ages past and troubled themselves with tying untying knots like Hypocondriacks in a fit of Melancholy thinking of nothing troubling themselves with nothing and falling out about nothings and being very wise very learned in things that are not and work not and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God Mens notions are too often like the Mules begotten by aequivocal and unnatural Generations but they make no species they are begotten but they can beget nothing they are the effects of long study but they can do no good when they are produced they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae the way of understanding If the Spirit of God be our Teacher we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good to be wise and to be holy to be profitable and careful and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences more skill in the Scriptures more satisfaction in their doubts than can be obtained by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world And if the holy Spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions to disturb the Church for interest or pride to resist Government in things indifferent to spend the peoples zeal in things unprofitable to make Religion to consist in outsides and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards No no the Man that is wise he that is conducted by the Spirit of God knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist than to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety for what for Religion no for the Body of Religion not so much for the Garment of the Body of Religion no not for so much but for the Fringes of the Garment of the Body of Religion for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren they are things or rather Circumstances and manners of things in which the Soul and Spirit is not at all concerned 3. Holiness of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding not only as a Natural medium nor only as a prudent medium but as a means by way of Divine blessing He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Here we have a promise for it and upon that we may relye The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recital of his Creed found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner and by a very plain instrument it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to do and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jews revealing them to Babes not because they had less learning but because they had more love they were children and Babes in Malice they loved Christ and so he became to them a light and a glory St. Paul had more Learning then they all and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth he was also the wisest and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent he had a divine light and excellent wisdom superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings And St. Paul though he went very far to the Knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new Lesson in a new School at the feet of one greater then his Gamaliel his learning grew much greater his notions brighter his skill deeper by the love of Christ and his desires his passionate desires after Jesus The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah 29. 11 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is seal'd And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned He that is no learned man who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets cannot read Gods Book for want of learning For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision not the only one indeed but the common gate But beyond this there must be another learning for he that is learned bring the Book to him and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it if the Book be sealed if his eyes be closed if his heart be not opened if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline Humane learning is an excellent Foundation but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God For we may further observe that blindnesse errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightness of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this Spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the Spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye
Christians are to be justified by Faith or the works of the Gospel for I shall make it appear that they are both the same thing No man disparages Faith but he that sayes Faith does not work righteousness for he that sayes so sayes indeed it cannot justifie for he sayes that Faith is alone it is Faith only and the words of my Text are plain You see saith S. James that is it is evident to your sense it is as clear as an ocular demonstration that a man is justified by works and not by Faith only My Text hath in it these two Propositions a negative and an affirmative The negative is this 1. By Faith only a man is not justified The affirmative 2. By works also a man is justified When I have briefly discoursed of these I shall only adde such practical considerations as shall make the Doctrines useful and tangible and material 1. By Faith only a man is not justified By Faith only here is meant Faith without Obedience For what do we think of those that detain the Faith in Unrighteousness they have Faith they could not else keep it in so ill a Cabinet but yet the Apostle reckons them amongst the Reprobates for the abominable the Reprobates and the disobedient are all one and therefore such persons for all their Faith shall have no part with faithful Abraham for none are his Children but they that do the works of Abraham Abraham's faith without Abraham's works is nothing for of him that hath faith and hath not works S. James askes can Faith save him Meaning that it is impossible For what think we of those that did miracles in Christs name and in his name cast out Devils Have not they Faith Yes omnem fidem all faith that is alone for they could remove Mountains but yet to many of them Christ will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Nay at last what think we of the Devils themselves have not they faith yes and this faith is not fides miraculorum neither but it is an Operative faith it works a little for it makes them tremble and it may be that is more than they faith does to thee and yet dost thou hope to be saved by a faith that does less to thee than the Devils faith does to him That 's impossible For Faith without works is dead saith S. James It is manus arida saith S. Austin it is a withered hand and that which is dead cannot work the life of grace in us much less obtain eternal life for us In short a man may have faith and yet do the works of unrighteousness he may have faith and be a Devil and then what can such a faith do to him or for him It can do him no good in the present constitution of affairs S. Paul from whose mistaken works much noise hath been made in this question is clear in this particular Nothing in Christ Jesus can avail but Faith working by Charity that is as he expounds himself once and again nothing but a new creature nothing but keeping the Commandments of God If faith be defin'd to be any thing that does not change our natures and make us to be a new Creation unto God if keeping the Commandments be not in the definition of faith it avails nothing at all Therefore deceive not your selves they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord that is not every one that confesses Christ and believes in him calling Christ Master and Lord shall be sav'd