withstood the murmurings and ingratitudes of a rebellious People freed us from the Slavery and Tyranny of our Egyptian Task-masters brought us out of a Wilderness of Confusion and placed us within the prospect of a Canaan of Peace and Order and yet to his lawful Successor the mighty Joshua Providence decreed the full possession of those Blessings which he the lamented Moses only liv'd to have a sight of And what may we not promise to our selves under his most auspicious Reign and in nothing more auspicious than in the peaceable devolution of the Crown upon his Head after so many bold and wicked Attempts to cut off his Succession this seems no less miraculous than his Predecessor's Restauration may his Subjects learn from hence That Kings are of Divine Right and dread the Vengeance of that God by whom they reign may they never forget the miseries they have escap'd nor grow weary of the benefits they are sure to enjoy under his wise and steady Conduct may his Reign be long and prosperous and to compleat his Happiness may all his People give him the same dutiful Obedience now he is King which he so religiously paid to his Sovereign when he was the highest of Subjects and to say no more may he live to accomplish those glorious things for this Nation for which he seems to be design'd by that special Providence which has attended him through the whole course of his life and has now plac'd him on the Imperial Throne 2 Pet. Chap. 3. ver 16. In which are some things hard to be Vnderstood which they that are unlearned and unstable Wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own Destruction THE clearness of Scripture in all points necessary to Salvation to all such as sincerely endeavour to believe and find out the True Sense thereof as it is a Principle which suits very well with the nature and design of a Rule with the Justice and Goodness of God in propounding it as such and hath been urged with some success against those who plead a necessity of having One Supreme infallible Judge to decide and determine all Controversies which shall happen to arise concerning that Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints Whose Decisions and Determinations say they ought to be Receiv'd by all the Sons of the Church for as much as the Church is the same in all Ages with equal Assent and Veneration with those of the Apostles And this to be the only sure way to keep the Vnity of the Faith in the Bond of Peace Whereby on the other hand 't is said New Articles of Faith may be daily imposed the Doctrines of men pass for the Commandments of God and humane Inventions receive the stamp of Divine Authority whereby men seem precluded the genuine methods of coming to the Knowledge of the Truth and those Precepts of searching the Scriptures seeking the Kingdom of Heaven trying the Spirits are rendred Ineffectual whereby men are so far from being able to give an account of their Faith that their Vnderstandings are enslav'd by a Principle of blind Obedience so far from being led into the ways of Religion by the cords of men that they seem rather to be driven like Beasts and acted like Puppets as 't is phras'd by a late Author As this Doctrine of the Clearness of Scripture hath prov'd successful to the beating down the pretences to an absolute Infallibility and uncontroulable Soveraignty over the Consciences of men so on the other hand hath it mightily embolden'd the Patrons of Liberty not only to despise their Ecclesiastical Superiors to throw off all obedience to Christ's Ministers Whom He notwithstanding a little before his Return to his Fathers Court for the further negotiating and advancing the affairs of His Church Anointed and Ordain'd to perform the Apostolical Offices of Preaching the Gospel Remitting Sins Inflicting Censures Ministerially conferring the Holy Ghost Deciding Controversies and Administring the Sacraments in his stead here on earth till his second coming but likewise to invade their Function usurp their Sacred Calling especially that part of it which consists in Preaching and Expounding the Word For say they since 't is confess'd the Scriptures are sufficiently clear to all unprejudiced minds such as are free from the clogs of Passion and Interest Why should these pretended Ministers of Christ take so much upon them Are not all the Congregation Holy and Learned as well as they Are they the only Temples of the Holy Ghost And doth the Spirit of Prophecy reside solely in their Breasts During the Dispensation of Moses 't is confess'd there was a necessity of an Aaron all along under the Legal oeconomy the Priests Lips did preserve Knowledge and likewise during the Reign of the Prophets there was an appropriate Ministry But the case is quite different under the Gospel God having made clearer discoveries of himself and poured out more liberally of his Spirit upon all Flesh The sense of the Law that was Doubtful Typical and Mysterious the Prophecies were industriously couch'd under dark Parables and deliver'd in obscure sayings But then the light the glorious light of the Gospel as 't was universal 't was likewise so clear that any one