicitie of the Faith and know our infirmities and failings as well as we know others yea and better too having attained to that perfection which the wise Man only owned in himselfe Prov. 30. 2. Surely I am more brutish than any man I have not the understanding of a man with this limitation notwithstanding that if God or good Autoritie under him shall have chosen any such humble Person to preside teach and lead others no modestie nor humility in him ought to with-hold him from discharging his office No more than any knowing himselfe more wise or learned out of his abundance is to withdraw himselfe from the guidance of such an one as he excells under suspicion of calling Gods Providence and Right in question to rule and teach by whome he pleases and especially the difficult lesson of humility and selfe deniall Don't I know Can you teach me is the language of a proud Spirit very often and of one who wilfully how ignorantly soever must and will have his saying A man out of common charitie might blush for such as doe not blush to hear them oftentimes indeed wise and more than vulgarly knowing when they fall into Paradoxes when they stumble in plain ground when their mistake happens by surprise or other incogitancie how loth are they to be taken in the snares of truth it selfe how they by all tricks pretences fetches and innumerable devices and defenses would justifie what once they happen to say though conscious to themselves of errour they would not have said or done such things yet they once passing from them they will maintain them to the last though the more they struggle the more they are ensnared and fall into a far worse absurdity in defending than committing an errour And all this that they might not suffer in their beloved and selfe-admired witt And because they cannot denie them neither for Gods sake nor for trueths sake but hold it the most honourable course to themselves to bend both to their saying than to yield to be measured by such Rules And if their wits fail them in framing evasions and shuffles which may justifie in some degree their slips Passion and loud clamour shall support their cause and drown the noise of weake trueth as the Idolatrous Jewes were wont in sacrificing their Children to Molech in the Valley of Hinnon to use Fife Trumpet and Drum that the voice of the massacred might not be heard or pittie shewn to them nor justice O foolish Galatians saith St. Paul in another case Galat. 3. Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the trueth Answer may be made selfe love selfe-preservation which are such that a man can better endure a blow on the Pate than on his Opinion But St. James saith Chap. 3. 14. My brethren Lye not against the trueth a reason whereof may be because he that opposes an acknowledged trueth though not very important sinneth in some degree against the Holy Ghost the Spirit of trueth and the testimonie of his own Conscience and to have his will in arguing or doing grieveth the Spirit of trueth trueth in all things being Sacred and Divine which when it possesseth the minde of a man seasonable and true is that advice of the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 2. 29. The Lord is in his holy Temple let all the earth keep keep silence before him 3. And this Advice reacheth unto the other Branch of a Christians Selfe-deniall which consists principally and more immediately in the subjecting the will of man to the Will of God as that did in the subjection of the
that as Pride is the beginning of all sins and wickednesse the contrary Vertue Humilitie is the mother of all Christian Vertues This foundation then must be laid here allso otherwise all repairs of the ruinous Soule will be frustrated For where Humility is wanting a thousand false phansies of our perfections and merits will swell the minde above its proper height and largenesse so that every little thing will stand in its way and offend it For men suspecting themselves undervalued by others as they doe and needs must who overvalue themselves presently the vindicative Spirit falls to work by word and deed to satiate it selfe upon detractours as it accounts them mistakenly childishly and madly at the same time 9. Where therefore true Humility is found Meeknesse will not be far distant nor long absent And where Meeknesse dwells Madnesse and Choler will have but cold entertainment And to the Spirit of Meeknesse doe much conduce a Discipline and cohibition imposed on the outward man. It is often alledged by the riotous minde I cannot bear that abuse or this affront or such contempt or disobedience or neglect I cannot be so advised as I should be But no man can say that professes manlinesse and humanity but he can move or hold his hand and can speak or keep silence or compose the outward parts of his body or suffer them to break out into disorders which Regiment when he hath obtained over himselfe outwardly and for a time practised he shall finde a considerable change in his inward man in due time and the heat allayed and a wonderfull calme and tranquillitie with admiration that he should heretofore be hurried away in a storme frivolously occasioned And as it is observed that too hot mettall'd Horses which are apt to run away with their Riders are no wayes better tamed and taken off their courage than by accustoming them to walk a foot-pace