but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven These things are so plain that they need no Commentary so evident that they cannot be denyed and to these I add but this one truth that faith alone without a good life is so far from justifying a sinner that it is one of the greatest aggravations of his condemnation in the whole World For no man can be so greatly damned as he that hath faith for unless he knows his Masters will that is by faith be convinced and assents to the revelations of the will of God he can be beaten but with few stripes but he that believes hath no excuse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by the sentence of his own heart and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many stripes the greater condemnation shall be his portion Natural reason is a light to the Conscience but faith is a greater and therefore if it be not followed it damns deeper than the Hell of the Infidels and uninstructed And so I have done with the Negative Proposition of my Text a man is not justified by faith alone that is by faith which hath not in it Charity and Obedience 2. If faith alone will not do it what will The affirmative part of the Text answers not faith alone but works must be an ingredient a man is justified by works and that is now to be explicated and prov'd It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justifie if when a man is justified he is never the nearer to be saved Now that without Obedience no man can go to Heaven is so evident in holy Scripture that he that denyes it hath no faith There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked and I will not justifie a sinner saith God unless faith purges away our sins it can never justifie Let a man believe all the revelations of God if that belief ends in its self and goes no further it is like physick taken to purge the stomach if it do not work it is so far from bringing health that it self is a new sickness Faith is a great purger and purifier of the soul purifying your hearts by Faith saith the Apostle It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul but if it does not work it corrupts in the stomack it makes us to rely upon weak Propositions and trifling confidences it is but a dreaming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Phantastick dream and introduces Pride or superstition swelling thoughts and presumptions of the Divine favour But what saith the Apostle Follow Peace with all men Holiness without which no man can see God Mark that If Faith does not make you charitable and holy talk no more of justification by it for you shall never see the glorious face of God Faith indeed is a title and relation to Christ it is a naming of his names but what then Why then saith the Apostle Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity For let any man consider can the Faith of Christ and the hatred of God stand together Can any man be justified that does not love God Or can any man love God and sin at the same time And does not he love sin that falls under its temptation and obeyes it in the lusts thereof and delights in the vanity and makes excuses for it
are to be reliev'd in equity or there is a secret dispensation and it does not bind in my particular case or not now or it is but the law of a man and was made for a certain end or it does not bind the conscience but 't was only for Political regards or if the worst happen I will obey passively and then I am innocent Thus every man snuffs up the wind like the wild Asses in the Wilderness and thinks that Authority is an incroachment upon a mans birth-right and in the mean time never considers that Christ took upon him our Nature that he might learn us obedience and in that also make us become like unto God In his Justice and his Mercy he was imitable before but before the Incarnation of Christ we could not in passive graces imitate God who was impassible but he was pleased at a great rate to set forward this duty and when himself became obedient in the hardest point obediens usque ad mortem and is now become to us the Author and Finisher of our Obedience as well as of our Faith admonetur omnis aetas fieri posse quod aliquando factum est We must needs confess it very possible to obey the severest of the Divine Laws even to dye if God commands because it was already done by a man and we must needs confess it excellent because it was done by God himself But this great Example is of universal influence in the whole matter of Obedience For that I may speak of that part of this Duty which can be useful and concerns us Men do not deny but they must obey in all Civil things but in Religion they have a Supreme God only and Conscience is his interpreter and in effect every man must be the Judge whether he shall obey or no. Therefore it is that I say the example of our Lord is the great determination of this inquiry for he did obey and suffer according to the commands of his Superiors under whose Government he was placed he gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to the nippers he kept the Orders of the Rulers and the Customs of the Synagogues the Law of Moses and the Rites of the Temple and by so doing he fulfilled all righteousness Christ made no distinctions in his Obedience but obeyed God in all things and those that God set over him in all things according to God and in things of Religion most of all because to obey was of it self a great instance of Religion and if ever Religion comes to be pretended against Obedience in any thing where our Superior can command it is imposture For that is the purpose of my Text Obedience is better than Sacrifice Our own judgment our own opinion is the Sacrifice seldom fit to be offered to God but most commonly deserving to be consumed by fire but take it at the best it is not half so good as Obedience for that was indeed Christ's Sacrifice and as David said of Goliah's sword non est alter talis there is no other Sacrifice that can be half so good and when Abraham had lifted up his sacrificing knife to slay his Son and so expressed his obedience God would have no more he had the Obedience and he cared not for the Sacrifice By Sacrifice here then is meant the external and contingent actions of Religion by Obedience is meant submission to Authority and observing the command Obedience is a not chusing our Duty a not disputing with our Betters not to argue not to delay not to murmur it is not this but it is much better for it is Love and Simplicity and Humility and Vsefulness and I think these do reductively contain all that is excellent in the whole conjugation of Christian Graces My Text is a perfect Proposition and hath no special remark in the words of it but is only a great representation of the most useful Truth to all Kingdoms and Parliaments and Councels and Authorities in the whole world It is your Charter and the Sanction of your Authority and the Stabiliment of your Peace and the Honour of your Laws and the great defence of your Religion and the building up and the guarding of the Kings Throne It is that by which all the Societies in Heaven and Earth are firm without this you cannot have a Village prosperous or a Ship arrive in Harbour It is that which God hath bound upon us by hope and fear by wrath and conscience by duty and necessity Obedience is the formality of all Vertues and every sin is Disobedience There can no greater thing be said unless you please to add that we never read that the earth opened and swallowed up any man alive but a company of rebellious disobedient people