that runs may read Why then should we not assert that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and since we have a Command to work out our own Salvation Why should we pin our Faith upon other mens sleeves Thus these men under the goodly Pretences of Christian Liberty become enslav'd to spiritual pride and conceitedness plead the Prerogative of the Gospel in prejudice of Christ's own Ambassadors urge for their own private Conceptions clearness of Scripture to their own Confusion and pry so long into the Doctrines of Theology till at length they light on those hidden Mysteries which they being Vnlearned and Vnstable Wrest unto their own Destruction The way thus prepar'd my Text yet leads me into these following Considerations 1. That the clearness of Scripture doth no ways lessen the Authority or take away the Necessity of Spiritual Guides 2. That though the Scriptures be clear in themselves yet private men abandoning their Lawful Guides and following their own Corrupt Fancies may deprave and distort them to their own Destruction 3. That for preventing Mistakes from rising and suppressing Errors when risen 't is the duty of Private men to submit their Judgments in matters of Religion to the Determinations of those whom God hath constituted to be their Spiritual Guides and Governours unless it manifestly appear that such Determinations are contrary to Gods Word I. I begin with the First That the Clearness of Scripture c. For if the Scriptures be so Clear and Self-evident as is pretended then may men with greater security rely on the Directions of their Guides and they have the less Reason to suspect their Conduct in those things wherein they themselves being Judges they cannot be mistaken if they sincerely attend them the clearness of the Law
THE AUTHORITY OF Church-Guides Asserted in a SERMON Preach'd before our Late GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN King CHARLES II. At Whitehall Octob. 17. 1675. By Miles Barne D. D. Fellow of St. Peters Colledge in Cambridge and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Late MAJESTY Published by His Majesty's Special Command The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Richard Green Bookseller in Cambridge 1685. The Preface to the Reader Reader THIS Sermon being the last which I had the Honor to preach before our late Gracious Sovereign of blessed and immortal Memory and having been so well approv'd of by Him that I receiv'd his Commands twice for the printing of it and his Defence of it after it was published I now again present to publick View yet not without some apprehension of danger for if notwithstanding the Royal Command and Defence of that Sagacious Prince I could not at that time escape the severe strokes of some Potent Men who from the very moment it was first preach'd by secret Arts endeavour'd my ruine and became my Enemies for no other reason but because I told them the truth I have little reason to expect better usage now being to my unspeakable grief destitute of that Royal Patronage The Design of it is to vindicate that Church-Authority which our Lord before he went into his far Country in a most solemn manner conferr'd upon his Apostles and which was to descend upon their Successors and to be continued in the Governors and Guides of the Church unto the end of the World to lessen if not render useless this Sacred Authority especially that part of it which consists in expounding the Scriptures in teaching and guiding the Flock some modern Divine for reasons best known to themselves have advanc'd the Perspicuity of Scripture to that degree that not only the less difficult part thereof but even the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves are become easie and intelligible to every Mechanick Reader And it may seem strange that this pretended Clearness of Scripture unknown to those Illustrious Fathers who writ in the first and succeeding Ages of Christianity who with indefatigable Labour painful Watchings and incessant Recourse to the Spirit of Truth endeavoured to explain the deep Mysteries thereof should never be discovered until these last Centuries and then made use of to usher in and support those pestilent Schisms which happened in the Western Churches and is indeed set as a fatal Bar to frustrate all the Methods of Re-union and yet stranger that these Discoverers should be so wilfully blind as not to discern that nothing is more clearly reveal'd or more expresly set down in Holy Writ than the Authority here contended for if the infallible and concurrent Testimony of the Evangelists may be thought of any moment in the case God forbid the Bread of Life should be denied to the Children of the Gospel Covenant but whether the great Master of the Houshold has not appointed Spiritual Fathers to be the Stewards and Dispensers of this Heavenly Food or left the Children to be their own Carvers ought to have been more maturely consider'd for this Bread of Life which is the Word of God is by St. Paul compar'd to a two-edged Sword and if that be put into the hands of unskilful Managers it may prove both fatal to themselves and