so modest and moderate actions outwardly will in time qualifie the impetuousnesse of the minde It were therefore well worth a mans labour attendance and time to bend his minde resolutely for tryall of his strength and what Mastery he hath of himselfe to act though an unwilling part of patience and to prove how impregnable he is against wonted provocations and having some few times hardened himselfe against such provokings it will become easie to doe and suffer the same in earnest even when the like caution and attendance are not used 10. But because there are certain junctures and causes which doe allmost naturally dispose to anger such as are Sicknesse and Pampering the Bodie making it thereby more than one way resty immoderate Cups and even Fastings rarely used and such as the Bodie is not accustomed to and some other which justle as it were nature out of its Rode and so offends it Great circumspection is in such cases to be used And in trueth such excesses are wholly and absolutely to be avoided as they which blinde the eyes of Reason inslame the Blood precipitate the Spirits to act violently And Abstinences or Fastings themselves stand in need of watchings over a mans disposition For as all things are molested inwardly by denyall of wonted food and naturally complain so the Body of man being disappointed of its ordinarie supply and refreshment is apt to be murmuring discontented and querulous untill it be better acquainted with such changes and fretting and pinchings within will goe nere to vent themselves outwardly upon such as shall stand in their way and converse with them Care therefore is to be taken not as some may inferre to shun fasting but to bridle at such times especially the sharp humour which may stir up strife or discontent lest the good be evill spoken of or a scandall brought upon a Christian Dutie by some misbehaviour consequent thereunto 11. And to the better preventing of such ebullitions of the Spirit it is requisite a man should carefully avoid such Passion when it seems to carrie much innocencie and veniallnesse with it For it seems to divers no offence allmost to be angrie as Balaam was with his Beast to be in Choler against Dogs that will not hunt and Hawks that will not flie against Horses that will not goe according to our mindes and some think themselves excusable when their Choler is high only against their Servants but all with a dangerous errour For as much as libertie being allowed to a mans selfe in such cases Flesh and Blood will not long contain themselves in those bounds but being accustomed to such heats and perturbations will transgresse where perhaps they never intended For by such usances tolerated men become easily inflameable and their blood afore they are aware is as it were sowr'd and disposing to other excesses and that upon occasions lesse warrantable 12. And upon the same reason circumspection is to be had how a man is offended and angrie with himselfe for some men have held it verie laudable so to be and some have been religiously vindicative upon themseves by severe Penances for their follies and offences against God and others which must not be disallowed when governed by Christian prudence which many times being wanting a man punishes one sin by another and offers unnaturall violence to himselfe which is worse than to doe the same to another So that herein is requisite the Counsell and conduct of others no lesse than in Controversies of trespasses against a mans Neighbour to whome he would seldome doe justice if he were Accuser Judge and Executioner too And so not rarely men transported with a religious Passion against themselves as it may seem offend in punishing offences And this is seen in cases extra-religious men fretting and storming and raging that matters under their hands succeed not according to their mindes and merits They will miscall themselves complain of themselves and be enraged as if no man had so ill luck as they or did so ill as they and this doing hold themselves very excusable because none but themselves suffer hereby But there is herein commonly a double errour For first they who give way to any exorbitances against themselves prepare a way to be injurious and furious against others much more and that upon the reason here given But secondly what seemeth to be seldome is really so And men fretting and in a tosse against themselves to outward appearance are in trueth incensed against Gods Providence or perhaps their tutelarie Angells not doing their parts toward them in giving better events to their good actions For no man as Saint Paul saith ever hated his own flesh or himselfe naturally and no man that is supernaturally or by Grace vindicative upon himselfe can lightly fall into such passions and therefore inconsiderately accuses others of his mistakes and miscarriages who can be no other than the mentioned whether he intends so much or not Some instances may make this more probable as When he misses a thing he had in his hand a little before and cannot suddenly finde it for
