off in Pomp and Noise For its Extent was confin'd within Europe all the Churches in Asia and Africa disowning it and there still remain'd in the heighth of their Triumph Bodies of Men that Opposed their Superstitions and many of them with their Blood Sealed to the Truth Besides its Reign is not near of that Length it pretends to The continual Attempts it made upon the Jurisdiction of other Churches and the aiming at Universality were long in agitation and never yet settled to their mind farther than in Italy and there next door it is rejected in Sicily It s Pernicious Errours have generally been Disowned by their soundest Members and by their greatest and ablest Writers and few Established by Authority till the Council of Trent after the Reformation was begun as you may see amongst others in our excellent Dr. Field of the Church Yet these and all other Considerations do not Captivate a good Christian so as to make him lay aside all his Reason but in the midst of Miracles and the Power of the Holy Ghost with the Noble Bereans search the Scripture whether Things be so or no. How suddenly would our Schisms Vanish away were some among us so Ingenuous as to go to the Fountain-Head to Search the Scriptures and not have Mens Persons so much in Admiration as to take all for Gospel that they say Ye see then the modest Cautiousness which ought to be used to confirm us in the Truth lest either by too much Implicitness we suffer Error to grow upon us or by Assuming too much to our selves we be Misled by our own Indiscretion I shall refer my self in this Point to what St. Augustine says in a Treatise against the Donatists Who knows not that the Holy Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are contained within their certain Limits and are so far Preferr'd before all after-Writings of Bishops that the Truth or Justice of whatever appears to be Written in them is not to be doubted or call'd in question But what Episcopal Determinations have been or are made since the Canon of the Holy Scriptures has been confirm'd may if they appear Faulty be Corrected either by a Hand happily more Skilful or by the Authority and Prudence of more Bishops and Wiser Men or by Councils And Councils themselves which are held of particular Nations or Provinces are without more adoe to yield to the Authority of Plenary and General Councils and they likewise which have gone before to submit to the Correction of the later when any thing is discover'd which was not known before and that without the least swelling of Pride transport of Arrogance or spiteful Contention but with a Sanctify'd Humility in Catholick Peace and Christian Charity Wherefore St. Cyprian so much the Greater by being the more Humble and who was so in love with the Behaviour of St. Peter that he said setting it forth as an Instruction to us of Concord and Patience that we should not be too fond of our own ways but rather esteem those to be ours if True and Just which are now and then opportunely suggested to us by our Brethren and Colleagues He shews plainly enough how easily he would have alter'd his Opinion if any one had made it appear to him that Christian Baptism might be Administred to others by those who left the Church for the same Reason that they cannot lose their own by their Departure Of which though I have said much I should not have dar'd to have utter'd one Word unless I had been supported by the joynt Authority of the Universal Church to which I make no doubt he had likewise yielded if in his time the Question had been canvased and decided by a plenary Council But though the Rule of Discretion and common Prudence taken from the natural Course of things direct this way yet such is the headstrong Temper of corrupt Nature as will break through all For we see in the very Infancy of Christianity when Mens outward Senses were Gratified with continual Miracles their Minds taught by the Insallible Guides of the Church the Apostles Their Expectation and Dependance upon Things here below prevented by incessant Persecutions and powerful Oppositions yet would they not retain Sincerity and Innocence For we see even in those Days there was an Hymeneus and an Alexander and a Diotrephes and divers others complain'd of by the Apostles themselves there was the Heresie of the Nicolaitans and that of the Gnostics too if some have guess'd aright which provok'd St Peter to give this Warning There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of c. And St. Iohn thus counsels Christians upon the same Account Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world No wonder then if the Scripture advertises us of the Mischiefs which should happen to the Church in after-Days Now the spirit speaks expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisie But more emphatically have we it from the same hand in the Charge given at Miletus to the Clergy of Ephesus Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Which is confirmed by the Mouth of Truth it self Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many And that we may be apprised of the Reason why it has seemed good to the Divine Wisdom to expose