nature and therefore partaketh of Gods properties both incommunicable and communicable may be thought an impertinent discourse by some because it deals in speculatives and perchance an impious discourse by others because it may seem to destroy practicks and so joyn hands with the sacrilegious profaneness of this age which trades wholly in destructives not onely in regard of man but also of God himself Yet since the end of Religion is to bring man to God it cannot be amiss to see how near the work thereof conduceth to that end and it may be proper if not necessary to shew the excellencies of Religion that mens eyes being dazled with the admirable beauty their hearts may be inflamed with the divine perfections of holiness For Holiness and Religion are one and the same thing essentially though they are different in our apprehensions therefore S. Peter calling upon us to be religious calleth upon us in these words 1 S. Pet. 1. 15 16. But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy where it is evident that we are called upon for holiness from the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God the Father and the communion of God the holy Ghost not onely by the authority of God the Father For it is written and by the example of God the Son But as he which hath called you is holy but also by the communion of God the holy Ghost Be ye holy for I am holy as if he had said Holiness can have no fellowship with impurity therefore unless you will be holy you must not onely renounce the authority of God commanding the example of God conducting but also the fellowship of God conversing and communicating with you For the force of the argument consists in the proper nature of God and our relation to and with God Accordingly I cannot better shew the excellencies of Religion then by shewing how near its holiness comes to the very nature and essence of God himself and then none will doubt but the Angelical Doctour did rightly say Nomen sanctitatis duo videtur importare Munditiem firmitatem that holiness imports two things purity for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one far removed from the corruptions of the earth and constancie for so sanctum or sancitum lege firmatum are all one and there is an absolute necessity of both these in that man that will be truly religious for he that will be joyned to the most High must be far removed from the things below there 's the purity and he that will be joyned to the first Beginning and last End which is wholly immoveable must be firm and immoveable in his conjunction there 's the constancy Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 38. Certus sum quòd neque mors neque vita separabit me à charitate Dei I am sure and certain not onely I am perswaded that neither death nor life shall be able to separate me from the love of God He that knows it is all one to love Religion and to love God will never be separated from its love and he that knows Religion to be the service of God will easily acknowledge that such as is the master such is his service And therefore all Divines agree in this that one and the same true Divinity but some have likewise said that one and the same commandment making the first and second but one doth teach us the true knowledge of God and of Religion the proper service of God for Religion is nothing else but the immediate worship of God Religio distinctiùs non quemlibet sed Dei cultum significat saith S. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 1. If we say Worship we may possibly mean a civil or a moral worship but if we say Religion we can mean no other but Divine worship or the immediate worship of God And therefore there is no one attribute of God but shews in some sort the nature of the true Religion for such as God is in Himself such also is the Religion that serveth and pleaseth Him I will accordingly endeavour with Gods grace to shew the nature of Religion from the very nature of God yet with such a method as shall not seek to satisfie the curious by its exactness but onely to establish the conscientious by its godliness always remembring that when God shews a mortal man his glory as he did to Moses Exod. 33. 23. though he may see much yet much more there is which cannot be seen nor can any Divine whatsoever see so much of God as he doth desire nor can he express so much as he doth see It is enough therefore if I draw such a scheme of Gods attributes as is fittest to instruct my self and others in the nature of true godliness God is a Spirit and so is his service altogether spiritual S. John 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth There must be nothing in his worship of carnal inventions and much less of carnal affections for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 6. wherein we have described in few words the true and the false Religion the one is spiritual the other carnal they are both described 1. In themselves to be minded for religion calls for the soul whether we serve God or Mammon 2. In their causes the cause of the one is flesh of the other spirit 3. In their effects the effect of the one is life and the assurance of it peace the effect of the other is death Religion then it self is to be minded it always engageth the soul and the true Religion is to be spiritually minded eagaging the soul according to the dictates of Gods holy Spirit And indeed Religion hath the chiefest properties of a spirit For 1. A spirit is invisible and imperceptible by the sense so is the true Religion the natural man perceives it not 1 Cor. 2. 14. and S. Paul calleth the things of Religion spiritual things Rom. 15. 27. The Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things and 1 Cor. 9. 11. If we have sowen unto you spiritual things Take heed then of a carnal eye in Gods worship that loves to look upon an image but much more of a carnal affection that loves to look upon it self 2. A spirit hath life in it self and giveth life unto the body so Religion hath life in it self and giveth life to those that are religious S. John 17. 3. This is life eternal that they may know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent The true knowledge of God in Christ which cannot be without a practise answerable to it is the true Religion and that is life eternal both formally in it self and effectually in regard of us Christ is not onely the truth
labour that they may be strengthened by piety and godliness yet will I not enter upon a particular enumeration of Gods communicable Properties I have been too long already upon this argument much less upon a particular explication of them for it will be sufficient for my purpose which is the advancement of the true Religion in the hearts and lives of men if I briefly insist onely upon these three to which all the rest may be reduced and they are Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Purity in his Action for we cannot better consider Gods Activity then in the Purity of his Action unto which we must also annex a short discourse of Liberty as belonging to all three that is to say to Understanding and Will and Action And these three Properties of Truth Goodness Purity as they are eminently in God and evidences of his perfection so are they also eminent in Religion the service of God And first of the Truth of God and of Religion God is true by a metaphysical and by a moral Truth First By a metaphysical Truth as having the true knowledge of all things Psa. 139. 2. thou understandest my thoughts long before God understandeth our thoughts before they are the angels not when they are and therefore they are defective in truth because defective in understanding for Truth metaphysically is a conformity of the thing with the understanding and accordingly our blessed Saviour is particularly called the Truth as being the Omniscient Wisdome of God and the eternal Understanding of the Father even as the holy Ghost is the eternal Love both of Father and Son Secondly God is True by a moral Truth as having his Affection Expression Action agreeable to his knowledge and that in three respects 1. As Truth is opposed to Falshood for God neither wills nor speaks an untruth 2. As Truth is opposed to Dissimulation for God neither dissembleth nor deceiveth 3. As Truth is opposed to Inconstancy for God changeth not his judgement in truths declared or determined he changeth not the event in truths foretold or prophesied for in promises he keeps his word and his truth if man perform the conditions in threats he may not keep his word and yet keep his truth because they are but conditional And as for deceiving the Prophets Ezek. 14. 9. and 1 King 22. 23. we generally and truly answer Tradit diabolo decipiendos he delivereth them over to the devil to be deceived by him so saith the Text Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might be damned who beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. a text that gives us a fearful but yet a full account of all those strong delusions among men which led directly to the Father of lies the first step was a voluntary unrighteousness in not loving the truth the second step is a strong delusion in beleeving a lie the third step God keep them from treading in that who have trodden in the two former is a necessary damnation both for not loving the truth and for having pleasure in lies but still God is true though every man be a liar for God deceiveth the Prophet Ez◠14. 9. as he hardeneth the heart Exod. 10. 1. permissivè non efficienter permissively no◠efficaciously by not inhibiting or not purging those ill qualities that are already is the heart not by infusing any ill qualities into it and therefore though he saith I have hardened Pharaohs heart yet he saith unto us Harden not your own hearts and accordingly he threatneth in Ezekiel to destroy such a prophet from the midst of his people whose heart was hardned so fa◠as to deceive himself and others whereas he could not in justice destroy him onely for being that which himself had made him nay this permission is most plainly set forth in that parable of 1 Kin. 22. for all that God doth there is onely to let the evil spirit go forth that is not to inhibite him from going and deceiving not to send him down from heaven For it is evident that the evil spirit never did and never can come into heaven again since he was first thrown down from thence And thus briefly God is True Metaphysically and Morally Metaphysical truth consisting in the right apprehension of things as they are in themselves Moral truth in the right affection and profession of things as they are apprehended and this profession is either in word by veracity or in action by sincerity or in continuance of action by constancy so that moral truth is opposed to falshood because 't is the same with reality to dissimulation because 't is the same with sincerity and to wavering and floating because 't is the same with certainty And this same metaphysical and moral truth is also in Religion passing from the Master into his service for the Father seeketh such to worship him who worship him as he is that is who worship him in spirit because he is a Spirit and who worship him in truth because he is the Truth S. John 4. 23 24. The worship in spirit points at the metaphysical truth of Religion which requires a true apprehension of God the worship in truth points at the moral truth of Religion which requires an Affection Profession Action agreeable to that true apprehension and for both these hath our own Church taught us to pray Collect 7th Sunday after Tri. Graff in our hearts the love of thy Name Increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same Do you look for the metaphysical Truth of Religion 'T is in the knowledge of Gods Name which must be presupposed before the love of it since no man can love what he doth not know that you know God by his true Name such as himself hath proclaimed Exod. 32. 5 6 7. or that you apprehend God as he is not set up to your self an idol in stead of God as do all those who worship not the Father by the Son in the unity of the Spirit Again do you look for the moral truth of Religion 'T is in the love of Gods Name that you love him according to your knowledge or that you have your affection agreeable to your apprehension for to know God and not to love him is in effect to proclaim you do not truly know him since the same God is the first Truth and ground of our knowledge and also the last good and cause of our love and you may here likewise finde this moral truth of Religion in all respects First in its Reality for it is the very true Religion opposed to falshood or superstition 't is indeed Gods Name Secondly in its Sincerity or Fidelity for it is all Goodness not onely in the tongue but also in the heart