suffereth long and is kinde Charitie envieth not Chartie vaunteth not it selfe is not puffed up Doth not behave it selfe unseemly Rejoyceth not in iniquitie but rejoyceth in the trueth Beareth all things endureth all things Which whosoever so doeth cannot envie nor seek nor desire the evill of another nor rejoice at any evill befalling any other as if thereby some good had befallen him which is the guise of Envie Wherefore O Lord who knowest that all our doings without Charitie are nothing worth pour into my heart that most excellent gift of Charitie the proper Antidote against this Poison of Envie hatred and malice and the very soule of all Christian Graces and the Earnest of and key to Glorie and that fire of unquenchable blessednesse contrarie to that unquenchable fire of Hell where the Devill and his Angells are tormented that fo for his fake and through his Spirit who loved us and gave himselfe for us I may with faithfull servent and never failing Charitie love thee who hast first loved me and in thee and for thee all as they belong to Thee through Jesus Christ Amen SECT XIV Of the Capitall Sin Covetousnesse 1. I Have sometimes doubted and wondered how the excessive Declamations found in humane Authours and the sharpest Censures found in Holy Writ can be true of severall Vices as if more than one were worst of all For sometimes Pride is the originall of all Evill and sometimes Covetousnesse is said to be the Root of all Evill as 1 Tim. 6. 10. And than which nothing can be said more severely against any Sin the Apostle adviseth concerning Covetousnesse Ephes 5. 3. Let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints For what indeed can worse become Saints whose conversation is in Heaven than to fall flat upon the earth and like Moles to work in it And There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man saith Ecclesiasticus 10. 2. But comparing the Diseases of the Soule with the distempers of the Body some satisfaction may be given of such exaggerating formes of Speech For as the Maladies of naturall Bodies cannot so well be estimated from their kindes as from the degree of affecting and the danger from the part so affected so is it with the evills of the Soule For a Pin thrust into one part may be more mortall than a Sword run through another And oft-times the pain of the Tooth is lesse tolerable than the Gout in Feet or Joints and a lighter distemper at the Heart more dangerous than a Cancer in the outward parts And thus may Pride be the chief and worst of sinnes of a spirituall nature and Covetousnesse may be the root of all Evill tending to bodily and brutish pleasure though it taketh the least sensible pleasure of any but only treasures up materialls for all other Vices and impells to monstrous desires and actions For gaping and hungry as the unsatiable Grave and dilating its stomach as Hell it fetches from thence allso hellish appetites contriveth plotts to catch its unjust prey or most unjustly hoardeth up and detaineth what perhaps not unjustly was acquired Or if at any time it letteth goe abroad part of its Magazine it is as Garrisons send out Parties to bring in more spoil by pilling and robbing the Country that is by Usurie and extortion or Money lent most disadvantageously to the borrower 3. Certain old Stories doe commonly passe of some Caves Hills or holes of the Earth wherein are great Treasures of Gold and Silver and precious Stones but so that they are kept by Dragons or evill Spirits from being carried out and become usefull to men Very true is this of Wealth in the possession of Covetous Persons There it is to be found but thence it may not be taken by any meanes For 't is kept by Evill Spirits so close that the pretended owner himselfe scarce durst touch it For as Solomon saith What good is there to the owner of them saving the beholding of them with the eyes Ecclesiast 5. v. 11. And yet this is not all but ver 13. There is a sore evill which I have seen under the Sun Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt A double damage generally happening to the Amassers of Wealth One to the wicked treasurer of it while the more he hath the more he wants and the more he possesseth the lesse he enjoyeth And therefore very aptly in our English Tongue we call a Covetous Person a Miserable Person as most unhappie of all men And it proveth a sore evill to him for whome it is so gathered the Posterity of the Covetous Person scattering with like though contrary pleasure as the Father gathered and by prodigious Prodigality hasting to the Grave and so to Hell for spending as his Predecessour for sparing And the Evill Spirit that stopt the course of due spending now on a suddain drawes up the Sluce and drowns the Country with Vice and Vanity managed for a short season by Money But to begin the torment of the Covetous in this life he is told by trueth it selfe Prov. 28. 