the Church to these uneasie Tryals we are told I hear there are divisions among you There must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you Being thus forewarned of those Unnatural Distractions wherewith our Holy Profession is to be Visited and that in all probability they will continue to the end of the World because the Reason for them does so Ye ought always to be upon a strict Guard against the Incroachment of so Dangerous an Evil. For the Honour of God the Support of Truth the Salvation of Mens Souls and the Peace of the Church are all concerned in it What is it preserves the Communion of so many Churches so widely distant in Place Discipline and Worship but the Harmony of Confession the Consent in that which is the Life and Soul of our Holy Religion the Articles of our Faith It is our Creed
alone that preserves the mutual Confidence between Churches far and wide For the Pursuit of which we have Two infallible Directions 1. Hold fast the form of sound words 2. Rightly dividing the word of truth I. From the first I suppose we are directed to keep to the Common Style of the Church without First Addition Secondly Subtraction or Thirdly Variation First The Papists are most notoriously Guilty of the first notwithstanding that they generally hold all the Fundamentals by superinducing so many false Articles of Faith Idolatrous Worship grievously Superstitious Practices and setting up their own Laws under greater Penalties if not above the very Law of God thus shamefully Defiling his Worship and with the Rubbish of their own Inventions and the Doctrines of Men Perverting and Smothering the Truth of the Gospel Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar Secondly They are likewise Guilty of a Sacrilegious Subtraction by withdrawing the Cup of Blessing entirely from the Laity and holding back the Word of Life the Holy Scripture from the People and deceitfully amusing them with Legends in its stead But they whose great Business it has been to Narrow the Word of God to Enervate the Power of Godliness and to Destroy the Efficacy of Saving Faith are the Pelagians the Socinians and their Harbingers These do it with a witness whilst they attack the Essential Foundations of our Hope by denying the Meritorious Purchase of Christs Death in our Redemption the Imputation of his Righteousness Seal'd to us by his Blood and Confirm'd to us by his Resurrection for our Justification shutting the Gates against the King of Glory and his Divine Majesty disowning the inward Assistance and Comfort of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Effects of the Gospel Sacraments To such as these had the Author to the Hebrews an eye when he says He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under foot the son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the spirit of grace Now both to the Superstitious and Prophane to him that would add and to him that would take away hath God given this Charge What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it And this is St. Iohn's Witness in God's Name I testifie unto every man that heareth the prophesie of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this bock And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesie God shall take away his part out of the book of life c. Thirdly The Variation though in it self not so Malicious is yet of dangerous Consequence It may I confess proceed from a Luxuriant Fancy and a Heedless Affectation But there is a Fault even in this For it is an unmannerly Trespass upon our Governours and Superiours to pretend to correct their Style and in a Private Capacity to be wiser than the multitude of Counsellours Besides the Confusion and Uncertainty it creates in the Apprehension of the Sense of Doctrines thus delivered For every Art and Science has its peculiar Terms and Expressions confin'd to one peculiar Sense and Meaning so fixed by long Use and Experience and if that be once passed by and a Liberty taken by the several Professours to use the Various Words and Loose Expressions of Common Conversation and Entertainment or which may otherwise be the Original Propriety of the Language all Points and Cases will become Unintelligible through Ambiguities and Difference of Acceptation Should we put Coetus for Ecclesia in the different Senses apply'd in our Ecclesiastical Style what a Confusion would it make the former being never otherwise understood than for a Company of Men met together whereas the latter is extended to the utmost Meaning it can bear For sometimes it is taken for the Material Church sometimes for a Congregation and that either of one Parish or Collectively of many as the Church of England or farther for the whole Body of Christians throughout the World or yet more extensively for the Church Triumphant as well as Militant Should we Change the English Word Church into any other Expression what Work would it make For though it properly signifie the Material Edifice or Building as being Deriv'd from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet by a most extended Metonymie is it used in as large a Sense as Ecclesia in the Latin