but also the life S. John 14. 6. And so also are his words S. Iohn 6. 63. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life no parting Christs words from Spirit nor Spirit from life and again verse 68. Thou hast the words of eternal life Let nothing go for Christs word which is not spirit and life and so spirit as to give life wherefore if you see a Religion a fraught with beads pictures crucifixes and such outward ordinances be afraid of it for these and the like are mens carnal inventions meer carnal images this is not Religion but superstition Again if you see a Religion fraught with envy malice hatred uncharitableness spiritual pride perversness profaneness licentiousness disobedience novelty singularity be afraid of it for these and such like are mens carnal practises carnal imaginations this is not Religion but faction such as the Apostle casteth down 2 Cor. 10. 5. And the prophet seems to prophesie against Ier. 43. 13. For what are the images of the house of the sun amongst us but the humorous imaginations of those that abuse the light of the Gospel And this trial or proof of the true Religion is substantial it concerns the very nature and essence of it even as to be a spirit is the very nature and substance of God there are other proofs that are also essential proofs of the true Religion though they be not taken from the substance of God but from his properties and so that is the truest Religion whose properties come nearest to the properties of God I will give you a short scheme of both together that seeing God himself in your Religion you may love it with all your soul with all your minde and with all your strength because so you are bound to love your God God cannot be known any further in his substance then that he is a Spirit and so accordingly is the substance of the true Religion wholly spiritual But the greatest knowledge we have of God the onely eternal Spirit is by his properties and by his attributes his properties are internal perfections belonging to him as a Spirit meerly in regard of himself as Simplicity Immutability and the like his attributes are as it were external perfections belonging to him in regard of his creatures as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh as Mercy Justice Liberality and the like or if you desire not to distinguish between Gods properties and his attributes you may say that the properties of God are either such as remove from him all kinde of imperfection that is in the creature as Simplicity which removes from him composition Immutability which removes from him Changeableness Immensity and eternity which remove from him Circumscription or Confinement the one of place the other of time and these are called incommunicable properties because they are not communicable to any creature Or the properties of God are such as do assign to God all manner of perfection First in his understanding as Wisdome and Truth Secondly In his will as Goodness and Liberty Thirdly In his power of action as Omnipotency and these are called communicable properties because they are communicated to the creature and are to be found in the creature though in a proportion and perfection infinitely short of what is in the Creatour God blessed for ever Thus angels and men have Truth and Goodness and Power though not an Unerring truth not an All-sufficient goodness not an Almighty power but they have not Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity which are the incommunicable properties And herein consists the supereminencie of the true Religion above any creature whatsoever that it shareth even in these incommunicable properties of God even in his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity And first it shares in his Simplicity now the Simplicity of the divine essence is such that it admits of no composition at all neither Physical composition of matter and form nor Logical of subject and accident nor Metaphysical of act and power whereas the purest spirits that are admit of Logical and Metaphysical composition though not of Physical God onely excepted who admits of neither So Aquinas pr. part qu. 40. Propter divinam Simplicitatem est duplex identitas in divinis eorum quae in rebus creatis differunt quia enim illa excludit compositionem subjecti accidentis quicquid attribuitur Deo est ejus essentia quia autem excludit compositionem formae materiae in divinis idem est abstractum concretum Because of the simplicity of the divine essence there is a twofold identity in God which is not in any creature First an identity of essence and attributes because there is in him no composition of substance and accident Secondly an identity of abstract and concrete because there is in him no composition of form and matter and all action proceeding from form it is evident that he who is the agent in and of himself can be nothing else but a pure form without any mixture of any matter Nam quod est primò per se agens patet quòd sit primò per se forma 1 par qu. 3. art 2. So likewise Religion admits of no compositiou but must still remain in its own Simplicity for 1. There is in Religion no Physical composition of matter and form some will make Decency the accidental form of Religion others the Evangelical counsels the essential form and perfection of it but both are mistaken for the same holiness is the Religion of the Christian that was of the Jew though not the same beauty of holiness There is no separating the essential matter of Religion from the essential form of it and what is not intrinsecally holy that is both materially and formally cannot properly be said to be a substantial part of Religion Some look upon faith hope and charity as the formal part upon the other duties of the Decalogue as the material part of Religion but indeed such considerations are meerly notional they are not real for no man can reject an article of faith but he must also reject a commandment nor can any man wrong any commandment but he must also wrong an article of faith thus can you not expunge or deprave any commandment that contains your duty towards God but you must expunge or deprave some article of faith concerning him so also of the second table he that depraves any one of those commandments depraves those articles of faith that concern the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Lastly he that denies or depraves that part of Gods law which concerns himself without any relation to his neighbour doth also deny or deprave some of those articles of faith that concern himself as The forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting As for example you cannot think that any common drunkard or unclean person doth so much as seriously consider much less truly believe the Resurrection of his body
with us so that the best way to serve him cordially is to serve him with eye-service considering that he always looks upon us and therefore we ought always to act as in his presence Excellently the Casuist Reiginaldus Adjumenta operandi bonum in ordine ad nosipsos sunt consider are Christum ut mandantem spectantem adjuvantem The main helps that encourage any man in regard of himself to do that which is good is the consideration of Christs presence as if he were actually standing by him to command to observe and to assist him that he commands me to obey observes me in my obedience and assists me in obeying whosoever truly hath this consideration of Christ cannot but have his heart full of true Christianity and he that hath his heart full cannot have his mouth or his hand empty for out of the aboundance of the heart not onely the mouth speaketh but also the hand acteth and worketh But Gods Infinitie though it most appear to us in his Omnipresence yet is it the immediate property of his essence which being a pure act or form admits of no materiality to limit and to confine it and so also are the duties of Religion in some sort infinite in their very essence for nothing is proportionable to God but what is infinite and like himself and therefore it is said Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect St. Mat. 5. 48. God justly requires a perfection of degrees in all duties of Religion though he graciously accepts a perfection of parts it is well for us that the truth and sincerity not the measure and degree of our faith or repentance puts us in the state of salvation for else we should not onely be always doubtfull of that state but also very often come short of it and yet in truth our faith and repentance and obedience is infinite as it is in Gods acceptance though not as it is in our performance for though it be performed in much unrighteousness yet it is accepted in an infinite righteousness even the righteousness of the eternal Son of God 3. Communicatione essentiae Thirdly and lastly God may be said to be infinite in the communication of his essence which he hath communicated in an infinite variety to infinite sorts of creatures which all have their being onely from him So also Religion is infinite in this respect that it can never be enough communicated he that is truly converted himself will make it his whole work to strengthen his brethren according to that advice of our blessed Saviour St. Luke 22. 32. which having been given to St. Peter in his own person cannot but more peculiarly belong to all his successours then many things else that are more zealously claimed by most of them and how then may the Scriptures be denied to the people in a tongue they know or prayers be obtruded to them in a tongue they know not since the Scripture communicates Religion from God to man and prayer expresseth the desire of that heavenly communion Wherefore that of the Trent Council Sess. 22. cap. 8. Nè tamen oves Christi esuriant pastores frequenter aliquid in missâ exponant c. Least the flock of Christ should be hunger-starved the priâ—st ought often to expound the missal is in effect a tacit Confession that though Religion ought to be effectually communicated to the people to feed their souls unto the full yet they are resolved it must not be so but that they shall still wholly depend upon the priests for a little broken bread whereas all that know good to be naturally diffusive of it self most willingly acknowledge that Religion the greatest good of this world and the onely practise of the next the more it hath of goodness the more it ought to have likewise of the diffusion The third incommunicable property of God is his Immutability for as God changeth not in his essence I AM hath sent me unto you Exo. 3. 14. so he changeth not in his government or dominion of souls I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. he changeth not as our Lord and we cannot pretend to change as his servants for Religion hath also its share in this Immutability in which sense I perswade my self Iustin Martyr called Abraham a Christian and Socrates too though a heathen yet observing some of that righteousness all which we Christians do or should observe and he proves that the Christian Religion is that whereby God was then and is now truly worshipped and glorified what the heathen had of idols they had of Paganisme what of moral duties or of reasonable service they had of Christianity for there is no reason why the martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may not agree with the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. So likewise the Iews and the Christians have the same Religion in substance though not in ceremonies or circumstance or the old Testament could not be brought so appositely to prove the doctrines of the New or Moses have been said to bear the reproach of Christ Heb. 11. 26. and so likewise all Christians have one and the same Religion though they have many different professions the Christian Religion being altogether unchangeable one and the same in all places and at all times and what is otherwise will be found either to be superstition or faction or matter of order but in no case matter of Religion it being impossible that what is truly Christian in one place or time should be made either Antichristian or Unchristian in another And this property of Immutability Religion partakes in a higher degree then the sublimest spirit in the highest order of Angels for they are all changeable by a power without them though not by a power within them but Religion is not so God himself cannot make another Religion or service of himself then that which he hath already made I mean as to the substantial and internal nature of holiness consisting in the immediate duties of Religion Aliquid dicitur mutabile dupliciter uno modo per potentiam quae in ipso est altero modo per potentiam quae est in altero Aquin. par 1. qu. 9. what is absolutely unchangeable cannot be changed by any power either within or without it self so is God so is the service of God Religion which God cannot change no more then he can change himself that is no more then he can change his truth that taught it his justice that prescribed it his excellent majesty that still requireth it his infinite mercy that still accepteth it for it was Gods own Spirit that spake those words by the mouth of Gamaliel Acts 5. 38 39. If this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it and upon serious examination we shall finde it most true in our Christian Religion what hath been either in the doctrine or practise thereof meerly the counsel