8. He that by Vsury and unjust gain encreaseth his substance he shall gather for him that will pitty the poor a thing which he dreadeth most of all who so hoardeth 4. But another Reason may be given why St. Paul calleth Covetousnesse the root of all Evill taking here Evill for Punishment and future Torments For I am of opinion that Covetousnesse sends more grist to the Devills Mill and finds more Fewell for to maintain Hell-fire than any other Sin infidelity perhaps excepted For very many great Sinners in the dayes of their youth and Vanity drawing towards the end of their lives have seriously and savingly repented changed their mindes and manners finding thereupon the effect of Gods bountifull Promises and Goodnesse But Covetousnesse like an inveterate Cancer in the Flesh the older it is the more it proceeds and consumes the Bodie and Soule Seldome doe men repent of their parsimonie and basenesse in their youth but often of their profusenesse and licentiousnesse And not so seldome as it were to be wished so rashly retreat from their former Errours that they run into the contrary Vice of Covetousnesse from which very few returne But the old Sinner thinks he makes God some recompence for his former Vices and doubts not but he repents notably if he declaims against young mens and his own expences in foolish Fashions in riotous Companie in costly Dames of the worst rank and such like miscarriages of youth and sees not that another Sin is to be repented of and his base sparing shall but adde to his punishment for base spending Here comes in a Mock-gravity Sobrietie Temperance Continence zeal against all sins but that he is lately wedded to and embraces as fondly as any he did formerly to the apparent hazard of his Soule mistaking change of sins for Repentance and Reformation of Life Whereas the Rule and Power of true Repentance for
our former sins is to act contrarie unto them and in this case especially when we have in youth ill squander'd the temporarie goods God hath lent to us for a season not to be tenacious of them in age but to employ them as freely in the service of God and promoting Pietie exiled by costly Lusts And not be like that unjust old Usurer and Oppressour of whome Henry of Huntington speakes who being exhorted towards his Death to give Almes plentifully towards the expiation of his wicked Covetousnesse refused saying No I will leave my Son all I have got and let him if he pleases give Almes out of it for the good of my Soule 5. It is therefore the advice of our Lord and Master Christ Luke 12. ver 15. Take heed and beware as if one word sufficed not to obviate such a pestilent Disease of Covetousnesse For a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Take we heed of it for the intrinsick evill in it selfe and beware of it for the viperous brood of sins which it bringeth forth and nourisheth some of which may be these Obduration of heart against God and Man being unsensible of the Dutie of Worship Thankfullnesse and fruitfullnesse in all good works the end of his bountie to man in that kinde And a hard heart and barren womb towards the necessities of his Brother craving some little of his abundance Yea cruell is the covetous to his own flesh denying what may be convenient for the same and no better to his minde tormenting it with restlesse and endlesse cares to adde to the unprofitable heap and bring about that designe which never comes to passe For he tells others first he desires but an honest livelihood but having attained to that he proceeds and tells us He would willingly leave a competent subsistence to his Wife and Children and having gained that Point allso then he is no lesse sollicitous about that competencie never knowing when he hath it though he hath it but would make his Posterities rich too and Gentlemen and Esquires and Knights and Nobles if it were possible and what not Then should he sleep sweetly in his Grave and for his Soule it is the least part of his sollicitude But if doing no good or doing no evill but to himselfe were the evill in which the Covetous man was only guilty it were a laudable sin if any may be said so to be in comparison of the wicked Pranks it plaies upon other What Choler and wrath rages not at a triviall losse which a liberall Soule would not be moved at or stirred Break but an earthen Vessell of two pence you allmost break his heart and if he breakes your Head it is lesse than can be expected from him Violences Frauds Cheatings treacheries to God and his Country for lucre Perverting Justice by Bribery subverting the Faith and confounding Religion by Simonie and Sacriledge which he laughs out of countenance when he cannot stand the tryall of such iniquitie or boldly asking What is Sacriledge What is Simonie baffles all received Knowledge and perswasion thereof by his acute and singular Scepticism trampling on Reason and Justice and Religion all at once Adde hereunto Lying Perjuries Stealings Rapines and a benefit raised to himselfe by depopulations of Parishes reducing the well-inhabited Place to one or two great Farmes taking up a strange Paradox for his Defence that there are notwithstanding never the fewer People because Nature will work in an unknown Manner and Land. How manifestly hath experience taught us what the Prophet Habakkuk denounceth against such Engrossers Chap. 2. 9. Woe to him that coveteth an evill covetousnesse to himselfe that he may set his nest on high c. For in trueth I have by me many Instances of curses upon Persons and Families who by such ill wayes of advancing themselves have in a short time been utterly ruin'd But I will not trouble this Discourse with them So as that is happened to them which the Psalmist hath Psalm 75. 5. according to the auncienter Translation The proud are robbed they have slept their sleep and all the men whose hands are mighty have found nothing Great matters they grasped at in their projectings but in the conclusion they were forced to let goe what before they held and nothing remained But above all this men should seriously consider there is more guilt in this sin than is obvious to every eye especially having in it the Pearl of Covetousnesse and that is no lesse if St. Paul may be believed than Idolatrie Coloss 3. 