Were Comitia apply'd instead of Concilium how uncoothly and strangely would it for want of Use suit with the Epithets of Provincial National Patriarchal Ecumenical and the like Castalio has Translated the Bible into a Ciceronian Style but he is blamed for it by all who have weighed the Inconvenience of such a Novelty And yet there would not be so much Hurt in this if the Mischief reached no farther than an Affected Singularity But they who stop here serve only for Blinds to give a more easie Introduction to Heresie For under New and Unusual Terms the Hereticks Equivocate their Meaning and are contented to Manage the Simple-hearted in the best Manner they can till they find a proper Season to speak out Thus did the Hereticks of old couch their Errors under Dubious Expressions and Colourable Words So did the Arians Pelagius Nestorius and Eutyches as may be seen in the Records of the Church II. I come now to the other Direction Rightly dividing the word of truth And I take this Translation of ours to come the fullest up to the Sense of the Original of any in what Language soever The Import of which Words I take to be 1. An Advice of Discretion to Administer the Word according to the Capacity and Strength of the Hearer 2. An Advice of Justice to make known the whole Mind of God concealing no Part but giving to every Portion its due Weight I. In the first Sense the Expression seems to have relation to the Distribution of a Sacrifice cut of divided into due Proportions For we know the Body of the Church is likened to the Body Natural which consists of several Members under different Dispositions according to their respective Uses Therefore as in the Natural so in the Politick Body there must be regard had to the different Office and Constitution of each Member Some are more of less Honouraable some more or less Necessary some more or less Powerful each is to be Treated in that way which is most suitable to its Disposition and if any Member be Sick or Weak proper Remedies must be apply'd And I am sure however it be Practised it is one of the most necessary Duties incumbent upon our Calling The Truth of it is where there is a
Love being made up of Peace Gentleness and Concord there is another sort of People who pervert the very Nature of it and though not with so good a Heart as Moses yet with as good a Will break the Two Tables one against the other Out of a pretended Zeal for one Duty they will Overthrow another and expect that their Abhorring Idols will excuse their Sacrilege But the Charac ter of such Men is too obvious to deceive the Sincere having been always found Unstable Unquiet Tumultuous Seditious Insolent and Disobedient to Superiours False and Treacherous to their Neighbours full of all Hypocrisie Clamorous for Justice and Religion and having neither III. Then there is the Proud Pelagian who scorns to acknowledge his own Infirmities and denying Original Sin chuses rather to impute the filthy State he is in to Gods Workmanship than his own Folly He Boasts out of Vanity rather to be what he is not by Establishing his own Righteousness than submit to be a New Creature of God's Making These Desperate Diseases ye ought to Cure by your Moderation and to continue earnestly to Preach up Good Works For without holiness no man shall see the Lord And tho it be the Holy Ghost that Sanctifieth yet they must be Good Works wrought by the Grace of God that procure such Sanctification So that ye are to urge to your People the Necessity of Pleasing God by Good Works but at the same time that they do not depend upon them to assure them that their Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord but that likewise they humbly Confess that it is God alone that gives the Increase Thirdly It is of great Consequence that ye press the Observation of the Two Sacraments as well as their Power and Efficacy they being so shamefully neglected and undervalued in these Days For the generality of Religionaries lay them aside out of a Contemptuous Conceit that they have no Worth in them or at least not such as can add any thing to their Perfection This was the Conceit of the Cathari Condemned by the African Church which probably was deriv'd from the Montanists who might at least be some of those Animadverted upon by Origen and has been the certain Effect of Spiritual Pride as well as of Prophaness in all Ages But a truly humble Spirit will readily acknowledge that the Wisdom of God is above all and that what God has Consecrated by his Institution is to be observed with Reverence and Submission A Man of just Sense and Reason will ask what Familiarity or Communication our Gross Beings here upon Earth should have with Spiritual Things were there not some visible Medium in some manner to Qualifie and Reconcile the Invisible Operations of God to our Weak Understandings I would have Men but to consider for what Reason Christ came in the Flesh before they reject the Elementary part of the Sacraments and so vainly despise an Outward and Visible Sign Naaman's Cure if duly consider'd is likewise a pregnant Instance I shall Conclude with Two Cautions which tho already touch'd upon I