destructive to others I shall not here trouble you with a review of those Complaints occasioned by the dire Heresies which soon followed upon the first Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue since the Divine Writings cannot be translated into too many Languages and since after the Translation the Supreme Authority might have hindred the mischiefs which insued by restraining the promiscuous reading of them and indulging that Priviledge to those only who should be licens'd thereunto by the Governours of the Church But certainly those men had no very good Design nor a due Honour for the Divine Oracles who first expos'd their mysterious meaning to the Judgment of every vulgar Capacity and yet I would willingly entertain so much Charity for them as to believe the first Inventors did not foresee the dangerous Consequences of their own Principle for from hence it naturally follows in the First place That there is no necessity of Church-Guides for directing Christians in necessary Faith Secondly From hence follows a contempt of their Function at least as to this part of it for who will regard that Authority which is made useless Thirdly An Innundation of all those wild Opinions which either Malice or Ignorance can betray men into Fourthly The multiplying of Sects and Heresies without any due Means left for the suppressing them since every sincere Endeavourer may equally plead the Truth of Scripture in justification of his Opinion This one Principle has turned our Jerusalem which was once a City at Vnity within it self into a Babel not of Languages but what is worse a Confusion of the grossest Errors which ever infested the Church since the Foundation of Christianity and since Latitudinism in Principles is evermore accompanied with Libertinism in Practice Schism in the Church begets Sedition in the Monarchy and an Erastian in the one proves a Republican in the other To this one Principle may be chiefly ascrib'd all the Fatal mischiefs of the late unnatural Wars and the dreadful Confusions intended by the last Fanatick Conspiracy which we so narrowly escap'd that we can scarce yet think our selves secure from the danger of it for since the Translation of the Bible into our Language and the promiscuous Reading of it what Schismatick ever wanted a Text of his own interpreting to countenance his Schism or Rebel to authorize his Rebellion The Peace and Vnity of the Catholick Church ought to be dearer to every good Christian than the greatest temporal Blessings or even Life it self How far this has been obstructed by the envenom'd Writings and Erastian Principles of some modern Controvertists I wish we had not too just cause to lament and that in their Transports of indiscreet Zeal and even inhuman◠Passions they had not wounded the Catholick through the sides of the Roman Church for not contented t◠throw off an Vniversal Supremacy unduly challenged by St. Peter's Successors as the Prerogative of the first Apostolical See they have denied that Primacy of Order that Exordium Unitatis which is both consistent with St. Cyprian's Hoc erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis c. allow'd by the most genuine Sons of the Church of England and which is necessary for the supporting the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and without which that Vnity of the Church which the Holy Father so earnestly contends for cannot so well be preserv'd not contented with this Degradation of his Holiness they have proceeded further and made him the Antichrist the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition notwithstanding all the Phaenomena of the Apocalyptical false Prophet do so exactly agree to Mahomet as the ingenious
is so far from lessening the Authority that it rather conciliates reverence to the Judge The Profession of Physick doth not therefore become useless because the Aphorisms of Hippocrates contain the necessary Rules for Health and may be understood by those who are capacitated and will take the pains to do it The Scriptures they do clearly contain the Doctrines of Salvation And one way whereby Christ prov'd himself the true Messias was by answering that Character the Prophets had given of Him that the Poor should have the Gospel Preached unto them i. e. Men as of small Capacities and less Estates so of humble and teachable Dispositions men who are Poor in Spirit as well as in Fortune And the perfection of the Christian Law consists in this that therein God hath prescribed a reasonable service The Rules of Life which are therein laid down are not so much the product of absolute Power and Soveraignty as the Result of infinite Mercy and Goodness And these His Attributes led Him to consult the wants and commiserate the Necessities of the meanest of Mankind And therefore as when He took upon Him to deliver Man He did not abhor the Virgins Womb and that He might become a Sacrifice for Sin was content to be disarray'd of His own Eternal Glory to take upon Him the Form of a Servant and to humble Himself to the Death the shameful Death of the Cross so likewise when He took upon Him the Office of a Teacher by a