5. Mammon being erected in the heart the Temple of God and preferred before God and all that are called Gods which is the Character of Antichrist 6. And the consideration of these Evills may more than sufficiently disswade the pursuit of these earthly Riches which make us poor towards God But does not Christ the Oracle of God tell us as we have it Acts 20. It is better to give than to receive And the reason hereof is not obscure because it maketh us like unto God who giveth unto all men liberally yea Psal 145. Openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousnesse And believe we Solomon the wisest of Men rather than relye on our own witts naturall he telleth us that The Liberall soule shall be made fat Not unlike to those Breasts which abound by being drawn but are dried up and emptie by denying what they have to afford to others by Gods and Natures appointment 7. And there is but one or two main Objections which the Covetous is wont to alledge for his tenaciousnesse and against Bountie and Charitie especially towards Publick Good. Charitie of that nature is much perverted and abused to evill ends Which if the trueth were plainly known is not the reall reason of such Persons illiberality but the love of Money But be it so Charitable deeds are perverted to ill uses such benefactions made with pious intentions shall never be wrested by any abuses out of the hands of the giver but his reward shall be with the Lord and that an hundred fold Besides to whome can the subtillest Worldling give or leave his Estate so securely as it shall not or may not be abused He himselfe abused it and himselfe many times in getting it and keeping it which as dung ought to be spread abroad to make the Soil fruitfull And doth not Riches left to the dear Heirs of our Bodies suffer and doe more mischief to them than Good Doe they not abuse them in rioting Luxurie and Whoredome and Drunkennesse Who would have thought that the Covetous Person should be a man of so much mercie as to bring the abuse and mischief of Wealth home to his own Familie rather than the Church or State should be the worse for his freenesse But so experience often teaches us to fall out Whereas by sparing somewhat out of that we enjoy to Gods Service the remainder is sanctified and by Gods blessing becomes
superstitious admiration of some mens persons to the injurious usage of others God deliver them and this Church and from the effects of such distempers SECT IX Of the Vnion and Communion with God in the Holy Eucharist or Lords Supper to which certain Instructions are premised 1. IT is the opinion of Learned Doctours that all Orders and degrees Ecclesiasticall are given with designe to Consecrate the Eucharist of the Bodie and Blood of Christ which may well be call'd in question but that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the summitie of the practicall Mysteries left us and ordained by Christ for our edification and straitest Union with him is not to be denied after such grounds given us thereof in Scripture and assurances thereof from the unisone consent of the Learned and holy Fathers of the Church in all Ages Our own Liturgie teaching us that if with a penitent heart and lively Faith we receive that holy Sacrament we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his Blood we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we are one with Christ and Christ with us And afterward that hereby we evermore dwell in him and he in us It must necessarily be therefore that an intimate Union is hereby wrought between Christ and the faithfull Soule highly to be valued earnestly to be sought after and diligently and zealously to be laboured for as that true Bread which came down from Heaven excelling infinitely the Mannah which came down from Heaven that Bread which perisheth not but lasteth and leadeth unto Eternall Life as Christ himselfe John 6. testifieth 2. But leaving to others the accurate explication of the Majestie of this Mysterie and not much employing our selves in the opening this Treasurie of Grace and Mercie we shall confine our selves to the more practicall consideration and that briefly of the right use of that which is so effectuall to the more strict full and perfect Union with God. And to this end we shall here first deliver certain fundamentall or at least very profitable Documents to be received and observed by fruitfull Communicants 2. First then it must be noted that the things themselves of which the Eucharist consisteth naturally tend no more to such sublime ends and effects than any other things howbeit severall Analogies are by the ingenious pietie of men alledged to declare the sutablenesse of the Elements to such ends not to be despised but this must in the mean time be acknowledged that it was both in the Liberty and Power of Christ to have chosen what other things he pleased to have annexed his Graces unto had it so pleased him 3. Secondly That the two Elements for so are they called not according to strict signification whereby there are said to be four Elements in Nature but onely as they concurre to make the Sacramentall Bodie as they doe constitute the naturall bodies are the Bread and Wine which were