who rose up against Moses and Aaron the Prince of the People and the Priest of God For Obedience is the most necessary thing in the world and corruptio optimi est pessima Disobedience is the greatest evil in the world and that alone which can destroy it My Text is instanced in the matter of Obedience to God but yet the case is so that though I shall in the first place discourse of our Obedience to man I shall not set one foot aside from the main intention of it because Obedience to our Superiours is really and is accounted to be Obedience to God for they are sent by God they are his Vicegerents his Ministers and his Embassadors Apostolus cujusque est quisque say the Jews Every mans Apostle is himself and he that heareth or despiseth you said Christ heareth or despiseth me And the reason is very evident because it is not to be expected that God should speak to us by himself but sometimes by Angels sometimes by Prophets once by his Son and alwaies by his Servants Now I desire two things to be observed First We may as well perceive that God speaks to us when he uses the ministry of men as when he uses the ministry of Angels one is as much declared and as certain as the other And if it be said a man may pretend to come from God and yet deliver nothing but his own errand that is no strange thing but remember also that S. Paul puts this supposition in the case of an Angel If an Angel preach any other Gospel and we know that many Angels come like Angels of light who yet teach nothing but the waies of Darkness So that we are still as much bound to obey our Superior as to obey an Angel a man is paulò minor angelis a little lower than the Angels but we are much lower than the King Consider then with what fear and love we should receive an Angel and so let us receive all those whom God hath sent to us and set over us for they are no less less indeed in their Persons but not in their Authorities Nay the case is nearer yet for we are not only bound to receive God's Deputies as God's
imploretur remedium run to the King for remedy for therefore God hath set the Imperial fortune over humane affairs ut possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare componere modis ac regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and rule and compose every new arising question And it is not to be despised but is a great indication of this Truth that the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the world do approve them and are a great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in matters of Religion and questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King divines And since God hath blessed us with so good so just so religious and so wise a Prince let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination For Wisdom saith By me Princes rule by me they decree justice and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency and is as the spirit of the most High God 4. Let no man be too busie in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldom gets good to himself but seldom misses to do mischief unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Laertius Will a Son contend with his Father that 's not decent though the son speak that which is right he may possibly say well enough but he does do very ill not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior whether it be good or no for the very commandment can make it not only good but a necessary good It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these necessary things said the Council of Jerusalem and yet these things were not necessary but as they were commanded to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary but the commandment came authority did interpose and then they were made so 5. But then besides the advantages both of the Spirit and the authority of Kings in matter of question the Laws and Decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteemed as a final sentence in all things disputed The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God this tells what Rulers he means Rulers Ecclesiastical and what of them whose faith follow they must praeire in articulis they are not Masters of your Faith but Guides of it and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obeyed said our blessed Saviour These words were not said for nothing and they were nothing if their authority were nothing For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private The publick is far the better the daughter of God and the mother of a blessing and alwayes dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the tryal it hath been subjected to the Prophets tryed and searched and approved the private is yet to be examined The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed the private is various and multiform as chance and no man can follow him that hath it for if he follows one he is reproved by a thousand and if he changes he may get a shame but no truth and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses God told them they were Prophets of an inferior rank than Moses was God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions but the Ruach hakkodesh the publick spirit of Moses their Prince that was higher and what then wherefore then God said were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses plainly teaching us that where there is a more excellent spirit they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit that is of a Subject speaking against the Spirit and the Laws of the Church In Heaven and in the air and in all the regions of Spirits the Spirit of a lower Order dares not speak against the Spirit of an higher and therefore for a private Spirit to oppose the publick is a disorder greater than is in Hell it self To conclude this point Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy and not by the Laws who would endure them and yet why may they not do that as well as any Ecclesiastick person preach Religion not which the Laws allow but what is taught him by his own private Opinion but he that hath the Laws on his side hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him and can never want a great measure of justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws and the Customs of the Country are the results of wise Counsels or long experience they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit and nothing of this can be said of private Religions for they break the Peace and trouble the Conscience and undoe Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdom of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place but if we cannot do what the Laws command we will suffer what they impose and then all is well again But first who ever did so that could help it And secondly this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery for what man did ever say the Laws were not good but he also said the Punishment was unjust And thirdly which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution he may think to please himself but he neither does or sayes any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws Such men are like them that sail in a storm they may possibly be thrown into a Harbour but they are very sick all the way But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharged in the Court of Conscience but there is still a sinner and a debter For the Law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment
