alone that preserves the mutual Confidence between Churches far and wide For the Pursuit of which we have Two infallible Directions 1. Hold fast the form of sound words 2. Rightly dividing the word of truth I. From the first I suppose we are directed to keep to the Common Style of the Church without First Addition Secondly Subtraction or Thirdly Variation First The Papists are most notoriously Guilty of the first notwithstanding that they generally hold all the Fundamentals by superinducing so many false Articles of Faith Idolatrous Worship grievously Superstitious Practices and setting up their own Laws under greater Penalties if not above the very Law of God thus shamefully Defiling his Worship and with the Rubbish of their own Inventions and the Doctrines of Men Perverting and Smothering the Truth of the Gospel Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar Secondly They are likewise Guilty of a Sacrilegious Subtraction by withdrawing the Cup of Blessing entirely from the Laity and holding back the Word of Life the Holy Scripture from the People and deceitfully amusing them with Legends in its stead But they whose great Business it has been to Narrow the Word of God to Enervate the Power of Godliness and to Destroy the Efficacy of Saving Faith are the Pelagians the Socinians and their Harbingers These do it with a witness whilst they attack the Essential Foundations of our Hope by denying the Meritorious Purchase of Christs Death in our Redemption the Imputation of his Righteousness Seal'd to us by his Blood and Confirm'd to us by his Resurrection for our Justification shutting the Gates against the King of Glory and his Divine Majesty disowning the inward Assistance and Comfort of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Effects of the Gospel Sacraments To such as these had the Author to the Hebrews an eye when he says He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under foot the son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the spirit of grace Now both to the Superstitious and Prophane to him that would add and to him that would take away hath God given this Charge What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it And this is St. Iohn's Witness in God's Name I testifie unto every man that heareth the prophesie of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this bock And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesie God shall take away his part out of the book of life c. Thirdly The Variation though in it self not so Malicious is yet of dangerous Consequence It may I confess proceed from a Luxuriant Fancy and a Heedless Affectation But there is a Fault even in this For it is an unmannerly Trespass upon our Governours and Superiours to pretend to correct their Style and in a Private Capacity to be wiser than the multitude of Counsellours Besides the Confusion and Uncertainty it creates in the Apprehension of the Sense of Doctrines thus delivered For every Art and Science has its peculiar Terms and Expressions confin'd to one peculiar Sense and Meaning so fixed by long Use and Experience and if that be once passed by and a Liberty taken by the several Professours to use the Various Words and Loose Expressions of Common Conversation and Entertainment or which may otherwise be the Original Propriety of the Language all Points and Cases will become Unintelligible through Ambiguities and Difference of Acceptation Should we put Coetus for Ecclesia in the different Senses apply'd in our Ecclesiastical Style what a Confusion would it make the former being never otherwise understood than for a Company of Men met together whereas the latter is extended to the utmost Meaning it can bear For sometimes it is taken for the Material Church sometimes for a Congregation and that either of one Parish or Collectively of many as the Church of England or farther for the whole Body of Christians throughout the World or yet more extensively for the Church Triumphant as well as Militant Should we Change the English Word Church into any other Expression what Work would it make For though it properly signifie the Material Edifice or Building as being Deriv'd from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet by a most extended Metonymie is it used in as large a Sense as Ecclesia in the Latin Were Comitia apply'd instead of Concilium how uncoothly and strangely would it for want of Use suit with the Epithets of Provincial National Patriarchal Ecumenical and the like Castalio has Translated the Bible into a Ciceronian Style but he is blamed for it by all who have weighed the Inconvenience of such a Novelty And yet there would not be so much Hurt in this if the Mischief reached no farther than an Affected Singularity But they who stop here serve only for Blinds to give a more easie Introduction to Heresie For under New and Unusual Terms the Hereticks Equivocate their Meaning and are contented to Manage the Simple-hearted in the best Manner they can till they find a proper Season to speak out Thus did the Hereticks of old couch their Errors under Dubious Expressions and Colourable Words So did the Arians Pelagius Nestorius and Eutyches as may be seen in the Records of the Church II. I come now to the other Direction Rightly dividing the word of truth And I take this Translation of ours to come the fullest up to the Sense of the Original of any in what Language soever The Import of which