in most common use in the Country where Christ did celebrate his last Supper without any speciall and precise Obligation of Christians to the very same matter in all points and circumstances for we know not infallibly whether the Bread was purely of one kinde of Grain and that of Wheat or whether there were as there possibly might be some mixture in that bodie as it is held there was in the other the Wine For questionlesse Christ was not anxious himselfe about that Point neither ought we but onely to follow and imitate him as neer as we can by honest and ordinarie endeavours 4. Thirdly It is to be considered that whatever Treasure of Grace and Mercie is said and believed to be contained in the Eucharist by Gods dignifying and speciall replenishing of them with them are not said so necessarily to flow from thence that every one should partake of them who are partakers of the outward Formes Neither are they as Pipes or Conduits which run alike to all men that come to them and catch what they lett fall but as by Gods extraordinarie Power and Goodnesse they have this store of benefits given unto them and not of themselves so by the same Providence and Wisdome of God are they there dispensed as it seems good unto him And it seems good to him to proportion the benefits of them agreeable to the capacitie of the receiver I say Capacitie and not Merits which should demand in justice what is there contained but the Condition is there as the Psalmist hath Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it desire earnestly and prepare thy selfe dulie and plentie of Blessings will by vertue of Gods Promise redound to thee which Benefits we shall hereafter touch 5. Fourthly The manner of receiving Christ with the Blessings he necessarily brings with him in this Sacrament is somewhat differing in outward forme from that we receive him in by his Holy Word made known to us and by Baptisme wherein we are regenerate and incorporate into the Body of Christ and that by Faith too as in the Eucharist but agrees in the Inward For the visible Instruments of receiving Christ are much different the Bread and Wine representing Christ to the Eye as the Word of God to the Ear And the Word of God taught and believed initiates us by Illumination and Revelation of the Minde and Will of God not attainable in a saving manner but by that The Sacrament of Baptisme carries us on from thence to Purgation For hereby are we cleansed from all our sins The Sacrament of the Eucharist perfects and crowns all these For as much as all other gifts and graces upon which we are built and in which we stand before God are by this one revived quickened encreased and strengthened But we doe not receive a new doctrine of Faith nor another kinde of Grace of Faith nor another Spirit nor another Christ nor another spirituall life in Christ but the same in substance all with new advantages 6. Fifthly The outward Symboles or Elements of Bread and Wine called the Body and Blood of Christ because they both represent and exhibite them to the duly disposed Soule are not after Consecration Christ himselfe any more than they were before For it is one thing to say what those sensible Objects are which we call the Sacrament though the Sacrament properly so taken consisteth equally of the word Sanctifying and the Elements sanctified by it and another to say what we receive in the Sacrament which is really Christ And therefore they are idle words and calumnies which men give out that we receive not really Christ or that we believe not that Christ is in the Sacrament because we believe not that he is the very Sacrament it selfe or that Bread and Wine are not present in the Sacrament 7. Sixthly Whatever is visible tractable tasteable in the Eucharist is not Christ And if we must not believe our eyes and the eyes of all men assuring us that to be Bread and Wine which we behold to be so then may we not believe our
eares so that if Christ should tell us that it was his Bodie we may as reasonably denie that he doth say what in trueth he doth say For the Eye is a lesse fallible sense than the Ear as Philosophers agree And whereas it is said We cannot see substances themselves but onely Accidents it matters not whether that Opinion be true or false being we see as much of those bodies and their substances as of any substance in the world and no more is needfull 8. Seventhly The sacred Symboles are called the Bodie and Blood of Christ because we should understand the dignity and efficacie and strait conjunction between them and Christ and Christ and us who thereby receive him as our Food 9. Lastly The meanes whereby we so receive Christ in this Blessed Sacrament is Faith as is truely and generally said but not alltogether as some may understand and conceive For Faith as in our Sanctification so in our Justification doth work and no otherwise doth it make us worthie and happie Communicants For it layes the foundation of all our Religion and becoming lively by love and Charitie gives life to all our spirituall performances and consequently renders them effectuall to us So that we must believe first according to the true Catholique Faith in generall then specially the nature ends and uses of this Sacrament Lastly we must have a comfortable perswasion of the goodnesse of God in accepting us in the Sacrament and his dispensations