appointed by God to limit it though not in regard of laws now what the law doth limit not man but God doth limit Aristot. 3. Pol. 16. doth make the Soveraignty of God and the laws all one in that admirable Axiom of his the foundation of all Politicks or of all good rule in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that bids reason govern bids God and the laws govern he makes God and the laws but one government but he that lets in a man le ts in a wilde beast we let not in the man upon the laws when he is a King much less when he is a Subject in saying he is powers but we let in God upon the man and therefore call him powers plurally because he is many powers nay powers indefinitely because he is All powers in one person whereas no one subordinate power may be called powers without some limitation or qualification but the Supreme power may be called so absolutely and sine additamento because all powers are originally in him and derivatively from him if not by mans for some have lately questioned that yet sure by Gods law 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. Submit your selves to the King as Supreme unto governours as unto them that are sent by him even as all motions are originally and virtually in the first Mover the power of judging whether it be to make laws or to repeal them the power of punishing offenders against those laws or the power of the law i. e. of peace and the power of the sword i. e. of war are his powers and our Saviour Christ though he openly said My kingdom is not of this world which may shame them that under pretence of Christs kingdom would engross Supremacy to their consistories yet did he at that very time as openly declare what was the power of the Kings of this world saying If my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews S. John 18. 36. Then would my servants fight not against me but for me go you that say and practise otherwise and tell the Eternal Truth that he was mistaken and knew not the constitutions of your kingdom while indeed you know not the constitutions of his But withall take heed that then you put not your kingdom out of this world for the words are undeniable and irresistable If my Kingdom were of this world then would my servants sight that I should not be delivered unto the Jews they would fight with their hands and with their hearts when their hands fail them fight with earth by striving against men in battel fight with heaven by striving with God in prayer and much more fight with hell by striving against devils black-mouthed slanderers and back-biters scorning their mammon rather then their King should be delivered to the Jews to his malicious and bloud-thirsty enemies whatever the Subject can lawfully do by his hand or by his head or by his heart to defend the King and bring his enemies to condign punishment that is the Kings power both for himself and against his enemies nor may we seek to pull this power from a King no more then we may seek to pull a King from his throne for if assistance be the servants duty Then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered saith Christ making it their duty so to do 'T is not possible but resistance should be his guilt a dangerous guilt to himself a scandalous guilt to his Religion so saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of honour that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed What an unsufferable impiety doth possess those men who think God may securely be blasphemed by their Oaths but what an unpardonable impudence hath bewitched those who think there is a greater blaspheming of God in an hasty Oath then in a studied Rebellion Those tongues will certainly and deservedly one day want a drop of water to cool them that are now set on fire from hell customarily and impenitently to blaspheme the God of heaven but yet we must say what we cannot but see that God is and may be blasphemed with the hand as well or rather as ill as with the tongue 't is not a yea and a nay in the mouth will keep us from being blasphemers if there be a rebellious sword in our hands the unruly tongue and the unruly hand do both blaspheme our God and this text of S. Paul seems to make the unruly hand the greater blasphemer for that blasphemes not onely the name of God as the tongue doth but also his doctrine That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed Is not our Religion the Doctrine of God and how shall we dare to blaspheme that our selves or give others the cause of blaspheming it 'T is not onely a false but 't is also a blasphemous doctrine to say that a servant may count his own master not worthy of all honour much more to say that a Subject may dishonour and reproach nay disobey and resist his King 't is a doctrine not onely against the Law but also the Gospel 't is against the wholsome words of our Lord Jesus Christ v. 3. and none can preach or approve it but men that are Proud doting upon questions and strifes of words supposing that gain is godliness v. 4 5. and from such we must turn away for 't is easie from their conversation to judge of their condition if that be the conversation of the godly which is there described by the Apostle then are such men in the state of grace and condition of godliness but if it be not then in vain do they come with godliness in their mouthes and with Rebellion which is the greatest ungodliness in their hands and in their hearts so that we may now answer the Preachers question in my Text Who can say unto him What doest thou Even such men as S. Paul here speaks of but no other if they be ashamed of owning the character let them be ashamed of answering the question and to shew to all the world that this is the doctrine of all good Protestants I will set it down at large as Musculus a learned protestant writer hath delivered it upon the Psalms and I will bring my instance as Job doth his interpreter but One of a thousand and that shall be upon the fourth Psalm This Psalm saith Musculus is of the same argument with the former though it appear not by the Title or Inscription was made upon the same occasion viz. King Davids being driven from Jerusalem his royal City and Palace by Absalom and his confederates accordingly first he makes supplication to God for mercy v. 1. then presently falls expostulating with his enemies v 2. O ye sons of men how long will ye blaspheme mine honour and have such pleasure in vanity and seek after leasing He
THE TRUE CATHOLICKS TENURE OR A good Christians certainty which he ought to have of his Religion and may have of his salvation By EDVVARD HYDE D. D. Sometimes Fellow of Trinity Colledge in CAMBRIDGE and late Rector Resident of Brightwell in Berks. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. EPHES. 5. 1. Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Field Printer to the University 1662. To the Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of Clarendon Viscount Cornbury Baron of Hindon Lord High Chancellour of England and Chancellour of the Universitie of OXFORD My Lord YOu will pardon the boldness of this Dedication from one who is unknown to your Lordship when you have considered the consanguinitie or near relation of the Authour of the ensuing work to your most Noble person If we add to this a forcible tie or obligation of love his Autonomy his bearing the same name with your Lordship both as man and Christian likewise his assimilation or likeness to your Honour in the high accomplishments of Nature and Grace he being for his steadie loyalty to his King his fidelitie to the Church and stupendious science in all kinde of learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may say of him what S. Chrysostome saith of another a prodigie amongst men admired by the most and beloved of all good Christians weighing all these particulars in the balance of my private thoughts I from them drew this conclusive perswasion that if my deceased dear Friend were now living and to put the ensuing Treatise the childe of his brain out to nurse he would have ventured upon your Lordships patronage who may style this learned work your own and it justly own you for its parent as being the copy of your soul and picture of your life what is delineated and set down in it by way of doctrine or precept your Lordship hath drawn out in the lines of your life by practice for it contains a lively pourtraiture of a good Christian and loyal Subject A Separatist may deceive himself by dividing these two and flatter his deluded soul with a perswasion that though he bears not in his heart a respectfull love to his Sovereign he may scale heaven upon the ladder of a bare title or with the outward badge of an empty name in that he is called Christian and challengeth Christ as his with his daring tongue Let such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-deceivers peruse without partiality or prejudice the following Treatise and they will learn a better lesson it will inform them of this truth that loyaltie and Christianitie like that Eros and Anteros in the Fable are so twisted and linked together that as one cannot live or be without the other so he that is false to his King cannot be true to Christ our Saviour who in his word enjoyns us to be good Subjects in obeying our Kings just commands whom God hath set over us as he requires of us to act the parts of good Christians which is to imitate him in humilitie and charitie in sobrietie and meekness in pietie and Patience in love and obedience in brotherly kindness to all even to those that are under us That this holy frame of spirit may be wrought in the hearts of all his Majesties Subjects as it is in your Lordships it is and ever shall be the hearty prayer of Your Lordships most humble Servant R. Boreman To the Christian Reader GReat is the impietie yet greater if possible is the inconstancy of this our age God justly delivering us over to inconstancy because we have delivered our selves over to impietie The whole book of God tells us but of one Ahab that sold himself to work wickedness but our own sad experience if not our guilty Consciences must needs tell us of many thousands that are now riding Post to that market They chose new gods then was war in the gates Judg. 5. 8. expresseth the least part of our present sin and future punishment for we are daily choosing new gods to increase our sin and there are daily new wars raging amongst us nay within us to increase our punishment wars not onely in our gates to waste our estates but also in our hearts to waste our Consciences we have been a long time forsaking our God and now we are labouring to forsake our selves we would not when we might follow the dictates of Religion and now we cannot if we would follow the dictates of Reason or the directions of common sense we were at first perverse and would not know Gods minde we are now become stupid and do not know our own of this fancie to day of another to morrow and as it was in Jobs messengers The last is the worst or as it is in the outragious billows of the tempestuous waves the first do toss and shake but the last do drown and sink us and all is from fancy in stead of certainty in matters of Religion I say from fancy for the humour that is now most predominant settles not deep enough to be called perswasion stays not long enough to be called a resolution Good Lord is this to be Reformed Christians not to be firm not to be real Christians for they alone are the Real Christians all others are merely fantastical who sanctifie the Lord God in their hearts and are ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them with meekness and fear 1 S. Pet. 3. 15. There is not one word in all this text but drives at the certainty of Religion 1. It must be fixed in the heart not slaunting in the head 2. It must sanctifie the Lord God who as Lord changeth not and as God loves not those who are given to change especially for the worse 3 It must put us in a readiness to give an answer to every man that shall ask a reason of the hope that is in us which cannot be effected without great judgement and deliberation in the choice of our Religion and greater constancy and resolution in the practice of it for we must not onely answer every man that shall ask us but also answer by giving a reason of our hope that is we must answer by convincing him that asks us if he gainsay our hope or at least by confirming our selves against all his gainsayings for in vain do we talk of an hope of salvation that is in us from the belief and practise of our Religion if our Religion be so unsettled as to be shaken by the storm of a persecution or so uncertain as to be blown away by the breath of an argument the hope of salvation which we have or may have from the true Religion is a hope so fixed as to make us withstand persecutours much more to withstand sophisters for though it fills us with meekness in regard of our own infirmities and with fear in regard of our own impieties yet it fills us with