uttered but that the best of us are overtaken sometime through blindness sometime through hastiness sometime through impatience sometime through other passions of the mind whereunto God knows we are too subject That I find by true experience the best way of Learning and Peace is that which cures all these evils as far as in the World they are curable and that is the waies of Holiness which are therefore the best and only way of Truth In Disputations there is no end and but very little advantage but the way of godliness hath in it no Error and no Doubtfulness By this therefore I hoped best to applie the Counsel of the Wise man Stand thou fast in thy sure Understanding in the way and knowledg of the Lord and have but one manner of word and follow the word of peace and righteousness I have reason to be confident that they who desired me to publish this Discourse will make use of it and find benefit by it and if any others do so too both they and I shall still more and more give God all thanks and praise and glory Via Intelligentiae SERM. VI. John VII 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self THE Ancients in their Mythological Learning tell us that when Jupiter espyed the Men of the World striving for Truth and pulling her in pieces to secure her to themselves he sent Mercury down amongst them and he with his usual Arts dressed Error up in the Imagery of Truth and thrust her into the Croud and so left them to contend still and though then by Contention men were sure to get but little Truth yet they were as earnest as ever and lost Peace too in their Importune contentions for the very Image of Truth And this indeed is no wonder but when Truth and Peace are brought into the world together and bound up in the same bundle of life when we are taught a Religion by the Prince of Peace who is the Truth it self to see men Contending for this Truth to the breach of that Peace and when men fall out to see that they should make Christianity their Theme that is one of the greatest wonders in the World For Christianity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and gentle Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was brought into the World to soften the asperities of humane nature and to cure the Barbarities of evil men and the Contentions of the passionate The Eagle seeing her breast wounded and espying the Arrow that hurt her to be feathered cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feathered Nation is destroyed by their own Feathers That is a Christian fighting and wrangling with a Christian and indeed that 's very sad but wrangling about Peace too that Peace it self should be the argument of a War that 's unnatural and if it were not that there are many who are homines multae religionis nullius penè pietatis Men of much Religion and little Godliness it would not be that there should be so many quarrels in and concerning that Religion which is wholly made up of Truth and Peace and was sent amongst us to reconcile the hearts of men when they were tempted to uncharitableness by any other unhappy argument Disputation cures no Vice but kindles a great many and makes Passion evaporate into sin and though men esteem it Learning yet it is the most useless Learning in the World When Eudamidas the Son of Archidamas heard old Xenocrates disputing about Wisdom he asked very soberly If the old man be yet disputing and enquiring concerning Wisdom what time will he have to make use of it Christianity is all for practice and so much time as is spent in quarrels about it is a diminution to its Interest men enquire so much what it is that they have but little time left to be Christians I remember a saying of Erasmus that when he first read the New Testament with fear and a good mind with a purpose to understand it and obey it he found it very useful very pleasant but when afterwards he fell on reading the vast differences of Commentaries then he understood it less than he did before then he began not to understand it For indeed the Truths of God are best dressed in the plain Culture and simplicity of the Spirit but the Truths that men commonly teach are like the reflexions of a Multiplying-glass for one piece of good money you shall have forty that are phantastical and it is forty to one if your finger hit upon the right Men have wearied themselves in the dark having been amused with false fires and instead of going home have wandred all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in untroden unsafe uneasie wayes but have not found out what their Soul desires But therefore since we are so miserable and are in error and have wandred very far we must do as wandring Travellers use to do go back just to that place from whence they wandred and begin upon a new account Let us go to the Truth it self to Christ and he will tell us an easie way of ending all our Quarrels For we shall find Christianity to be the easiest and the hardest thing in the World it is like a secret in Arithmetick infinitely hard till it be found out by a right operation and then it is so plain we wonder we did not understand it earlier Christ's way of finding out of Truth is by doing the will of God We will try that by and by if possible we may find that easie and certain in the mean time let us consider what wayes men have propounded to find out Truth and upon the foundation of that to establish Peace in Christendom 1. That there is but one true way is agreed upon and therefore almost every Church of one denomination that lives under Government propounds to you a Systeme or collective Body of Articles and tells you that 's the true Religion and they are the Church and the peculiar people of God like Brutus and Cassius of whom one sayes Vbicunque ipsi essent praetexebant esse rempublicam they supposed themselves were the Common-wealth and these are the Church and out of this Church they will hardly allow salvation But of this there can be no end for divide the Church into Twenty parts and in what part soever your lot falls you and your party are damned by the other Nineteen and men on all hands almost keep their own Proselytes by affrighting them with the fearful Sermons of Damnation but in the mean time here is no security to them that are not able to judge for themselves and no Peace for them that are 2. Others cast about to cure this evil and conclude that it must be done by submission to an infallible Guide this must do it or nothing and this is the way of the Church of Rome Follow but the Pope and his
Clergy and you are safe at least as safe as their warrant can make you Indeed this were a very good way if it were a way at all but it is none for this can never end our Controversies not only because the greatest Controversies are about this Infallible Guide but also because 1. We cannot find that there is upon Earth any such Guide at all 2. We do not find it necessary that there should 3. We find that they who pretend to be this infallible Guide are themselves infinitely deceived 4. That they do not believe themselves to be Infallible whatever they say to us because they do not put an end to all their own Questions that trouble them 5. Because they have no peace but what is constrained by force and Government 6. And lastly because if there were such a Guide we should fail of Truth by many other causes for it may be that Guide would not do his duty or we are fallible Followers of this infallible Leader or we should not understand his meaning at all times or we should be perverse at some times or something as bad because we all confess that God is an Infallible Guide and that some way or other he does teach us sufficiently and yet it does