Words I take to be 1. An Advice of Discretion to Administer the Word according to the Capacity and Strength of the Hearer 2. An Advice of Justice to make known the whole Mind of God concealing no Part but giving to every Portion its due Weight I. In the first Sense the Expression seems to have relation to the Distribution of a Sacrifice cut of divided into due Proportions For we know the Body of the Church is likened to the Body Natural which consists of several Members under different Dispositions according to their respective Uses Therefore as in the Natural so in the Politick Body there must be regard had to the different Office and Constitution of each Member Some are more of less Honouraable some more or less Necessary some more or less Powerful each is to be Treated in that way which is most suitable to its Disposition and if any Member be Sick or Weak proper Remedies must be apply'd And I am sure however it be Practised it is one of the most necessary Duties incumbent upon our Calling The Truth of it is where there is a
THE Bishop of LONDON's CHARGE TO THE Clergy of his Diocese AT HIS VISITATION Begun Ann. 1693 AND Concluded Ann. 1694. LONDON Printed by Benj. Motte 1696. THE Bishop of London's Charge TO THE CLERGY of his Diocess c. BRETHREN I Have always thought it my Duty upon these solemn Meetings to say something that might be most proper for your Notice And I believe there has rarely been a Time that afforded greater Variety of unhappy Circumstances than these we now labour under For we are divided into so many and such pernicious Principles that without the gracious Assistance of the Almighty to our utmost Care for the rooting of them out they will inevitably ruin both Church and State Obedience Truth and Sincerity Quietness Peace and Love are no longer the measures of Civil and Religious Behaviour but a noisie pretence of Liberty has with too many broken both the Tables If therefore I entertain you a little longer than ordinary with such Discourse as may call to your minds those good but forgotten Rules of former Times to encounter so universal a Depravation as we are at present involved in I hope you will bear with me For it is absolutely necessary where ye have so many obstinate Enemies to encounter that ye muster up all your Forces and put them in the best posture of Service for all Occasions I shall direct what I have to say by St. Paul's words to Timothy Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine Which tho' written to a Bishop are as justly applicable to any who minister about holy things I. The first of which words Take heed unto thy self directs 1. To your Vertuous and Godly Conversation in general as well as 2. To your special duty of walking orderly in the House of God 1. And reason good Since a sober and good Life is so extreamly necessary for the Edification of your Flocks For what an Awe and Reverence do we find an Upright Man to gain upon those that behold his Conversation The shining Light of a Righteous Man so discovers the shamefulness of the ways of Sinners that they are confounded to see their own Filthiness and from that time often commence true Penitents Therefore St. Peter seems to take it for granted that it was the sure and tryed way to win the Wicked to a Holy Life by leading such a one themselves Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul having your conversation honest amongst the Gentiles That whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of Visitation According to the words of our blessed Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven And it stands to all Reason in the World that it should be so For it puts Life into the Commandment and makes Religion truly active it raises it from the dead Letter to a living Sacrifice and cloaths it through the sanctifying Spirit with the Beauty of Holiness Besides it is natural for them that are habituated to do Evil to fancy it an impossible thing to observe the Law they having never experienced the Practice and their minds having been always alienated from the knowledge and understanding of it In which opinion they would be mightily confirmed should they find the Teachers of the Gospel not walking according to their own Rules For they will then cheerfully conclude that the Precepts of Holiness were given only for a Testimony of the Gospel Purity and to hold forth the Perfection and Excellence of Gods Law not in the least to oblige Men to the Observation of it And they have this ready Answer to put off all such unsanctified Teachers Physician heal thy self Tho' ye should lay Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept if you should not live up to your own Doctrine there would be as small hopes of Success as of Gods Blessing For since all things turn by Providence with what face can a sinner a persevering sinner expect that either his Prayers should be heard or his Endeavours prosper For the Lord is far from the wicked but he heareth the prayer of the righteous I leave it therefore to you my Brethren to consider with your selves whether you find people in these days so meek so gentle so easie to be intreated as not to need the best instructed and disposed Teachers and the most artificial in that Guile with which St. Paul tells the Corinthians he craftily caught them And if ye do not meet with so tractable a Generation as may tempt you to be remiss I beseech you for your own sakes and for theirs that are