courage in regard of Gods goodness who hath promised salvation to those that sanctifie him in their hearts by good resolutions and in their mouthes by good professions and in their lives by a good conversation and it fills them with constancy in regard of Gods truth and faithfulness who cannot but perform his promise This is the Tenure of a true Catholick he holds both his Religion and Salvation upon certainty not upon conjecture his Religion he holds upon the certainty of Gods most holy word for nothing else can furnish his mouth with a satisfactory answer to silence much less with a sufficient reason to convince his adversary and his Salvation he holds upon the certainty of Gods most faithfull promise for nothing else can furnish his heart with comfort or establish it with courage to satisfie and content himself and agreeable to this as far as concerns the certainty of Religion upon which alone is founded the certainty of salvation is Vincentius Lirinensis his description of a true Catholick Ille verus germanus Catholicus est qui divinae Religioni Catholicae sidei nihil praeponit non hominis cujusquam Autoritatem non Amorem non Ingenium non Philosophiam non Eloquentiam sed haec cuncta despiciens in fide stans permanens amplectitur quicquid universaliter Antiquitas Ecclesiam Catholicam tenuisse cognoverit He is a true and genuine Catholick who prefers nothing above divine Religion and the Catholick faith not the Authority of any man not Love not Wit not Philosophy not Eloquence but despising all these and standing fast in the faith doth embrace whatever he knows was universally and anciently held by the Catholick Church From this description it is easie to gather who are the true Catholicks viz. those Christians First Who in their Religion prefer causes above persons who pretend not to infallible Doctours but make sure of an infallible doctrine who look after Gods not mans Authority as the foundation of their faith for else they cannot stand so fast in it as to despise the Authority Love Wit Philosophy Eloquence of man in comparison of the Oracles of God Secondly Who in their communion prefer persons above themselves that is Gods Trustees above their own humours regard not any novelty or singularity but make much of antiquity and universality or in a word those who are immoveable in the Catholick Truth that they may persist in the true Christian Religion and who are obedient to the Catholick Church that they may persist in the true Christian communion Accordingly my business in this Treatise shall be to shew First The certainty of Religion in its substance that notwithstanding all our present impieties on all hands men may know when they have the true Christian Religion Secondly The certainty of Religion in its exercise that notwithstanding all our present inconstancies men may know when they have the true Christian Communion and when this Certainty of Religion both in its substance and exercise is compassed and atchieved which is the work then the certainty of salvation will be an undeniable consequent which is the reward of good Christians But till I come to my preaching I think it needfull to give my self to praying for though we may get the knowledge of Religion by preaching yet we cannot get the certainty much less the comfort of that knowledge but by praying so ill a course have those Divines taken of late to make this people gain the certainty of their Religion who have turned all praying into preaching for he that prays what the congregation knows not doth rather preach then pray as â—o his congregation for they can onely hear â—s judges they cannot joyn as Communicants in his prayer well he may teach them to pray after him but he cannot cause them to pray with him for though they may wish yet they cannot pray but in the assurance of faith and they cannot have the assurance of faith upon uncertainty and there is nothing but uncertainty in ignorance the ignorance of intention disposition and an erring direction of him that prays and the ignorance not onely of the substance and nature but also of the scope and drifts of his prayer If any faith can be exercised here it must needs be wholly implicite such a faith as we justly blame in the Papists and therefore most unjustly force upon Protestants a faith that hath no particular evidence of what it is to do and therefore can have no particular assurance of what it doth But whilest I have fallen upon others prayers I have almost forgot mine own God of his infinite mercy look upon us once more shew us the light of his countenance that we seeing our new building is upon the sand which is never the surer for being cemented with bloud may return again unto the Rock our Saviour Christ the onely foundation of our souls that is the onely way to make atonement for our impieties and finding the want of the Master builders or most artificial workmen may return also to his Church which also is built on that foundation for that is the best if not the onely way to get a remedy for our uncertainties that so coming to the infallible certainty of our Religion both in its substance and in its exercise we may also come to the most comfortable certainty of our salvation and from the certainty pass to the enjoyment from the assurance pass to the inheritance thereof through the Authour and Finisher both of our Religion and of our salvation our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This being the main scope of this small treatise ought to be the fervent prayer of its Authour who knoweth this lesson is not to be learned by recommending his book to you but by recommending your souls to God for 't is not all the preaching in the world though the whole world should turn preachers not onely with swords in their hands but also with Authority in their mouthes and with grace in their hearts I say it is not all the preaching in the world can bring you to this saving knowledge of Christ and of your self but onely praying and since you will not abide your Church to pray you may be the better contented to let his reviled Ministers continue and increase their prayers for you because you have the greater need though the lesser ability and power to pray truly and heartily for your self as either praying without Christs intercession or praying against his word but sure praying without Christs Communion because praying without if not against his Church 'T is hard to be a wilfull Separarist from your Church and not to be thus peccant in your prayers but you are all for preaching Christ whilest I am rather for praying him that is for such sound and set prayers as by their matter assure me of his intercession and by their form assure me of his communion and I am sure that with Mary I have chosen the better part though
with Martha you do make the greater noise for Christ learned by preaching if at all so to be learned onely sills the head and ofttimes unsettles the brain but Christ learned by praying fills the heart and never fails to establish it he that is come to this establishment is the onely true Christian for he is sure that he doth God good service and leaves it to others onely to think that they do so he that hath but a putâram for the ground of his doings can have but a nonputâram for the Apology of his misdoings If a man do but onely think that he is in the right he can onely say for himself I did not think I was in the wrong and that in ordinary matters is the apology of them that want wit but in matters of Religion it is the apology of them that want common honesty for what is imprudence in regard of the world is impiety in regard of God there it is unwise to be under an uncertainly or mistake but here it is unconscionable there it is insipiency but here it is irreligion For what shall we say Are those taxed by our Blessed Saviour for want of discretion or rather for want of Conscience who by killing Gods servants think they do God service S. John 16. 12. Since therefore it may be so dangerous onely to think we do God service let us in the first place make sure of it especially then when we more particularly profess to serve him for if indeed and in truth we do him true and laudable service we shall have the comfort of his servants here the joy of his salvation the reward of his servants hereafter the enjoyment of his kingdom this is that which he desires to preach to you but much more to pray for you who is Your Brother and Servant in our Common Saviour EDVV. HYDE The Contents of the several Chapters in the Ensuing Treatise CHAP. I. The assurance of our Religion in the order of Nature is before the assurance of our salvation and that the Apostles endeavour was to beget in all Christians the assurance of Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion CHAP. II. The Certainty of Religion may be without the Assurance of it by reason of our Profaneness Hypocrisie and Perversness though scarce by reason of our Ignorance And that perversness is the way to the worst kinde of Irreligion or Atheisme CHAP. III. Of the Substance and the Exercise of Religion the difference between them in regard of the Authority Certainty and Immutability CHAP. IV. That though the Substance and the Exercise of Religion be different in themselves yet they ought not to be accounted so now in our Profession much less made so in our Practice for that whosoever is not sure of the Exercise of his Religion will not much regard the certainty that is in the Substance of it CHAP. V. The Assurance we have of the Substance of Religion in that it is spiritual and resembles God the Authour of it in his incommunicable properties of Simplicity and Infinity as also in his Immutability and Eternity which are the two consectaries of Infinity and also in his Omnipotency All-sufficiencie and Omnisciencie which are the three consectaries of Eternity CHAP. VI. The Assurance that we have of the Substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty CHAP. VII The Assurance we have of Religion for that it resembles God in his Attributes of Justice Grace and Mercy CHAP. VIII The Assurance we have of Religion in that it makes us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his name and of the ten proper names of God collected by S. Hierome CHAP. I. The certainty of our Religion not to be gotten by Speculation but by Practice That the Apostles endeavoured to beget in all Christians a certainty of the Christian Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of Salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion THe certainty of salvation in the judgement of those who most earnestly contend for it even with more earnestness then discretion may be desired but cannot be attained without the certainty of Election and the chief proof of our Election is from our perseverance in Religion Thus the Apostle proves that God had not cast off his people whom he did foreknow from this Answer of his to Eliah I have reserved to my self seven thousand men which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal that is to say who have not been guilty of Apostacie in this general defection of the Jews of which thou complainest but do still persist and persevere in the true Religion If God would have his prophets know he had Elected the Israelites because they had not fallen from his worship shall we think we can be otherwise assured of our Election then by making sure of our Religion Therefore whosoever hath bowed the knee unto Baal cannot rightly conclude that God hath Elected him but rather that God will cast him away because he hath first cast God away And will ye know what is this Baal let Beza tell ye Baal Patronum significat vel eum in cujus aliquis est potestate Baal signifieth a Lord and Master that hath power over any man so then a Religion that pleaseth my Master on earth but not my Father in Heaven is a bowing unto Baal He that will be Gods servant must acknowledge no other Master but onely God both for the Rule and the Practice of his Godliness and this man alone will be sure not to fall away from Gods service wherefore the best assurance we can have that God will not forsake us is that we do not forsake him for none can be assured of his goodness but they that continue in it his own Spirit thus attesting But towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Rom. 11. 22. For Religion is as the way salvation is as the journeys end and a man must first make sure of his way before he can make sure of his journeys end I am the way the truth the life saith our blessed Saviour S. Joh. 14. 6. And he gives this reason of that saying No man cometh to the Father but by me As Christ is the way to his Father so the true Religion is the way to Christ we must all first come to Christ before we can come to God and we cannot come to Christ but by the true Christian Religion for though Religion in general is a knitting of the soul to God yet the Christian Religion which we must look to be saved by is a knitting of the soul unto God in and through our Saviour Christ. For since the great distance made