wonderful Condescent He accommodated His Doctrines to the Reason and humane Affections of His Auditors His Laws obtain'd as much by their suitableness to our Natures as the Authority of the Speaker When He preach'd His Divine Sermon to the Multitude He did not amuse them with Mystical Theology or torture their Understandings with profound Subtilties but as He was the Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of His Person so He declar'd the Law of God in a most Plain and Perspicuous manner Mahomet indeed that grand Impostor was well Advis'd to pen his Alcoran in swelling Words and mystical Phrases and as in some things to Restrain so in others to Indulge the sensual Appetite For by this Stratagem that sottish People with whom he had to do were content to part with their natural Right to gain an Unlawful Freedom and to Admire what they were never like to Understand But our new and perfect Law-giver Christ Jesus having no other design but the Salvation of Souls and being every way Adorn'd for so noble a Purpose though He made the Gate Narrow and the Path Strait yet He hath promised it shall be Open'd to all that Knock and none unless Wilfully need mistake the Way which leads to Eternal Life But then because He knew there was no Rule so plain but it might be Mistaken no Precept so clear but it might be Perverted no Doctrine so pure but it might be Corrupted Because He foresaw there would arise false Prophets and false Teachers whose business it would be to Seduce the Ignorant and Debauch the Credulous Because He foresaw a perpetual Succession of Gnosticks who in all Ages would set up the Dagon of their own lascivious Fancies in opposition to the Ark of His Covenant and be so audacious as even to confront Divine Revelations with carnal Reasoning therefore to obviate and prevent the mischiefs of such grievous Wolves before He took His Journey into his far Country out of a tender care of that Flock which He had purchas'd with his Blood He appointed Overseers and Pastors of his Flock committed to them and them only the care of Feeding his Flock amplified their Commission with the like Authority which he had receiv'd from his Father promis'd to be with them unto the End of the World and to assist them with that Spirit which should guide them into all Truth If then the Scriptures be so clear as to be understood even by the Multitude then much more by the Disciples in general If by the Disciples in general much more by the College of the Apostles who were His special Favourites and of his Cabinet-counsel If the Nations to whom these Ministers in Chief and Plenipotentiaries for Christ made known the Will of God were throughly instructed for the Kingdom of Heaven then much more both they and their Successors upon whom they in obedience to their Masters Command conferr'd the same Pastoral power which they had receiv'd from Him The Clearness then of Scripture cannot reasonably be urg'd in Prejudice of Christ's Ministers for whatsoever is from hence alledg'd in favour of the People the advantage will be still greater on their side Thus hath God promis'd the Assistance of his Spirit to all private men who sincerely endeavour to find out the Truth then much less will He be wanting to the Governours of his Church to whom He hath committed the care of the Souls of those private men and given power even to confer the Holy Ghost Are the Scriptures clear to them much more to those whom the Son of God hath signaliz'd and set apart for the Lights of the World Two Things are usually brought to hinder this Procedure Either that those Promises of Assistance were made only to the Apostles or else that they depend on the conditioned Righteousness of Men. Where by the way it may be Observ'd that by the First of these the Claim of the People is utterly cut off and by the Second they have as small Advantage But they who argue this might do well to consider that this Objection may strike at the very Foundation of the Faith For if those promises of Assistance which Christ made to his Church be Hypothetical if they depend on the Performance of Men then may the Foundation totter the Gates of Hell prevail Christianity decay and the Gospel it self be lost out of the World before the End thereof notwithstanding all Christ's fair promises to the contrary If they had been confin'd only to the Apostles the Christian Religion had not long surviv'd its Author every Martyrdom of an Apostle had pull'd down a Pillar of the Church and by consequence the whole Fabrick must have fallen to the ground in the very first Century of our Lord. Happy indeed had it been for Christendom that the Imperiousness of some Modern Bishops of Rome had not brought an Odium though unjustly upon Episcopacy in general that their too much Lording it over the Flock had not given Advantage to the Enemies of Church-Authority and their challenging to themselves at least an indirect Power in Temporals had not alarm'd the Kings of the Earth to stand up and take Counsel how they might destroy so dangerous an Vsurpation of the pretended Vicegerent of the Lords Anointed Happy had it been if for the Support of their Secular Greatness they had not wrested the Scriptures to countenance such Doctrines as have no clear and solid Foundation therein and that under pretence of making the Church all Glorious