committed to your Charge not to faint in well doing since your Reward is certain Especially since there is no surer a way to put to silence those that dissent from us who are too apt to judge of the sincerity of our Doctrine from that of our Lives II. But this is not all your Task to set an Example of a vertuous and sober Life Ye have attained to a good degree when ye get so far yet if it be not attended with an orderly and conformable Behaviour ye will be in danger of turning your Righteousness into Sin by making it serve for a Cloak to Disorderliness and Schism which are always attended with Uncharitableness and for the most part with Confusion and every evil Work For should ye live never so strictly up to the general Rules of Morality yet if ye submit not your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake ye are Transgressors of the Word by breaking the Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace For it is a Duty of that Importance I mean the Discipline of the Church that if it should not be observed it would be impossible to preserve Religion it self For Discipline consists of Decency and Order which two concur as the Fashion of a Frame does with the Frame it self The Word by which Order is expressed in Scripture is used by the Inspired Writers sometimes in a confin'd Sense and sometimes in a large one When they use it in a confin'd Sense they take it either for an appointed Time or for degrees of Men or for a set Course of performing any Office or for the Constitution of the Office it self When they take it in a large Sense they mean the Rule by which the Church directs and governs her Members and preserves Order within the Sanctuary the discreet and modest Observation of which gives a Lustre to that Decency in which Order is constituted And of the Word taken in this Sense ye have several Instances in Scripture which at the same time set forth the Value of the thing it self Let all things be done decently and in order Ioying and beholding your order We exhort you Brethren warn them that are unruly Now we
best of Pretences to the contrary The specious colour of Edification and a more holy Worship is blown off with the plain Discovery of having Mens Persons in admiration and the shameful minding of Earthly Things And yet lest neither Admonition nor Warning with evidence of Reason should prevail St. Paul fortifies his Commands from the Example of his own Practice Now we command you Brethren in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received from us For your selves know how ye ought to follow us for we behaved not our selves disorderly among you The word Disorderly in the Original is borrowed from the Military Discipline as may be seen in the Martial Laws of Athens amongst which I cannot forbear to mention Three because they do so exactly square with the Constitution of Ecclesiastical Affairs For if we consider the Church as it is Militant the Laws need only be mentioned to shew their fitness for either Discipline The first puts a badge of Disgrace upon those that take the Profession upon them without being sent The next punishes those that break their Ranks and do not observe Order In the same Law and under the same Penalties are comprehended such as run away from their Colours and will serve in their Place no longer but it may be betake themselves to some other Calling being mentioned under the Title of Desertens The third Law is against such as cast away their Arms and will not Labour in their Calling And Disorderliness seems to take in all the Faults where the Law in general prescribes to all Behaviour Good and Bad. Let those that have behaved themselves well be advanced and the disorderly degraded Thus much I have said to demonstrate that whilst we are in the Flesh we must take such Measures as are best suited to our Infirmities and which are so absolutely necessary to our Condition here below that no Proposition in Euclid can be better made out For all Vocations and Professions are Practised by some agreed and set Rules which cannot be Transgressed without hurt to the Constitution and a great part of this consists in the Behaviour of such Members as make up the Corporation who for this end ought every one to keep to his proper Station and to mind his own Business and not anothers In Matters of Speculation we all agree in the common Rules for supporting the Truth of Propositions and look upon it as a Jest when any one goes about to question them The Data in Geometry and the Propositions deduced from them have remained uncontested unless by some vain or wanton Scepticks from their first Assertion to this day Now I think the best Thought why Moral Maxims and Proofs do not pass so current has been not that these are less evident in themselves than those other but they are engaged with the Affections and Interests of Men which oftentimes stifle the most flaming and unquestionable Truths with the gross Mists of corrupt Prejudices After all a Man may no doubt and ought to withdraw himself from the Communion of a Church which exacts a Consent to false and pernicious Doctrines or a Compliance with unlawful Practices But then he must be sure to go upon a good Bottom and not out of a weak and crazy Humour make that Sinful which is Indifferent nor make the Faults of others an Occasion of his committing a greater by Separation Ye know St. Paul's Opinion in the case of receiving the blessed Sacrament and