aliis scientiis whether the manner of knowing divine truths be more certain in Divinity then the manner of knowing natural truths is in other sciences he answers it is more certain and he gives these three admirable reasons for his answer 1. Quia certior est modus sciendi per inspirationem quà m per humanam rationem because the way of knowing by divine inspiration is much more certain then the way of humane ratiocination or collection since the one is subject to errour the other not and all divine truths are made known to us by inspiration as appears 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness I may not take any doctrine for an instruction in righteousness which I cannot prove was first taught by inspiration of God and if it be taught of God it may be found in the Scripture which is Gods word 2o. Certius est quod scitur testimonio Spiritûs quà m quod testimonio creaturarum That is more certain which is known by the testimony of Gods Spirit then of the creature But all that we know in Divinity is known by the testimony of Gods Spirit as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost in Divinity we appeal to the undoubted testimony of God the holy Ghost and can say Veni Creator whereas in all other sciences we can go no higher then the testimony of the creatures 3o. Quia certius est quod per modum gustûs quà m quod per modum visûs A man is more sure of that which he discerns by his taste then of that which he discerns onely by his sight for what he discerns by his sight he knows onely speculatively and perchance to his great discontent but what he discerns by his taste he knows also experimentally and if the thing be good not without great delight and from these premises he proceeds to this dogmatical conclusion or determination Est certitudo speculationis est certitudo experientiae vel est certitudo secundùm intellectum secundùm affectum vel quoad hominem spiritualem quoad hominem animalem Dico ergò quòd modus Theologicus est certior certitudine experientiae quoad affectum quia est per modum gustûs Psal. 118. Quà m dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua quamvis non certior quoad speculationem intellectûs quae est per modum visûs item certior est homini spirituali quamvis incertior animali 1 Cor. 2. Animalis homo non percipit ea quae Spiritûs Dei sunt There is a certainty of speculation and there is a certainty of experience there is a certainty that proceeds from the understanding there is a certainty that proceeds from the will and affections Lastly there is a certainty of the spiritual man and there is a certainty of the natural man I answer then that the manner of knowing Theological or Divine truths is more certain then the manner of knowing any other truths if we look upon the certainty of experience which proceedeth from the will and affections because that certainty is by way of tasting Hence the Psalmist saith How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then honey to my mouth although it be less certain if we look upon the certainty of evidence which proceedeth from the understanding because that certainty is onely by way of seeing And none of us all is so quick-sighted in spiritual as in natural things and hence it is that this certainty of divine truths which is very great in the spiritual man is little or none at all in the natural man Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. The sum of all is this The certainty that is to be had of the Christian Religion is greater then the certainty that is to be had of other truths but it must be in a subject rightly qualified that is First in a man of holy affections who lives not after the flesh but after the Spirit else his profaneness will beguile him Secondly In a man of holy resolutions that desires not to satisfie his curiosity but his conscience not to provide for his temporal but for his spiritual interest else his hypocrisie will deceive him Thirdly in a man of holy intentions that steers not his course to heaven by the Cynosure of his own reason and much less of his own humours but is wholly guided by Gods authority for none but Gods authority ought to sway in Gods cause else his perversness will defraud him of his certainty for those men that are guilty of hypocrisie come short of it those that are guilty of profaneness go beside it those that are guilty of perversness go against it for as it is concerning Religion it self so is it also concerning the certainty that accompanies it the profane person goes beside it the hypocrite comes short of it the perverse person goes against it onely the sincere meek good man obtains it he that is sincere without hypocrisie meek without perversness good and honest without profaneness and debauchery The same seed is sown in several grounds but from some the sower hath not so much as his seed again from other he hath great increase The spiritual seed is the word of God the rule of Religion And as for this word some of it falls by the way-side that is among profane and vicious persons such as are in the high-way of perdition where it is troden under foot and the fowls of the air irregular and extravagant fancies and desires devour it some of it falls upon a Rock where it can have no root nor moisture for onely the mere out-side is earth the rest is all stone that is among hypocrites and dissemblers who hear the word with joy and for a time beleeve but in time of temptation fall away for temporary beleevers as they beleeve with the times so also they beleeve but for a time and soon fall away from their belief Lastly and some of it falls among thorns that is among perverse and refractory men for such are called briers and thorns Ezek. 2. 6. men of a wilfull Religion and therefore in truth men of no Religion since Religion depends not upon mans but upon Gods will and here the word must needs be choaked for a man that gives himself to be governed by his own will cannot possibly submit himself to Gods will or at least not for Gods sake but onely for his own sake and a Religion that is not for Gods sake is certainly not of Gods making and consequently though it may be of a great growth as we find by sad experience yet it cannot be of a long
is our best policy and our best security This is to make haste in times of persecution for Religion and this he will not do who truly beleeves in Christ and because such haste commonly ends in confusion the Greek interpreters Saint Paul from them in stead of shall not make haste do thus render the words shall not be confounded Rom. 9. 33. A good Christian will make no such haste as tends onely to shame and confusion because he beleeves in Christ and therefore will patiently wait his leisure and zealously follow his example that is he will profess Gods truth maugre all the oppositions of malicious all the scorns and reproaches of ungodly and profane blasphemers for so Saint Chrysostome saith our blessed Saviour made his profession and he hath good ground for saying so as have generally all the fathers for what they say though our upstart Divines come most commonly with an Ipse dixit a proof rather of their confidence then of their doctrine such a proof as is not indurable in sound Philosophy and much less in sound Divinity for Saint Iohn had said so much before him S. Iohn 18. 37. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely to be a witness to the truth but also to be a martyr for the truth This was our Saviours profession concerning himself not onely as he was personally Christ but also as he was mystically so and in that regard must needs concern every Christian who is a part of his mystical body for it was an excellent determination of the Feudarie law si in praelio Dominum non mortuum nec ad mortem vulneratum reliquit Vasallus Feudum amittit Cataneus in Feudo If the fee-farmer or copy-holder leave his lord in the battle being wounded but not dead nor having his deaths wound he is to forfeit his fee-farm or copy-hold because of his detestable unthankfulness This rule will much concern us Christians if we seriously consider it and if not it will concern us so much the more For we all hold the right of our inheritance to heaven as it were by copy from our blessed Saviour whom God hath appointed heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. This our Lord is often wounded Acts 9. 4. why persecutest why woundest thou me but cannot be wounded unto death for he is our almighty God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. If we run away and leave him in the battels or rather the uproars and counter-scuffles of wicked ungodly miscreants for man can have no title to a just war against his Maker and much less against his Redeemer we shall forfeit our copies and perchance may loose our inheritance Nor let us think to excuse our selves by saying we took them who grievously wounded our Lord for his friends because of their specious and godly pretenses not for his enemies for it is all one as to our sin if we leave him and shall be all one as to our punishment whether he be wounded by his enemies or by his friends for himself owneth to be wounded by his friends as well as by his enemies Zech. 13. 6. and one shall say unto him what are those wounds in thy hands nay in thine heart Lord for our profaneness hath more pierced thine heart then their nails pierced thine hands then he shall answer Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends that is such men as pretended to be my friends saying they would advance the glory of Christ the purity of the Christian Religion for he that was wounded for our transgressions Isa. 53. 5. is still so wounded by transgressours as our transgressions do wound us some wound us as enemies that appear in their own hostile colours some as friends that carry a pretence a shew of righteousness If we leave him in his wounds we forfeit our copies and let go our interest to heaven for thar of Saint Mark 14. 50. and they all forsook him and sled was before his title to his Lordship had been fully cleared and therefore obtained pardon but now if we forsake him and slee neither will his mercy pardon us nor can our own consciences admit his pardon untill we return again for if we will needs forget him why should we think he will remember us and we may forget him not onely by letting him slip out of our memory but also by letting him slip out of our commemoration it is Ezra's observation upon the words of the Preacher Eccl. 9. 15. yet no man remembred that same poor man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not onely to remember in the minde but also to commemorate with the mouth and so it is said no man remembred that poor man because no man spake honourably of him so is it with us if we commemorate not our Saviours merits and mercies we forget them and therefore if we profess not his truth we may not be thought to remember it for we cannot but know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. He is that poor man who by his wisdom hath delivered the city of God and in it our souls Oh let it never be said Through our fearfulness and much less through our unthankfulness that we did not remember that poor man Secondly this profession is such as we may not be ashamed of after the way which they call heresie Here was a course taken to make Saint Paul ashamed as well as afraid for he was not onely questioned for his life to make him afraid but he was also questioned as if he had been a delinquent or malefactour to make him ashamed of his Religion he was publickly indicted at a grand Sessions as if he had been some felon or murderer and Tertullus would fain perswade his judges that he and his complices were able to prove the indictment v. 5. For we have found this man a pestilent fellow Graetè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer plague or pestilence as ready to infect our souls as the plague is ready to infect our bodies a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world it was they were the movers of the sedition though the Apostle was accused for it and a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that stood in the first rank or file as ready both to maintain promote the sect We may in brief say with S. Chrysostome that they did seek to make him odious for his disaffection as well as contemptible for his Religion accordingly used all cunning artifice that they might so do therefore they said they found him as if he had been some run-away whereas he was no less then seven whole days together in the temple but their chiefest spite was against his Religion and