do presume again to lay before you For I am perswaded that the careful Observation of them will contribute much to the Establishment of Peace and Truth in our Church 1. In your Sermons and other Discourses ye ought to treat Men of different Perswasions with that prudent Charity as not to expose the Truth and with that Christian Prudence in asserting the Truth as not to forget Charity For to Preach universal Safety to all that live Soberly and Vertuously without observing the Defectiveness of our best Obedience and the Means we are to lay hold on for the Reparation of our Breaches is to encourage all the Wild Opinions of Hereticks and afford a great cover for Hypocrisie because it puts so gross a Sleight upon the Articles of our Faith as to render them in a manner Ridiculous and by Cloaking their Heresies with such a seemingly Meritorious Piety puts a greater Value upon Crellius's Ethicks than upon the Gospel Therefore to affect such an unlimited Charity does highly derogate from the Honour of God in our Redemption As then ye must not Judge your Brother in pronouncing Damnation upon his Person that is peculiar to God so ye must and ought to Damn his pernicious Errors lest ye be found Partakers of his Sins Should ye see a Poor Honest Man wandring in untrodden Paths whether were it more Charity to tell him he may get to his Journey 's end well enough the Way he is in or to let him know the Danger he runs of being lost if he comes not into the right Way By the first Method ye please Men in Humouring them in the Error of their Ways by the other ye uphold the Truth of God by the one way ye run Men upon a Rock by the other bring them into a Safe Harbour So that real Charity is to tell our Brother of his Mistakes and not by Extenuation to flatter him into the hazard of his Ruin II. A careful Distinction should be observed in treating those that are in a wrong Way If an Erring Brother be found Humble and of a Quiet Spirit ye cannot be too Gentle towards such a one For there must be a good Principle in him however through Prejudice of Education the Deceitfulness of Instructors or Weakness of Judgment he may be misled Whereas a Turbulent Spirit that seeks to propagate his Follies though at the Cost of breaking the Peace both of Church and State deserves to be handled in a brisker manner with a Style sharp enough to pierce the Hardiness of his Temper But whomever ye have to deal with in any Case of this Nature Compassion ought to be the Ground of your whole Proceeding that according to the Example of our Blessed Saviour the end of all your Actions may be to do Good Let me therefore again conjure each of you in the Name of God and in the Words of St. Paul to Timothy Take heed unto thy self and unto thy doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee And that God who is pleased to suffer you to be encompassed with so many Difficulties grant you Courage to Resist and the Power of his Grace to Overcome so many Contradictions of Sinners and make you Diligent to continue Faithful in your Ministry through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS ERRATA PAGE 13. in Margin lin penult for quos read quis Page 18. lin 23. and 24. for with the greatest care and caution to proceed read to proceed with the greatest care and caution 1 Tim. 4.16 1 Pet. 2.12 Mat. 5. â—2 Nonne flagitium est te altis consilium dare Foris sapere tibi non posse auxiliarier Terent. Prov. 15.29 2 Cor. 12.16 1 Pet. 3.13 1 Cor. 14.40 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 12.21 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 15.23 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 1.8 4 〈◊〉
Cure of Souls by which a constant Attendance upon the Word in one certain Place is Required nothing can more express the True and Earnest Concern for their Good than a diligent Observation of what sort of Treatment Gentle or Severe or what sort of Diet may be most Proper for them Milk or strong Meat For that which is one Mans Meat may prove another Mans Poyson Men of sober and serious Spirits well Exercised in Pious Meditations may safely be Entertained with the stronger Meats and Doctrines of high Speculations and Mysteries may be Trusted with some of them but such Fare would make the Ordinary sort of Mankind who for want of Education or Leisure are not used to such Sublime Thoughts run Mad and become Enthusiasts It is therefore an unpardonable Imprudence in those that Preach to their People at all Adventures It is as if a Physician should Prescribe to his Patient the first Medicine that came into his Head without Examining Disease or Temper whereby it would be infinite Odds that he did more Hurt than Good What then shall we say to such as out of a base Awe of losing either Favour or Profit avoid declaring Useful and Necessary Truths What shall we think of those who Amuse People with Notional and Mysterious Doctrines holding back such Practical Duties as would keep the Conscience awake and all this to carry on Factious and Seditious Ends No doubt an indifferent Person will say they are of the number of those that handle the word of God deceitfully II. Wherefore to avoid