let us see what was the Practice of the greatest and best Men in after-Times By no means are we to quit the Unity of the Church for fear of Communion with wicked men St. Cyprian was fully persuaded that the Church was under a great Mistake and that it did grievously err in not Rebaptizing of Hereticks which Opinion he pursued so far as to call a Provincial Council about it and there Establish it and yet all this could not induce him to a Separation from the rest of the Churches Ye are used says St. Augustin to the Donatists to urge Cyprian ' s Letters Cyprian ' s Opinion Cyprian ' s Council Why do ye make use of Cyprian ' s Authority to justify your Schism and reject his Example in preserving the peace of the Church Nay he quotes his Authority as well as Practice For says he when writing to Antoninus he held forth to him that by no means before the time of the last Separation of the Iust and Unjust are we to depart from the Unity of the Church by reason of mixt Communion whereby he shew'd what a Holy Man he was and how most worthy the renown of that Martyrdom which he attained to He then says What a swelling of Arrogance is it what a forgetfulness of Humility and Gentleness and how great a boasting of his Arrogance that any one should dare or believe that he could do what the Lord did not allow so much as to his Apostles that he should think himself able to discern between the Tares and the Wheat Ye may see then Brethren what manner of Spirit they are of who wittingly Promote the scandal of Schism For a great Difference must be made between poor Simple Souls seduced and them that pretend to Knowledge These latter are those to whom St. Cyprian addresses himself and who are so remote from the Meek and Lowly Temper of our blessed Lord from that Humility upon which God bestows his Grace Were we really cloathed with Humility we should be Subject one to another and not blow our selves up with Imaginary Reasons and Self pleasing Principles to the subverting of the Churches Peace for Things that are entirely in the disposal of Authority being in themselves Indifferent So that he must have a very strong Bias let him make what Grimace he pleases that can be Troublesome upon this account purely for Conscience sake But ye have so full Discussions of this Point in Dr. Whitgift's Answer to an Admonition to the Parliament and his Vindication of that Answer Dr. Morton of the Three Ceremonies and Dr. Burges his Vindication and Cassander Anglicanus written by Mr. Sprint 1618. who had been formerly a Non-Conformist that ye will find better and sounder Store in your Studies than I can pretend to furnish you with Only give me leave to quote to you one Passage in an Account of the Habassin Religion and Customs composed by Zaga Zaba the King of Ethiopia's Ambassador at Lisbon We do observe nothing but what we find in the Law and the Prophets and in the Books of the Synods of the Apostles or if any thing else is observed by us it is done only for the sake of Order and for the Peace of the Church so as not to reckon it a Sin not to observe it that is simply in it self abstract from Scandal or perverse
Intention II. And to your Doctrine Which is the other part of the Charge and is that Depositum which the Apostle so carefully minds him of O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust Which Trust is not only generally agreed by Commentators to be the Doctrine of the Gospel but is I think evidently so explain'd from the Words of the same Apostle to the same Person The things that thou hast heard of us among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also Now this is the Foundation of our whole Religion For upon this we build our Faith our Works and the whole Frame of our Righteousness By the sound Expression of this we square all our Religious Thoughts and Actions avoiding prophane and vain janglings and opposition of Science falsly so called which some professing have erred concerning the Faith Our Office for Ordaining Priests takes a just and a wise course to prevent running after every Spirit and taking up Doctrines upon too easie Terms when it exacts this Promise of those that are to be Ordained To teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture All other Writings derive their Authority from the Author's Veracity or Judgment the former qualifies him for a good Witness and the second for a good Judge but yet so as to be Tryed by the Touchstone of the Holy Scripture The four first General Councils have a particular Weight 1. From the great Credit of those that sate in them and 2. From the Universal Deference paid to them by all Churches in all Ages Therefore our Constitutions give no Authority or Power to order determine or adjudge any Matter or Cause to be Heresie but only such as heretofore have been determined ordered and adjudg'd to be Heresie by the Authority of the Canonical Scripture or by the first Four General Councils or any of them or by any other General Council wherein the same have been declar'd Heresie by the express and plain Words of the said Canonical Scripture or such as hereafter shall be ordered judged or determined to be Heresie by the High Court of Parliament of this Realm with the Assent of the Clergy in their Convocation By which Words ye see 1. The sure Foundation our Church is built upon the Holy Scripture and what is Authoritatively delivered from it and agreeable to it 2. The just Method for