man should be wiser then his enemies for none are enemies to good men that have not first lost their wits as well as their honestie therefore he addeth further I have more understanding then all my teachers v. 99. And lest we should still object That the teachers are not always the wisest especially if they teach too soon before they have been diligent learners he addeth yet further I understand more then the ancients v. 100. that is then those that have been longest learners before they became teachers That 's the most profitable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his enemies for it keeps him from being circumvented that 's the most honourable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his teachers for it gives him a preeminence of understanding far above his condition that though he is called to be a learner yet he is enabled to be a teacher Lastly that 's the most infallible wisdome which makes a man wiser then the ancients for that gives him a preeminence of understanding above the condition of mortality which can attain to no greater wisdome then such as is gained by long travel of study confirmed by longer experience of years so that if we desire that wisdome which is most profitable most honourable and most infallible we must do as this holy man did converse more with God then with men for so he professeth v 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding we may see that understanding is to be gotten by studying the precepts of men but we cannot get it savingly but by studying the precepts of God for the prophet Daniel saith The light dwelleth with God Dan. 2. 22. and S. John saith He that loveth his brother abideth in the light what is this light but the truth or the true Religion which hath these two properties of light that 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it enlightens and reproves it enlightens the understanding by the knowledge of God it reproves the will the affections and the actions for the practise of evil Secondly Religion is in effect Omniscient because it makes us know all things besides our selves that is all things that are proper and profitable for us to know things wherein are the true comforts of this life the true blessings of the next so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 15. The spiritual man judgeth or discerneth all things the more he is spiritual the more he is able to discern the more he increaseth in Religion the more he increaseth in true wisdome and knowledge as the man in the Gospel when his eyes were first opened mistook men for trees but afterwards when he was perfectly cured he could distinguish both aright so the spiritual man at his first conversion hath but a confused knowledge of the things necessary to his salvation but afterwards he comes exactly to judge and to discern them all nor will his faith whereby he knows in part leave him till he come by degrees to a clear vision Let several knowing men all rejoyce in the excellencies of their several knowledges but let this be the priviledge onely of the religious man That he alone knows whom he hath beleeved and whom he may trust for he alone is able to know how God disposed of him before his life and how he will dispose of him after his death CHAP. VI. The assurance that we have of the substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable Properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty IT is the special priviledge of the good Christian that the same Religion doth make him imitate God here which will make him enjoy God hereafter for the same God who is the Authour of Religion is also the best pattern of it because Religion resembles him not onely per modum vestigii but also per modum Imaginis not onely as having his footsteps for so every creature represents the Creatour but also as having the exact lineaments and pourtraitures of his very Image so that Gods Service is best known by the knowledge of himself and the Properties of the true Religion are best declared by declaring the Properties of God The Incommunicable Properties have been already spoken of his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity and the three branches or adjuncts thereof his Omnipotency All-sufficiency Omnisciency I now come to the communicable Properties of God which are especially these three Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Activity in his operative faculty answerable to his Truth and Goodness for the Intellective faculty is vain without the Affective the Affective without the Operative and therefore according to the proportion and perfection of the one is also necessarily the proportion and perfection of the other God first knows then wills then works As he knows so he wills not Irrationally As he wills so he works not Ineffectually And so is Religion very Intellective and very Affective and very Active or Operative these three properties are all joyned together Deut. 4. 6. Keep therefore and do for this is your wisdome and your understanding where we have wisdome for the Intellective keeping or observing for the Affective and doing for the Operative faculty of the soul Accordingly Divines tell us there are some vertues that are Catholick or Universal belonging to the whole worship of God in general and having alike influence upon all the Commandments or upon all the duties of Religion whether they concern God immediately in himself or mediately in his Image and these Catholick vertues are Wisdome and Prudence in the Understanding Integrity Alacrity and Constancy in the Will and Zeal and Perseverance in the action that Election Affection Action may all joyn together to glorifie him who is the first Truth to direct our Election the last Good to satisfie our Affection and the chiefest Excellency to excite and provoke our Action Wherefore it is the property of Religion to make a man more judicious more affectionate and more industrious then he was before though he had never so piercing a Judgement never so strong and vehement Affections never so industrious an Action For the soul of man though it consist of these three faculties the Intellective or knowing the Affective or desiring the operative or working the Intellective faculty whereby it knows what is to be done the Affective whereby it desires to do it and the Operative or Active whereby it sulfils that desire in doing yet this very soul doth not cannot rightly know or desire or do till it be throughly instructed exalted and quickned by Religion nay on the contrary all the while it continues irreligious it is stupid in knowledge perverse in affection and sluggish in action for though there is in all spirits a power of knowing what is true of desiring what is good and of effecting what they desire yet we cannot but acknowledge that these three faculties in all men who have their spirits clogged with sinfull flesh are very much weakened by sin and consequently must
drunkard or unclean or profane person doth in effect deny the Forgiveness of sins and the Resurrection of the body Wherefore when Almighty God requireth every Christian to be true or faithfull unto the death that he may receive a crown of life Revel 2. 10. he requires of him a double truth or faithfulness not onely that he be true and faithfull in his Belief but also and much rather that he be true and faithfull in his life First God requires a faithfulness in our Belief by a right apprehension of Gods word not adding thereto nor diminishing therefrom for that is forbidden from the beginning of the Law as Deut. 4. 2. to the end of the Gospel as Revel 22. 18 19. not adding thereto by Superstition nor diminishing therefrom by Faction for as the superstitious seeks to flatter his God Religiosi sunt Deorum amici Superstitiosi Deorum adulatores so the factious seeks to flatter himself do thou thy duty and let alone thy flattery for it is not safe for thee to flatter thy God and much less to flatter thy self Secondly God requires faithfulness in our affection life and conversation that we may be saithfull professours of his truth and as faithfull witnesses to it for a man may be Gods witness by speaking by living by dying and he that is commanded to be faithfull unto the death that is to be faithfull in dying if God call him to it is already supposed to be faithfull in speaking and in living for he that bids thee be fathfull unto thy death doth surely suppose thee already faithfull in thy life and commands thee to continue so and this faithfulness is shewed by thy words in confessing and that 's veracity by thy deed in professing or practising and that 's fidelity and by thy perseverance unto the death both in words and deeds and that 's constancie This is the truth of Religion both formally and efficiently formally in regard of it self and efficiently in regard of us that as it is true in it self so it also makes us true and faithfull at all times and in all respects and if you further desire to know how far any Christian Church hath followed or doth follow this truth you may try it by this touch-stone which being infallible in reason cannot be erroneous in Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle lib. 4. Eth. cap. 13. Greece is not so happy as to afford us a name for this moral truth and may justly own to be Graecia mendax upon that account but he that hath that vertue is called by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A true man both in life and word and is to be known by these three properties that he is full of equity will do no man wrong is full of authoriey will ask no mans leave whereas the hypocrite is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself for all others but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all others for himself and lastly is full of modesty will ask no mans praise and therefore will set forth himself though in true colours yet with the least varnish so also is the true Religion first it is full of justice and equity for it looks onely after Gods glory not after this worlds advantages and therefore declares things as they are not as they conduce to mens interests secondly it is full of authority in all words and deeds still like it self neither dissembling what is nor pretending what is not that it may please men rather then God but saith with S. Paul For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. thirdly 't is full of modesty rather delighting in extenuations of its own worth then in amplifications of it for though hypocrisie be a great talker a greater boaster yet Religion doth very much abhor all vain babbling and much more all vain boasting Not walking in crastiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending it self in every mans conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. and therefore any Christian Church whatsoever that either turns Religion into State policy making Christs interest subservient to its own or that changes its Doctrine to please its new lords and masters or that boasts too much of its own Purity and Perfection as if none could be Christians but in outward communion with it none good Christians in comparison of it must in these respects be said not to be 〈◊〉 true Church for though it be Metaphysically a true Church yet is not so morally not according to moral truth for that it wants either equity or authority or modestie or all three that is to say it wants some necessary attendant of moral truth And here I had rather bewail then examine rather deplore then detect the present condition of many Christian Churches It is enough that the now so much despised and persecuted Church of England cannot have it justly laid to her charge that either she laboured to inter-weave her own with Christs interest much less to advance her own interest above his for want of equity or did not deal plainly with those Churches that did so for want of authorite or did revile other Reformed Churches which surely had not been infallible could not be impeccable for want of modesty and my hope is that a Church so full of Moral truth no less then of Metaphysical as it hath the God of Truth to own it so it will in due time finde the God of Power to vindicate to restore and to defend it however I doubt not but many good Christians had rather suffer in her afflicted communion then reign in the prosperity and glory of those who either do cause or do not regard her affliction In the mean time I cannot but pass this for a general animadversion That since onely the true Catholick is the true Christian and he hath two oposites the pseudo-catholick who is peccant in excess and the anti-catholick who is peccant in defect it fares with these two opposites as it fares with those two extreams that oppose the moral truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The proud boaster loves to make shew of more then is so doth the pseudo-catholick who obtrudes more for Religion then can be proved Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the dissembler is quite contrary for he denies things that are and dimininishes what he doth not deny so doth the anti-catholick who denies that to be Religion which God hath made so and diminisheth what he cannot deny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the same Authour the boaster and the dissembler both are to be blamed because neither is so true a man as he ought to be yet more the boaster then the dissembler So also in Religion the pseudo-catholick seems farther from the truth for his superadditions then the anti-catholick for his diminutions for he that avoweth uncertainties for certainties brings a suspicion upon his faith even in most undoubted truths whereas he