come to pass by our faults that we are as far to seek for Peace and Truth as ever 3. Some very wise men finding this to fail have undertaken to reconcile the differences of Christendom by a way of moderation Thus they have projected to reconcile the Papists and the Lutherans the Lutherans and the Calvinists the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants and project that each side should abate of their asperities and pare away something of their propositions and joyn in Common terms and phrases of Accommodation each of them sparing somthing and promising they shall have a great deal of peace for the exchange of a little of their opinion This was the way of Cassander Modrevius Andreas Frisius Erasmus Spalato Grotius and indeed of Charles the Fifth in part but something more heartily of Ferdinand the Second This device produced the conferences at Poissy at Montpellier at Ratisbon at the Hague at many places more and what was the event of these Their parties when their Delegates returned either disclamed their Moderation or their respective Princes had some other ends to serve or they permitted the Meetings upon uncertain hopes and a tryal if any good might come or it may be they were both in the wrong and their mutual abatement was nothing but a mutual quitting of what they could not get and the shaking hands of false friends or it may be it was all of it nothing but Hypocrisie and Arts of Craftiness and like Lucian's man every one could be a man and a Pestle when he pleased And the Councel of Trent though under another cover made use of the artifice but made the secret manifest and common for at this day the Jesuits in the Questions de auxiliis Divinae gratiae have prevailed with the Dominicans to use their expressions and yet they think they still keep the sentence of their own Order From hence can succeed nothing but folly and a phantastick peace This is but the skinning of an old sore it will break out upon all occasions 4. Others who understand things beyond the common rate observing that many of our Controversies and peevish wranglings are kept up by the ill stating of the Question endeavour to declare things wisely and make the matter intelligible and the words clear hoping by this means to cut off all disputes Indeed this is a very good way so far as it can go and would prevail very much if all men were wise and would consent to those statings and would not fall out upon the main enquiry when it were well stated but we find by a sad experience that few Questions are well stated and when they are they are not consented to and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated it is nothing else but a drawing up the Armies in Battalia with great skill and discipline the next thing they do is they thrust their Swords into one anothers sides 5. What remedy after all this Some other good men have propounded one way yet but that is a way of Peace rather than Truth and that is that all Opinions should be tolerated and none persecuted and then all the world will be at peace Indeed this relies upon a great reasonableness not only because Opinions cannot be forced but because if men receive no hurt it is to be hoped they will do none But we find that this alone will not do it For besides that all men are not so just as not to do any Injury for some men begin the evil besides this I say there are very many men amongst us who are not content that you permit them for they will not permit you but rule over your Faith and say that their way is not only true but necessary and therefore the Truth of God is at stake and all indifference and moderation is carnal Wisdom and want of Zeal for God nay more than so they preach for Toleration when themselves are under the rod who when they got the rod into their own hands thought Toleration it self to be Intolerable Thus do the Papists and thus the Calvinists and for their Cruelty they pretend Charity They will indeed force you to come in but it is in true Zeal for your Soul and if they do you violence it is no more than if they pull your Arm out of joint when to save you from drowning they draw you out of a River and if you complain it is no more to be regarded than the out-cries of Children against their Rulers or sick men against Physitians But as to the thing it self the truth is it is better in Contemplation than Practice for reckon all that is got by it when you come to handle it and it can never satisfie for the infinite disorders happening in the Government the scandal to Religion the secret dangers to publick Societies the growth of Heresie the nursing up of parties to a grandeur so considerable as to be able in their own time to change the Laws and the Government So that if the Question be whether meer Opinions are to be persecuted it is certainly true they ought not But if it be considered how by Opinions men rifle the affairs of Kingdoms it is also as certain they ought not to be made publick and permitted And what is now to be done must Truth be for ever in the dark and the World for ever be divided and Societies disturbed and Governments weakned and our Spirits debauched with Error and the uncertain Opinions and the Pedantry of talking men Certainly there is a way to cure all this evil and the wise Governour of all the World hath not been wanting in so necessary a matter as to lead us into all Truth But the way hath not yet
Reward of pregnant Wits and hard Study he was remov'd into York-shire where first in the City of York he was an assiduous Preacher but by the disposition of the Divine Providence he hapned to be engaged at North-Alerton in Disputation with three pragmatical Romish Priests of the Jesuits Order whom he so much worsted in the Conference and so shamefully disadvantaged by the evidence of Truth represented wisely and learnedly that the famous Primate of York Archbishop Matthews a learned and an excellent Prelate and a most worthy Preacher hearing of that Triumph sent for him and made him his Chaplain in whose Service he continued till the death of the Primate but in that time had given so much testimony of his dexterity in the conduct of Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs that he grew dear to his Master In that Imployment he was made Prebendary of York and then of Rippon the Dean of which Church having made him his Sub-Dean he managed the Affairs of that Church so well that he soon acquired a greater fame and entred into the possession of many hearts and admiration to those many more that knew him There and at his Parsonage he continued long to do the duty of a learned and good Preacher and by his Wisdom Eloquence and Deportment so gain'd the affections of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of that Country that as at his return thither upon the blessed Restauration of His most Sacred Majesty he knew himself oblig'd enough and was so kind as to give them a Visit so they by their coming in great numbers to meet him their joyful Reception of him their great Caressing of him when he was there their forward hopes to enjoy him as their Bishop their trouble at his Departure their unwillingness to let him go away gave signal testimonies that they were wise and kind enough to understand and value his great worth But while he lived there he was like a Diamond in the dust or Lucius Quinctius at the Plough his low Fortune cover'd a most valuable person till he became observ'd by Sir Thomas Wentworth Lord President of York whom we all knew for his great Excellencies and his great but glorious Misfortunes This rare Person