towards us but there must allso be joyned herewith 1. Discerning the Lords Body and that not to be it properly which we see but that which is invisible and spiritually taken 2. That we judge our selves by examination and humiliation of our selves that by rashnesse of approach we be not condemned of the Lord. 3. Invocation of Gods mercie for past sins and of his assisting Grace for preventing the like future failings and falls as we have been formerly subject to 4. To have no malice nor notorious hatred in our hearts but Charitie to all men especially towards them with whome we communicate 5. That we be void of all purpose or designe of committing over again any of those sinnes which we finde in our selves upon due enquity and examination but rather have a sincere how weak soever it may be desire and purpose of living more agreeably to Gods holy Will in all things 6. That we have a good hope through Gods Grace which some miscall Faith that we shall live according to our Vow in Baptisme of old made and there renewed and ratified and that this hope begets a care and conscience of our wayes hereafter lest we by relapsing into former errours dissolve that happie Union and conjunction obtained in this Blessed Sacrament with the Father and the Son. SECT X. Of the Difficulties and dangers in receiving the Holie Communion which are here discussed 1. WE are told in the Office of our Church for the celebration of the Communion That as the benefits are great if with a true penitent heart and a lively Faith we receive that Holy Sacrament so is the danger great if we receive the same unworthily for then are we guiltie of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ we eat and drink our own damnation not considering the Lords Body we kindle Gods wrath against us we provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kindes of Death All which seems to be drawn from the words of Saint Paul 1 Corin. 11. ver 27. Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And ver 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himselfe not discerning the Lords Bodie which Speeches it behoveth straitly to understand aright lest by violence used in wresting them to too favourable a sense we occasion the profanation of those Holy Mysteries by rudenesse and presumption of unbelieving and impenitent comers unto it or we so straiten the way to Gods holy Table that Believers and they none of the worst rank should be disheartened and discouraged from approaching to it The genuine sense therefore and importance of those Sayings are faithfully to be unfolded for the better informing of the Judgement and directing and satisfying the Conscience of the cordiall Christian and sincere For it is most certain upon too frequent experience that an horrible abuse is made of the opinion of the Holinesse of the Sacrament and Doctrine of Saint Paul and allso of the Church even now recited and that by worldly and loose men who believing in grosse the sacrednesse of the Communion alledge that for a sufficient cause to excuse themselves from receiving of it when God knowes they have little apprehension either of the Holinesse of that or their unholinesse or unfitnesse pretending more scrupulousnesse and warinesse than others and than the Word of God requires absolutely at their hands though it is granted that divers finde themselves so entangled between the consciousnesse of their own unworthinesse and perswasion of the worthinesse of that that they are unwillingly obstructed in drawing nigh thus unto Christ so mercifully offered to them For whose sake I have prepared these following instructions leaving others to be condemned for their falsenesse and hypocrisie in sacred things by their own consciences and that very judgement which is pretended to be feared in so abstaining 2. First then It is to be granted and supposed by all ingenuous as well as pious Christians that it is in it selfe incredible and a great injurie done to the wisdome and goodnesse of Christ instituting this holy Sacrament to imagine that he should so mock the greatest number of true though weak Believers as to ordain such a Sacrament and to such great ends and propound so great benefits and leave so many gracious and kinde invitations and exhortations to come to him there present and in readinesse to satisfie the hungrie Soule with goodnesse and to feast him with the fat and sweet of his own Table and yet withall cloth that precious Ordinance with so many severe circumstances and clogge it with so many dangerous difficult and heavie Conditions as very few should dare to come at it or be the better for it 3. Secondly There is to be observed a very great difference between Worthy Communicating and due or Fit communicating and that both these are vulgarly and Fallaciously contained in that one word Worthie which hath a double sense For he properly is said to be worthy who is equall in qualifications of Vertue and Graces to the worth and merits of that holy Sacrament and in this acceptation no man may be said to be worthy no not the best prepared and holiest man. Another sense of Worthinesse is that we call'd Fitnesse whereby how unworthy soever a Soule may be of that Sacrament he may be reputed worthy and come acceptably and fruitfully and so that willfully in such cases to absent himselfe may turne to his own