to little purpose to labour his conversion For first he is ignorant in his understanding knowing nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Oecum for he who knows not that which he ought to know is as if he knew nothing nay he is much worse not onely possest with ignorance but also with a kinde of devil as saith the same authour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that will not know God cannot but know the devil he that will not receive Christ and his wholsome words into his understanding shall not be able to keep the devil and his poisonous dictates out of it Secondly he is pertinacious in his will which appears from his contradiction from his obstinacy from his ambition His contradiction is discovered in that he teacheth otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Oecumen he teacheth other things then those which of right are to be taught we may say he first teacheth otherwise then the Christian Church opposing his novelty against her antiquity but at last he teacheth otherwise then himself opposing his own novelty with new and worse novelties his obstinacy appears in this he will remit nothing of his humour either for truth or peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others may come nearer him but he will not come nearer them he will not approach or as we render it he will not consent to wholsome words for if he draw near to the truth with his lips yet his heart is far from it Lastly His ambition and haughtiness of minde is seen in that he is proud he scorns to be a follower of any but will be a leader of all and takes more pleasure because more pride in being head of a faction then in being an inferiour member of Christ which shews his blindness that he sees not the blessing of those who are of Christs communion as well as his perversness that he will not joyn with those communicants and accordingly the Apostle here useth a word that hinteth both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he is blinded as it were with smoke for so Ulpian upon Demosthenes descanteth that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some derive it from darkening the sight with smoke there 's his blindness again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the same Critick This word is derived from Typhon one of the Giants that was so mad with pride as to raise war against the gods wherefore we say of a proud man that he is as that Typhon there 's his perverseness Thus far a heathen Critick may be alledged to interpret this strange word here used by S. Paul but the Christian Divine who knew that this warring against God which was but a fable in the Giant was a truth in the devil gives us this gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this kinde of pride that first swells against the true Church and at last against the God of truth is a very great friend and companion of the devils so that the proud heretick and the perverse schismatick for they cannot well be parted though they are very ill joyned under a pretence of finding a new way to heaven hath brought himself directly to hell gate and being once there the devil will not easily suffer him to go from thence but he will forthwith teach him to spend all his time and zeal upon idle questions fit for none but those that dote and upon quarrelsome disputations fit for nothing but to beget new disputes and endless contentions for if you once turn Questionist in stead of Dogmatist seeker in stead of beleever you must needs fall into logomachies strifes of words as endless as needless therefore the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sick about questions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Oecum see here To be a seeker is indeed to be sick so to be sick in minde and that in Tullies language is to be mad Nomen insaniae significat mentis aegrotationem morbum Cic. 3. Tuscul. for madness is nothing else but a sickness of the minde and we cannot deny this if we observe the course of such a man which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to spend time but to mispend it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diogenes appellat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euclidis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Laertius Diogenes theCynick called Plato's Schooling meer fooling and said to be Euclide's Scholar was to be in choler but S. Paul hath found out an expression that in one word speaks more then both these though with less acrimony and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a second strange word here used by the Spirit of God to shew here is set forth as strange a monster such devices and trifles as are meer new nothings whereby men do onely deceive themselves and seek to deceive others for so Oecum readeth and glosseth the word out of S. Chrysostome inverting the Prepositions and reading not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and withal enlarging the sense for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an ill use of study and disputation not to confirm the judgement but to unsettle it not to discover the truth but to dissemble it which mischief may go no further then him alone who is guilty of the sin but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this same mischief as it seeks to corrupt and infect others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Oecum the infecting others with this itch of vain disputing for as a scabby sheep rubbing against those that are sound of the same flock infecteth them with his touch so do these men that have itching ears rambling heads and hollow hearts infect others by their conversation saith S. Chrysost. and from him Oecumenius All this considered 't is easie to see the reason why S. Paul said to Timothy From such withdraw thy self he commands him as a Bishop to rebuke some Presbyters cap. 5. v. 19 20. which shews his jurisdiction over them but breaks not his communion with them but he must have nothing at all to do with these 't is Oecumenius his observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saith not converse with such a man and oppose him converse with him according to your Christian Communion and oppose him according to your Episcopal Jurisdiction but wholly depart from him after one or two admonitions which is supposed from cap. 1. v. 3. where Timothy is commanded to charge them not to preach other doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used here for you shall never make that man your convert who hath made mammon his God and this indeed is the chief reason of the great distemper and greater disturbance in Christendome that many men are mammons rather then Gods Chaplains and therefore are more ready to plead for Baal that is for their own lording it over their brethren then for God more for Belial that is for their own licentiousness then for Christ hence it is we have fiercer disputations against men then for God
unto you more then unto God judge ye Act. 4. 19. there is no obligation of man that can reach to the altar of God to make us either neglect it or defile it usque ad aras did stint the heathen and much more the Christian in his obedience he that obeys the Magistrare to the altar gives him his right he that obeys him beyond or above the altar doth him wrong loading his authority with that sin which cannot help to hold it up but may help to pull it down it is much to be observed that among all the high Priests of the Jewish Temple none hath that signal character of recommendation in the Text that is given to Azariah because he withstood Uzziah the king when he invaded the Priests office 2 Chr. 26. 17. therefore saith the holy Ghost concerning him he it is that executed the Priests office in the Temple that Solomon built at Jerusalem 1 Chron. 6. 10. as if none had been high Priest but he who had so zealously so magnanimously vindicated the honour and the authority of the Priesthood for this is Rabbi Davids gloss upon the place he was not the first Priest of Solomons temple for that was Zadok nor was he the onely high Priest for there were many others but our Rabbies say this was Azariah in the days of Uzziah who gave his minde to the holiness of the Temple and would not let Uzziah offer Incense therefore it is said of him this is he that was the high Priest because he was zealous for the glory of the Priesthood and accepted not the person of Uzziah so Kimchi And it appears again that this Azariah was not to be named without some special note or title of honour for in the ninth Chapter and the eleventh verse after the reciting of his Ancestors though some of them had executed the same office as well as himself yet he alone is called the Ruler of the house of God 1 Chro. 9. 11. none had kept so good rule and order in the house of God as he therefore none so fit to be called a ruler of it And if Thomas Becket did indeed stand meerly upon Gods interest in the controversie betwixt him and his Liege Soveraign the doctors of Paris did very ill in disputing eight and fourty years after his death whether he were damned or saved for no duty that he owed to his King could oblige him to be undutifull to his God and if he suffered death for not being undutifull to his Father in heaven there is no doubt but as a dutifull childe he received his inheritance yet in that the Doctours disputed it so long after it is evident that his Festival was not presently instituted in the Latine Church much less celebrated with this Preface Gaudeamus omnes in Domino diem festum celebrantes sub honore Thomae Martyris de cujus Passione gaudent Angeli collaudant Filium Dei Let us all rejoyce in the Lord celebrating a Festival for the honour of Thomas the Martyr for whose passion the Angels rejoyce and praise the Son of God by which Preface the Festival of this supposed Martyr is preferred before the Proto-martyrs in dignity though it follow the same three days after in time or else the Doctours of Paris did think it lawfull if not laudable to dispute against the solemnities of their own Church when they found so much done upon so little ground and did also themselves in effect declare that as no civil authority could so likewise no ecclesiastical authority can oblige equally with God much less either above him or against him Fourthly Religion is free from servitude the Church may be in bondage not so the Religion that makes a Church the Israelites asked liberty of Pharaoh for themselves to go and serve God they asked not liberty for Gods Service that had never been in durance nor in captivity and S. Paul very plainly determines this controversie for so profane men are willing to make it when Gods Church is under persecution though in it self it be an undoubted truth 2 Tim. 2. 9. I suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds but the word of God is not bound the bonds that are upon the hands are far from the tongue and farther from the heart they cannot hinder an honest man from speaking Gods truth amidst the enemies thereof much less from loving it excellently Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no bonds can fetter the tongue but onely fearfulness and unfaithfulness and those are ingredients of the worlds not of Gods Religion Fifthly and lastly Religion is free from Coaction there is no oblation so acceptable as that which is voluntary and there is no oblation so voluntary as that whereby a man offers himself to God therefore it is the doctrine of the Church that the children of Jews and other Infidels who never embraced the Christian faith ought not to be baptized without their Parents consent till they can give their own not onely because it is against the justice of nature to take the childe from his own Parents whilest he is yet as it were a limb or part of them which he must needs be till he can dispose of himself but also because it is against the nature of Religion to offer unto God an unvoluntary Sacrifice and for the same reason though the Church never thought she could be sufficiently zealous in propagating the Catholick Faith yet she never thought that Jews and Pagans were to be compelled to embrace it onely they were to be compelled not to hinder or to blaspheme it so Aquinas 22ae qu. 10. art 8. Utrum infideles compellendi sint ad sidem Whether Infidels are to be compelled to the Christian Faith he answers with a distinction those Infidels that never received the Faith are not to be compelled to it quia credere est voluntarium because to beleeve is to give a voluntary assent but those Infidels who once received the Faith and are since fallen from it as hereticks and apostates are to be compelled by corporal punishments to become regular and orderly Christians that they may be made to fullfil their promise and to retain what they did receive Nam sicut vovere est voluntatis sed reddere est necessitatis ita fidem accipere est voluntatis sed tenere eam acceptam est necessitatis For as it is voluntary to make a vow but necessary to keep it when it is made so it is voluntary to receive the faith but necessary to retain it when it is received And St. Augustine in the second Book of his Retractations ca. 5. doth most ingenuously recall his former opinion that schismaticks were not to be constrained and compelled to the communion of the Church I retract saith he that in my first Book against the party of Donatus I did say I was not pleased that the secular power should violently force schismaticks to the communion of the Church verè mihi tunc non placebat