espied the great Abilities of Doctor Bramhall and made him his Chaplain and brought him into Ireland as one whom he believ'd would prove the most fit Instrument to serve in that design which for two years before his arrival here he had greatly meditated and resolved the Reformation of Religion and the Reparation of the broken Fortunes of the Church The Complaints were many the Abuses great the Causes of the Church vastly numerous but as fast as they were brought in so fast they were by the Lord Deputy referred back to Dr. Bramhall who by his indefatigable Pains great Sagacity perpetual Watchfulness daily and hourly Consultations reduc'd things to a more tolerable condition than they had been left in by the schismatical Principles of some and the unjust Prepossessions of others for many years before For at the Reformation the Popish Bishops and Priests seemed to conform and did so that keeping their Bishopricks they might enrich their Kindred and dilapidate the Revenues of the Church which by pretended Offices false Informations Fee-farms at contemptible Rents and ungodly Alienations were made low as Poverty it self and unfit to minister to the needs of them that serv'd the Altar or the noblest purposes of Religion For Hospitality decayed and the Bishops were easie to be oppressed by those that would and they complained but for a long time had no helper till God raised up that glorious Instrument the Earl of Strafford who brought over with him as great affections to the Church and to all publick Interests and as admirable Abilities as ever before his time did invest and adorn any of the Kings Vice-gerents and God fitted his hand with an Instrument good as his Skill was great for the first Specimen of his Abilities and Diligence in recovery of some lost Tithes being represented to His late Majesty of blessed and glorious Memory it pleased His Majesty upon the death of Bishop Downham to advance the Doctor to the Bishoprick of Derry which he not only adorned with an excellent Spirit and a wise Government but did more than double the Revenue not by taking any thing from them to whom it was due but by resuming something of the Churches Patrimony which by undue means was detained in unfitting hands But his care was beyond his Diocese and his zeal broke out to warm all his Brethren and though by reason of the Favour and Piety of King James the escheated Counties were well provided for their Tithes yet the Bishopricks were not so well till the Primate then Bishop of Derry by the favour of the Lord Lieutenant and his own incessant and assiduous labour and wise conduct brought in divers Impropriations cancelled many unjust Alienations and did restore them to a condition much more tolerable I say much more tolerable for though he raised them above contempt yet they were not near to envy but he knew there could not in all times be wanting too many that envied to the Church every degree of prosperity so Judas did to Christ the expence of Oyntment and so Dionysius told the Priest when himself stole the golden Cloak from Apollo and gave him one of Arcadian home-spun that it was warmer for him in Winter and cooler in Summer And for ever since the Church by Gods blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and Pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues inim icus homo the Enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away Gods portion from the Church as if his Word were intended as an instrument to rob his Houses But when the Israelites were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God was their King and Moses his Lieutenant and things were of his management he was pleased by making great Provisions for them that ministred in the service of the Tabernacle to consign this truth for ever That Men as they love God at the same rate are to make provisions for his Priests For when himself did it he not only gave the 48 Cities with a mile of Glebe round about their City every way and yet the whole Country was but 140 miles long or thereabouts from Dan to Beersheba but beside this they had the Tithe of all encrease the first Fruits Offerings Vows Redemptions and in short they had 24 sorts of Dues as Buxtorf relates and all this either brought to the Barn home to them without trouble or else as the nature of the thing required brought to the Temple the first to make it more profitable and the second to declare that they received it not from the people but from God not the Peoples kindness but the Lords inheritance insomuch that this small Tribe of Levi which was not the 40th part of the People as the Scripture computes them
did worse than divorce him from his Church for in all the Roman Divorces they said Tuas tibi res habeto Take your Goods and be gone but Plunder was Religion then However though the usage was sad yet it was recompenced to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince but having served the King in York-shire by his Pen and by his Counsels and by his Interests return'd back to Ireland where under the excellent Conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Vertue But God having still resolv'd to afflict us the good man was forc'd into the fortune of the Patriarchs to leave his Country and his Charges and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land for so the Prophets were us'd to do wandring up and down in sheeps-cloathing but poor as they were the World was not worthy of them and this worthy man despising the shame took up his Cross and followed his Master Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri Et desiderium dulce levat patriae He was not ashamed to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious but so God provided for the needs of his Banished and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted and courage to the persecuted and resolutions to the tempted and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered And here this great man was indeed triumphant this was one of the last and best Scenes of his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last days are the best witnesses of a man But so it was that he stood up in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England First by his Sufferings and great Example for Verbis tantùm philosophari non est Doctoris sed Histrionis To talk well and not to do bravely is for a Comedian not a Divine But this great man did both he suffered his own Calamity with great courage and by his wise Discourses strengthened the hearts of others For there wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome who taking advantage of the Afflictions of His Sacred Majesty in which state Men commonly suspect every thing and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side hoping for ease and finding none flew at Royal Game and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which His most Royal Father the best Man and the wisest Prince in the World had seal'd with the best Blood in Christendom and which Himself suck'd in with His Education and had confirm'd by Choice and Reason and confess'd publickly and bravely and hath since restor'd prosperously Millitiere was the man witty and bold enough to attempt a zealous and a foolish undertaking who addressed himself with ignoble indeed but witty Arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to Him than His Eyes It is true it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock and an Arrow shot against the Sun it could not reach him but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it also and made it