the Imputation either of Heedlesness or Corrupt and Sinister Designs as Faithful Stewards ye ought to Acquaint those that are committed to your Charge with the whole Mind of God lest any thing be wanting to prevent Error or Mistake Another Method may rid our hands of some Work but will certainly render our Labour very Defective if not Pernicious The Church which is the Body of Christ is ye know compared to the Natural Body which has its Members of different Value and Consideration and as its Members so have the several Rules and Directions of its Constitution their respective Weight and Importance so that neither in the one Case nor in the other is there a complete Body where any Part is wanting Remember the fatal Case of Ananias and Saphira For if for keeping back a Portion of Temporal Things which Perish in the Usage the Punishment was so Severe of how much greater Infliction shall they be found Worthy who withold Spiritual Things which are Eternal In this Case therefore Comparison is very Odious where the Value of the greater Articles of our Religion are apply'd wholly to Eclipse the lesser For to repeat our Saviour's Rule once more upon this Occasion These things ought ye to do and not to leave the other undone Which makes it far more Wise to follow the Example of that great Apostle of the Gentiles alledged in his Farewel Charge at Miletus to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus I kept back nothing that was profitable to you I have not shamed to declare unto you all the counsel of God Thus are ye to Instruct the People committed to your Charge 1. In the more weighty Matters of the Law thereby to make sure the Foundation 2. With more especial Earnestness in those Points where ye find a failure either through Ignorance or Prejudice 3. And Lastly in the whole Mind of God that they may be Perfect throughly furnished unto all Good Works 2. As to the Practical part of Doctrine one would think the suitableness of all Vertue to the whole Frame and Constitution of Gods Creation would convince Men of the Reasonableness of it and the Good it does from its very Nature not only to Particulars but to the happy Support of the Whole would make Men in love with it And yet for all this such is our Corruption and the Power of it that neither the Light of Nature nor Instruction Fear nor Favour Interest nor Danger can stop the Career of Sin or turn the Sinner into the Right way If Conscience cannot be Hardned at least it shall be laid Asleep with deceitful Promises of Peace and Indulgence Therefore ye ought earnestly to press the Practice of all Vertues in Holiness of Life But this ye must be careful to do in such a Christian Style as may not Offend the Gospel either I. In coming short of its Precepts or II. In setting too great a Value upon the Practice of them First For if you Narrow them to the private Dealings betwixt Man and Man or the Sober Conduct of our own Persons do we not see the Sons of Tumult and Sedition in shew at least justifie the Duty of such a Behaviour Neither the Moral Schemes of Philosophers nor Crellius's Ethicks will furnish you with a sufficient Institution in this Matter No. The Scripture instructs us moreover in those Noble and Generous Vertues which bring our Actions nearer to the Likeness of that diffusive and universal Goodness of God by such a Peaceable and Submissive Deportment as makes the Wheels of Government go easie and whole Nations Happy Secondly But yet we must not be so Lifted up even with the Best of our Actions as to bring them in Competition with the Grace of God or impute any real Merit to them Our Church and the sound Writers of it Teach us after we have done all we can not to Value our own Righteousness but that of Christ. And surely it would be a malapert Confidence in any of her Members to Conceit themselves so much Wiser than Seven Men that can render a Reason as to Lower the Attributes of God's Righteousness for the Exaltation of our own Merits and grudge his Grace a free Passage through the Means of our Salvation There are therefore Three Rocks especially to be Avoided in the Consideration of our Practical Duty I. The First is that of Antinomianism which casts off all Obligation to the Moral Law and in the Teeth of St. Paul abuses the Goodness of God in Derogation to his Holiness by saying Let us continue in sin that grace may abound And this we do not learn only from what is pass'd but woful Experience teaches us every Day how much it has diffused it self through all our Sects at least to some Degree and they that pretend to be free from Sin prove in effect to do it that they may Sin the more freely II. There are that impose upon Practical Duty and offer Indignity to the Divine Precepts Some prefer their own Commandments before those of God making it more Criminal to Disobey their own Laws than to break the Law of the Lord. Thus did the Pharisees of Old Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And just so do the Papists now while they generally impose a greater Penance upon the Breach of their Oanons than upon a Sin directly against the Will of God But whereas the Law is Fulfill'd by