Establishing any Doctrine so delivered not by the confus'd way of setting up private Spirits but according to the Mind of that God who is the God of Peace by submitting to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme c. that is by the most Publick General and Authentick Consent that a Nation is capable of which with us is that of Parliament and Convocation What had the Apostles to justify St. Paul against the Complaints of the Iews but by convincing them that he walk'd orderly and kept the law However there is a Just and Decent Liberty due to all Christians whereby to Judge for themselves in the Essentials of Religion But yet such a Liberty it is as is beset on each hand with most dangerous Rocks such as threaten Shipwrack to any Vessel that shall Strike upon them For if on the one hand we run into that Popish Extreme to take away all Liberty by an absolutely blind Obedience and implicite Faith swallowing down all that is given without Tasting or Chewing upon it we act more like Beasts than Men and as easily take down Poyson as wholesom Food but on the other hand if with the Fanatick we assume to our selves an unlimited Power of following the Wild-goose-Chase of our wanton and uncertain Imaginations we shall Tear the Church in Ten Thousand Pieces and expose it to all Uncharitableness And therefore a Sober Christian tempers all his Proceedings with Modesty and Humility and has that discreet Jealousie of himself as wherever he breaks Communion to do it upon so certain Grounds that the Grievousness of the Error imposed or the Wickedness of the Fact commanded shall be Notoriously evident Otherwise in the Meekness of Wisdom he defers to the Judgment of his Neighbours rather than to his own and thinks himself in Modesty in common Discretion and in Duty bound for the sake of Peace Unity and Concord to submit to the Determination of his Superiours especially in Authoritative Assemblies For in the multitude of counsellors there is safety And we have a Proverb which is deriv'd from its Authority He that is his own adviser has a fool to his counsellor Indeed it is want either of Judgment or Honesty that makes Men give in so much to their own Opinions and so little to those of others For it is certain the chief End of our being Conversable and Sociable Creatures was that we might be Assisting one to another and the more Important and Universal the Subject is the greater regard ought to be had to its Determination So that not only in Things Indifferent where it is absolutely our Duty to submit but much more in the Weightiest Matters of the Law where our Eternal Welfare is so immediately concerned we ought with the greatest Care and Caution to Proceed and never think we can take too much Advice That Noted Mark of Catholick Truth which Vincentius Lirinensis Prescribes to Submit to that which has been believed in all places at all times and by all goes a great way with every Modest and truly Humble Christian. Because the Starting of Doubts and Questions so Confound the Apprehensions of Men oftentimes that it is very hard for them to come to a Resolution of themselves And in that Case there is no other way to come to the Acknowledgment of the Truth but by a Prudent Deference to Authority For we cannot well imagine it Consistent with the Divine Goodness and Wisdom to suffer an Error so to Prevail or rather to Reign so absolutely in his Church as to bear these three Atchievments I question whether ever any Heresie attained completely to any one of them St. Ierom ye know indeed says The World wondred to find it self become Arian But this Expression must be taken as generally such are by a Trope of the whole for the greatest or at least most Noisie Part. For it it evident from all the Accounts given us of those Days that there were many bore Witness for the Truth even to the Death and more would have done so if their Courage would have served Besides that at all Times was wanting It was an Upstart Heresie that lasted no longer than Supported by Force and Violence which bears no great Analogy with Gods Methods in Propagating the Gospel But Popery seems to lay the greatest Claim to this Character of Orthodoxy and yet when thoroughly consider'd the largest Part of it goes
Cure of Souls by which a constant Attendance upon the Word in one certain Place is Required nothing can more express the True and Earnest Concern for their Good than a diligent Observation of what sort of Treatment Gentle or Severe or what sort of Diet may be most Proper for them Milk or strong Meat For that which is one Mans Meat may prove another Mans Poyson Men of sober and serious Spirits well Exercised in Pious Meditations may safely be Entertained with the stronger Meats and Doctrines of high Speculations and Mysteries may be Trusted with some of them but such Fare would make the Ordinary sort of Mankind who for want of Education or Leisure are not used to such Sublime Thoughts run Mad and become Enthusiasts It is therefore an unpardonable Imprudence in those that Preach to their People at all Adventures It is as if a Physician should Prescribe to his Patient the first Medicine that came into his Head without Examining Disease or Temper whereby it would be infinite Odds that he did more Hurt than Good What then shall we say to such as out of a base Awe of losing either Favour or Profit avoid declaring Useful and Necessary Truths What shall we think of those who Amuse People with