to inspiration but rather advanceth it For God is with him and he shall prevail first over himself to settle his own conscience then over others to rectifie theirs O God endue thy Ministers with this righteonsness that so thou mayest make thy chosen people joyfull joyfull in the love and practise of their Allegiance that they may be joyfull in the testimony of a good Conscience knowing that no man who is bound to be subject for Conscience sake can at the same time be a bad subject and yet have a good Conscience Thus our Preacher of Allegiance and Supremacy here hath six names and not one of them but well befits both his office and his doctrine and yet he prefixeth not so much as one of them to the title of his Sermon chiefly sure to teach us that the doctrine was not of his own invention but of Gods Inspiration Like as the ancient Fathers in the first Nicene Council would not set any date under the confession of their faith lest it might be thought to be of their own making Haereticorum tantùm consuetudo erat edere professionem fidei Chronologiâ temporum consulum consignatam saith Binius in Concil Chalc. p. 416 417. edit colon so the Preacher here would not put too his own Name that he might not be thought to preach his own words and indeed the Hebrew Title of the Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly shews as much which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a he but a she Preacher that is not a Preaching man but a Preaching soul or a Preaching wisedom and such is our Preacher here a preaching soul or Conscience to himself a preaching wisedom to others or a preaching soul in setting forth humane frailties and falsities for this Book was the publick testimonial of his repentance and a preaching wisedom in setting forth the divine power and truth And according to the Preacher is the manner of his preaching which is my second general part he preacheth by a grave judicious consciencious advice or counsell I counsel thee Indeed in the Hebrew Text there is no such word expressed but yet by the propriety of that language 't is necessarily to be understood I to keep the Kings Commandment that is I warn thee or I counsell thee or I command thee to keep the Kings Commandment So Aben-ezra fills up the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning of this particle I saith he is this I warn and counsell thee or I command thee And since King Solomon was a most notorious sinner before he was this Preacher or Preaching soul or Preaching wisedom we may thus gloss upon his words First I warn thee as my self a sinner sent to preach to my self and others there 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek Title Secondly I counsell thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pouring out mine own conscience Thirdly I command thee as a Preaching wisedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting forth Gods Truth which two last make up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Title of this Book and all three are admirably consonant with this doctrine of Allegiance in the best times much more in these our wicked days which are the last and the worst of this wicked world the earth growing weary of it self now it is near its dissolution First I warn thee as a Preaching sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels happily can best teach us because they are Intelligences pure understanding spirits but surely men can best admonish us who have been and are under the same infirmities of the body under the same distresses of the soul Dives could say S. Luk. 16. 30. If one went unto them from the dead they will repent It is so here one from the dead comes to preach repentance one who had been so long dead in sin that he was certainly at hell-gate but the hand of an extraordinary mercy pulled him thence one whom others that looked more upon his sin then upon his repentance painted hanging betwixt heaven and hell as being doubtfull of his salvation such a one as this comes here to warn us to take heed of disloyalty and disobedience himself a sinner adviseth us to repent us of our sins that he may keep us from those plunges of conscience which himself hath sustained the memory of his own sins is grievous unto him and that makes him remember us of ours he accounts his own burden intolerable and therefore labours to diminish and lessen ours we were best give him audience here is an expertus loquor in the Text better see our sins in his admonition then in our own consciences better see them in our own consciences here to condemn us then hereafter to confound us better men shew them us in the time of mercy then God shew them us in the time of wrath Ego peccator I am a grievous sinner which have been guilty of much disloyalty and disobedience against the King of Kings my dread Soveraign Lord I warn thee to keep thy Kings Commandment and that in regard not onely of the Oath but also of the wrath of God Secondly I counsel thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its first sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I counsel thee as a Preaching soul pouring out mine own conscience that I may have some influence upon thine that Sermon comes nearest to the soul of the hearer which comes first from the soul of the Preacher In other arts the best words but in Divinity the best thoughts are the most powerfull Oratory Conscience is the best Eloquence the most perswasive arguments are neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the affection of the hearer nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the excellency of the speech but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conscience of the speaker God having spoken to the Preachers conscience makes him speak to the consciences of those that hear him nor is there a greater curse upon earth then an hypocritical Ministery that pretend zeal of Religion and want integrity of Righteousness for if the Shepherd be smitten the sheep will be scattered S. Mat. 26. 31. if hypocrisie get into the Pulpit 't is no wonder to finde it in the pew If the Clergy once place Religion in fine words and fair pretences no wonder if the Laity forsake all Religion to seek after a Reformation Therefore our Saviour first saith ye hypocrites to the Scribes and Pharisees and after that to the common people S. Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesie of you you Doctours of the Law that give false expositions upon the fifth Commandment v. 5. 6. and prefer your Corban before your Obedience Isaiah did first prophesie of you that were the seducers and after that of them who were seduced by you saying truly of both but primarily of you this people draweth nigh unto me with their
dragged them to Babylon He that can make light of an Oath not onely God but also the Heathen that know not God will expose him to shame because he hath exposed himself to all manner of wickedness And this much or rather this little for in this argument non tam copia quà m modus quaerendus est concerning the positive Act of Allegiance To keep the Kings commandment and the reason of it Because of the Oath of God Come we next to the privative act thereof which is Not to be guilty of Disallegiance vers 3. Be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing c. wherein is forbidden all manner of Disallegiance and disloyalty not onely in the Action but also in the Affection Be not not hasty to go out of his sight there 's forbidden Disallegiance in the Affection and stand not in an evil thing there 't is forbidden in the Action and the reason of both For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth Him First here is forbidden Disloyalty in the Affection Be not hasty to go out of his sight 1 Be not easily induced to take dislike or distaste against Him by undervaluing his Person and misjudging or misrendring his Actions for either of these will bring thee in time to undervalue if not to undermine his Authoritie therefore saith God himself Exod. 22. 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor curse the Ruler of the people 't is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deos nè vili pendas Thou shalt not think or speak lightly of the Gods that is of Princes and Governours who are called Gods because they are his Vice-gerents Deos Dei ipsius agentes vicem so Tremellius He calleth those Gods who are Governours in Gods stead and S. Paul acknowledgeth this Text to be a part not of the Judicial but of the Moral Law saying for himself and all after him It is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Act. 23. 5. The same command which is more particularly expounded by our Preacher Eccles 10. 20. where the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was used Exod. 22. 28. indefinitely concerning any Governour is particularly joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King as the chiefest for 't is said Curse not the King no not in thy thought Be not hasty to think amiss of Him for suspicion is a diminution of reverence and therefore 't is not safe if it be lawfull to suspect them whom we are bound to honour But Tremellius gives us another gloss Nè perturbatè à facie ejus abito most significantly to the Hebrew Do not turn away from Him as if thou wert angred or troubled Thus Sheba and the Israelites turned away from King David after their expostulations 2 Sam. 19. 41 43. And more then thus they turned away from Him in the next chapter 2 Sam. 20. 1 2. At first it was why have our brethren the men of Judah stollen thee away 2 Sam. 19 41. A meer groundless surmise of the Kings being addicted to a private partie if not of his being misled by it but at last the trumpet is blown and they say shame upon them Miscreants for so saying We have no part in David neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse and to speak Gods truth in Gods cause It is very difficult if not impossible for any man to have the least tincture of disloyaltie in his affections and not to shew it in his words and actions since out of the abundance of the heart both the mouth speaketh and the hand acteth which brings me to the second part of this prohibition that forbids all disloyaltie in the action Stand not in an evil thing For who is it that is not too hasty in his affection to err there sometimes by hatred sometimes by anger Let such a one be far better then a man let him be an Angel but he that without consideration or conscience can put all his hasty affections of hatred or anger into actions let him be worse then the worst of men let him be a Devil Humanum est errare diabolicum perseverare 'T is the part of a man to fallinto errour but 't is the part of a Devil to persist in it hasty affections of evil may go for errours or infirmities common to man of which Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Prov. 20. 9. But premeditated consultations and actions of mischief have too long a continuance in the soul not to defile the heart and too great a sway there not to harden it wherefore if thou think an evil thing yet abide not in that thought however do not so think it as to do it and if thou hast done an evil thing yet abide not in that doing do not so do it as to stand in it Stand not in an evil thing It should not get into thy mind to think it nor into thy affection to desire it much less into thy action to perform and least of all into thy resolution to approve it and all these do more particularly concern that evil thing of Disloyaltie for it is much to be observed that amongst all the affections no one is reciprocal betwixt God and man but onely Love not Fear for we must fear him but he cannot fear us not hatred for he may hate us but we may not hate him but love so proceeds from God to man as that it may lawfully or rather must dutifully be returned back again from man to God and just so is it with Kings and Princes we may safely return them love for love both in our affections and in our actions but we must take heed of making other returns suppose hatred for hatred because they are called Gods And it is a most remarkable historie that is recorded concerning Saul a wicked King the same Samuel that saith unto Him God hath rejected thee durst not himself reject Him He that tells Him God hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day had not withall rent his own Allegiance from his King For though he came no more to see Saul till the day of his death nevertheless he heartily mourned for him 1 Sam. 15. 35. Nay observe yet more David himself after He was anointed King yet waits Gods time and way to be actually invested in the kingdom and is very tender concerning the point of Disallegiance to his yet surviving Sovereign His heart smote him because he had cut off Sauls skirt 1 Sam. 24. 5. what would it have done if He had cut off His head Nay he would not let any of his servants touch Him vers 6 and 7. and gives the reason of it vers 10. I said I will not put forth mine hand against my Lord for He is the Lords Anointed Nay yet further He refuseth not to swear Fealtie and Allegiance to Him and kindness to his posterity after him v. 21 22. and did exactly