fall upon the Shooters head for he made so ingenious so learned and so acute Reply to that Book he so discover'd the Errors of the Roman Church retorted the Arguments stated the Questions demonstrated the Truth and sham'd their Procedures that nothing could be a greater Argument of the Bishops Learning great Parts deep Judgment quickness of Apprehension and Sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome He worte no Apologies for himself though it were much to be wished that as Junius wrote his own Life or Moses his own Story so we might have understood from himself how great things God had done for him and by him but all that he permitted to God and was silent in his own Defences Gloriosius enim est injuriam tacendo fugere quà m respondendo superare But when the Honour and Conscience of his King and the Interest of a true Religion was at stake the fire burned within him and at last he spake with his tongue he cried out like the Son of Croesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed and meddle not with the King His Person is too sacred and Religion too dear to him to be assaulted by vulgar hands In short he acquitted himself in this Affair with so much Truth and Piety Learning and Judgment that in those Papers his Memory will last unto very late succeeding Generations But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler Adversary and a braver Scene for his Contention He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines had studiously declined any more to dispute the particular Questions against us but fell at last upon a general Charge imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers for they saw the Schism and they saw we had left them and because they consider'd not the Causes they resolv'd to out-face us in the Charge But now it was that dignum nactus Argumentum having an Argument fit to employ his great Abilities Consecrat hic praesul calamum calamique labores Ante aras Domino laeta trophaea suo the Bishop now dedicates his Labours to the service of God and of his Church undertook the Question and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them but they did actuate the Schisms and themselves made the first separation in the great point of the Popes Supremacy which was the Palladium for which they principally contended He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the Rights of Kings and Bishops that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age that they impos'd their own Devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles that the Church of England only returned to her Primitive purity that she joined with Christ and his Apostles that she agreed in all the Sentiments of the Primitive Church He stated the questions so wisely and conducted them so prudently and handled them so learnedly that I may truly say they were never more materially confuted by any man since the questions have so unhappily disturbed Christendom Verum hoc eos malè ussit and they finding themselves smitten under the fifth rib set up an old Champion of their own a Goliah to fight against the Armies of Israel the old Bishop of Chalcedon known to many of us replyed to this excellent Book but was so answered by a Rejoinder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry in which he so pressed the former Arguments refuted the Cavils brought in so many impregnable Authorities and Probations and added so many moments and weights to his
blowing from one point but like light issuing from the body of the Sun it is light round about and in every word of God there is a treasure and something will be found somewhere to answer every doubt and to clear every obscurity and to teach every truth by which God intends to perfect our understandings But then take this rule with you Do not pass from plainess to obscurity nor from simple principles draw crafty conclusions nor from easiness pass into difficulty nor from wise notices draw intricate nothings nor from the wisdom of God lead your hearers into the follies of men your principles are easie and your way plain and the words of faith are open and what naturally flows from thence will be as open but if without violence and distortion it cannot be drawn forth the proposition is not of the family of faith Qui nimis emungit elicit sanguinem he that wrings too hard draws blood and nothing is fit to be offer'd to your charges and your flocks but what flows naturally and comes easily and descends readily and willingly from the fountains of salvation 4. Next to this analogy or proportion of faith let the consent of the Catholick Church be your measure so as by no means to prevaricate in any doctrine in which all Christians always have consented This will appear to be a necessary Rule by and by but in the mean time I shall observe to you that it will be the safer because it cannot go far it can be instanced but in three things in the Creed in Ecclesiastical Government and in external forms of worship and Liturgy The Catholick Church hath been too much and too soon divided it hath been us'd as the man upon a hill us'd his heap of heads in a Basket when he threw them down the hill every head run his own way quot capita tot sentèntiae and as soon as the Spirit of Truth was opposed by the Spirit of Error the Spirit of peace was disordered by the Spirit of division and the Spirit of God hath over-power'd us so far that we are only fallen out about that of which if we had been ignorant we had not been much the worse but in things simply necessary God hath preserved us still unbroken all Nations and all Ages recite the Creed and all pray the Lords Prayer and all pretend to walk by the Rule of the Commandments and all Churches have ever kept the day of Christs Resurrection or the Lords day holy and all Churches have been governed by Bishops and the Rites of Christianity have been for ever administred by separate Orders of men and those men have been always set apart by Prayer and the imposition of the Bishops hands and all Christians have been baptized and all baptized persons were or ought to be and were taught that they should be confirm'd by the Bishop and Presidents of Religion and for ever there were publick forms of Prayer more or less in all Churches and all Christians that were to enter into holy wedlock were ever joined or blessed by the Bishop or the Priest in these things all Christians ever have consented and he that shall prophecy or expound Scripture to the prejudice of any of these things hath no part in that Article of his Creed he does not believe the Holy Catholick Church he hath no fellowship no communion with the Saints and Servants of God It is not here intended that the doctrine of the Church should be the Rule of Faith distinctly from much less against the Scripture for that were a contradiction to suppose the Church of God and yet speaking and acting against the will of God but it means that where the question is concerning an obscure place of Scripture the practice of the Catholick Church is the best Commentary Intellectus qui cum praxi concurrit est spiritus vivificans said Cusanus Then we speak according to the Spirit of God when we understand Scripture in that sense in which the Church of God hath always practis'd it Quod pluribus quod sapientibus quod omnibus videtur that 's Aristotles Rule and it is a Rule of Nature every thing puts on a degree of probability as it is witnessed by wise men by many wise men by all wise men and it is Vincentius Lirinensis great Rule of truth Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus and he that goes against what is said always and every where and by all Christians had need have a new revelation or an infallible spirit or he hath an intolerable pride and foolishness of presumption Out of the Communion of the Universal Church no man can be saved they are the body of Christ and the whole Church cannot perish and Christ cannot be a head without a body and he will for ever be our Redeemer and for ever intercede for his Church and be glorious in his Saints and g. he that does not sow in these furrows but leaves the way of the whole Church hath no pretence for his errour no excuse for his pride and will find no alleviation of his punishment These are the best measures which God hath given us to lead us in the way of truth and to preserve us from false doctrines and whatsoever cannot be prov'd by these measures cannot be necessary There are many truths besides these but if your people may be safely ignorant of them you may quietly let them alone and not trouble their heads with what they have so little to do things that need not to be known at all need not to be taught for if they be taught they are not certain or are not very useful and g. there may be danger in them besides the trouble and since God hath not made them necessary they may be let alone without danger and it will be madness to tell stories to your flocks of things which may hinder salvation but cannot do them profit And now it is time that I have done with the first great remark of doctrine noted by the Apostle in my Text all the Guides of souls must take care that the doctrine they teach be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and incorrupt the word of God the truth of the Spirit That which remains is easier 2. In the next place it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grave and reverend no vain notions no pitiful contentions and disputes about little things but becoming your great employment in the ministery of souls and in this the Rules are easie and ready 1. Do not trouble your people with controversies whatsoever does gender strife the Apostle commands us to avoid and g. much more the strife it self a controversie is a stone in the mouth of the hearer who should be fed with bread and it is a temptation to the Preacher it is a state of temptation it engages one side in lying and both in uncertainty and uncharitableness and after all it is not food for souls it is the food of contention it is
every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers detractors and backbiters for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity and yet so common that it is pass'd into a Proverb After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours rule L Let every Minister be careful to observe and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners of which the Laws cannot or do not take cognizance such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings gluttony riotous living expences above their ability pride bragging lying in ordinary conversation covetousness peevishness and hasty anger and such like For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls rule LI In your Sermons to the people often speak of the four last things of Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners and his Severity against the impenitent of the formidable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels Sacrilegious Oppressors of Widows and Orphans and all persons guilty of crying Sins These are useful safe and profitable but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets for there is more laid before you than you can understand and the whole duty of man is To fear God and keep his Commandments Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. rule LII Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation It is enough that you reprove an Errour but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgment thou knowest not and therefore pray for the erring person and reprove him but leave the sentence to his judge rule LIII Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings Merchants and Tradesmen that they be not unskilful nor unadmonished in their respective duties and in all things speak usefully and affectionately for by this means you will provide for all mens needs both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding and them that sin because they have evil dull or depraved affections rule LIV In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion use primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the words of common use and reform Religion by introducing a new word intend to make a change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs but store of Mushromes and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find occasion rule LV Let every Minister in his charge as much as he can endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people or others with whom they converse especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance and putting it off to their death-bed let him explicate the nature of Faith so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity let him as much as he may take from them all confidences that slacken their obedience and diligence let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdom by destroying those things in which it does consist viz. Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Mortification rule LVI Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils for these as they are measures of truth so also of necessity that is as they are safe so they are sufficient and besides what is taught by these no matter of belief is necessary to salvation rule LVII Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies though with a purpose to confute them for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer rule LVIII Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute but teach it with plainness and simplicity and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture but without objection let them be taught to believe but not to argue lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry than establish it by arguments too hard rule LIX Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light immodest or ridiculous expressions but what is wise grave useful and for edification that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity the people may attend with fear and reverence rule LX Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience or more same in Preaching than himself let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down is but a dwarf still and no man is the better for making his brother worse In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd and rejoice that he is served whoever be the Minister that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher yet you may have the reward of being a good man but it is hard to miss both rule LXI Let every Preacher in his Parish take care to explicate to the people the Mysteries of the great Festivals as of Christmas Easter Ascension-day Whitsunday Trinity Sunday the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people and fix them in their memories by the solemnity and circumstances of the day rule LXII In all your Sermons and Discourses speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious and impute not to him such things the consequents of which a wise and good man will not owne never suppose him to be author of sin or the procurer of our damnation For God cannot be tempted