Notional and Mysterious Doctrines holding back such Practical Duties as would keep the Conscience awake and all this to carry on Factious and Seditious Ends No doubt an indifferent Person will say they are of the number of those that handle the word of God deceitfully II. Wherefore to avoid the Imputation either of Heedlesness or Corrupt and Sinister Designs as Faithful Stewards ye ought to Acquaint those that are committed to your Charge with the whole Mind of God lest any thing be wanting to prevent Error or Mistake Another Method may rid our hands of some Work but will certainly render our Labour very Defective if not Pernicious The Church which is the Body of Christ is ye know compared to the Natural Body which has its Members of different Value and Consideration and as its Members so have the several Rules and Directions of its Constitution their respective Weight and Importance so that neither in the one Case nor in the other is there a complete Body where any Part is wanting Remember the fatal Case of Ananias and Saphira For if for keeping back a Portion of Temporal Things which Perish in the Usage the Punishment was so Severe of how much greater Infliction shall they be found Worthy who withold Spiritual Things which are Eternal In this Case therefore Comparison is very Odious where the Value of the greater Articles of our Religion are apply'd wholly to Eclipse the lesser For to repeat our Saviour's Rule once more upon this Occasion These things ought ye to do and not to leave the other undone Which makes it far more Wise to follow the Example of that great Apostle of the Gentiles alledged in his Farewel Charge at Miletus to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus I kept back nothing that was profitable to you I have not shamed to declare unto you all the counsel of God Thus are ye to Instruct the People committed to your Charge 1. In the more weighty Matters of the Law thereby to make sure the Foundation 2. With more especial Earnestness in those Points where ye find a failure either through Ignorance or Prejudice 3. And Lastly in the whole Mind of God that they may be Perfect throughly furnished unto all Good Works 2. As to the Practical part of Doctrine one would think the suitableness of all Vertue to the whole Frame and Constitution of Gods Creation would convince Men of the Reasonableness of it and the Good it does from its very Nature not only to Particulars but to the happy Support of the Whole would make Men in love with it And yet for all this such is our Corruption and the Power of it that neither the Light of Nature nor Instruction Fear nor Favour Interest nor Danger can stop the Career of Sin or turn the Sinner into the Right way If Conscience cannot be Hardned at least it shall be laid Asleep with deceitful Promises of Peace and Indulgence Therefore ye ought earnestly to press the Practice of all Vertues in Holiness of Life But this ye must be careful to do in such a Christian Style as may not Offend the Gospel either I. In coming short of its Precepts or II. In setting too great a Value upon the Practice of them First For if you Narrow them to the private Dealings betwixt Man and Man or the Sober Conduct of our own Persons do we not see the Sons of Tumult and Sedition in shew at least justifie the Duty of such a Behaviour Neither the Moral Schemes of Philosophers nor Crellius's Ethicks will furnish you with a sufficient Institution in this Matter No. The Scripture instructs us moreover in those Noble and Generous Vertues which bring our Actions nearer to the Likeness of that diffusive and universal Goodness of God by such a Peaceable and Submissive Deportment as makes the Wheels of Government go easie and whole Nations Happy Secondly But yet we must not be so Lifted up even with the Best of our Actions as to bring them in Competition with the Grace of God or impute any real Merit to them Our Church and the sound Writers of it Teach us after we have done all we can not to Value our own Righteousness but that of Christ. And surely it would be a malapert Confidence in any of her Members to Conceit themselves so much Wiser than Seven Men that can render a Reason as to Lower the Attributes of God's Righteousness for the Exaltation of our own Merits and grudge his Grace a free Passage through the Means of our Salvation There are therefore Three Rocks especially to be Avoided in the Consideration of our Practical Duty I. The First is that of Antinomianism which casts off all Obligation to the Moral Law and in the Teeth of St. Paul abuses the Goodness of God in Derogation to his Holiness by saying Let us continue in sin that grace may abound And this we do not learn only from what is pass'd but woful Experience teaches us every Day how much it has diffused it self through all our Sects at least to some Degree and they that pretend to be free from Sin prove in effect to do it that they may Sin the more freely II. There are that impose upon Practical Duty and offer Indignity to the Divine Precepts Some prefer their own Commandments before those of God making it more Criminal to Disobey their own Laws than to break the Law of the Lord. Thus did the Pharisees of Old Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And just so do the Papists now while they generally impose a greater Penance upon the Breach of their Oanons than upon a Sin directly against the Will of God But whereas the Law is Fulfill'd by