within her Governours all Triumphant without they had not defac'd Her Innocent Beauty and made Her Militant in the worst of Sences However they can no way be excused who think they can never be secure from Papal Supremacy but by demolishing the Evangelical Hierarchy and introducing a Presbyterian Parity into the Catholick Church and to avoid the Necessity of having an Infallible Judge leaving every private prepossessed Fancy to the Perspicuity of Scripture whereby men are often bewildred in a Labyrinth of Errors seduc'd into those by-paths which lead to the Pit of Destruction For notwithstanding that Beam of Divine Light which shines so bright in the Scriptures it seems some men have Eyes either so weak as to be dazled at the sight of it or else so blind with Pride or Malice as not to perceive it For St. Peter tells us there are in the Scriptures some things hard to be understood which unlearned and unstable men wrest unto their own Destruction And therefore the Unlearned should do well to consult their Teachers the Unstable those that are found in the Faith which brings me to my second general Consideration That though the Scriptures be clear in themselves yet Private men abandoning their Guides and following their own corrupt Fancies may deprave and distort them to their own destruction Who those Wresters were or what those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are wherewith St. Peter chargeth the Epistles of his beloved Brother Paul I shall not strictly inquire the Apostle having pass'd them over in a profound silence it will be difficult at this distance of time exactly to define yet 't is not improbable that either the Gnostick or Cerinthian Hereticks were here chiefly aim'd at who upon a mistake of some Predictions became the Founders of a Temporal Dominion of Christ after His Resurrection wherein His Followers in their New Jerusalem should wallow in sensual Lusts and Pleasures spend the space of a Thousand Years as in a Nuptial Festivity and enjoy the all that is in the World the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eye and the Pride of Life in as ample and exquisite a manner as the most Epicurean Soul could effect or covet A Fancy in its first Original meerly Jewish afterwards entertain'd by some Judaizing Christians and finally rather rectified than abandoned by some of the Fathers in the Primitive times And if those sublime Wits who had all the Learning which either Jerusalem Athens or Rome could boast were nevertheless mistaken in their Expositions of some abstruse Texts of Scripture whilst they deliver'd their Opinions but as private Doctors what wonder if the unlearned and unstable wrest them to their own Destruction That they have de facto done this is manifest since 't will be hard to instance in any one Century which is not either chargeable with new Heresies or the reviving and improving of old And the most extravagant Opinions which ever yet saw the light have still shrouded themselves under the Patronage of Holy Writ What shall we say then shall we condemn the Scriptures of Sin Shall we say That the Scriptures are of themselves either productive of Error or not a sufficient Store-house of Truth God forbid The Scriptures are Holy Just and Good but private men wrest them to their own Destruction And this they do First By their Ignorance Secondly By their Instability I. First By their Ignorance where it will be presently objected that Ignorance is so far from being a cause of Error or Impiety that in a sober sence 't is truly the Mother of Devotion The Wisdom of this World is given in by Tertullian as the prime Cause of Heresie None were greater Tormentors of the Scriptures than the Philosophers for which Reason they are branded by the same Author with the Title of Arch-Hereticks Particularly the Valentinian Heresie concerning the portentous production of the Gods comes from the Platonists Marcion's Vnconcern'd and Lazy God was first set up by the Stoicks the Mortality of the Soul was the Doctrine of the Epicureans the Impossibility of the Resurrection of the Flesh of the whole stream of Philosophers The Apostle tells us Not many Mighty not many Wise not many Noble were chosen cautions his Proselytes against Philosophy and vain Deceit and concludes the Wisdom of this World Foolishness with God Wherefore by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unlearned in this place we are not to understand Ideots and those who never knew Letters but we must understand those who will not be instructed by the Masters of Divine Wisdom the Nolentes discere those who refuse to hear the Church of the Living God which alone is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth And so their Learning like Julian's only qualifies them to deride the Doctrines of a Crucified God and by their Wisdom they become the more formidable Enemies of Christ's Kingdom Thus if Lucifer the Son of the Morning fall from his Allegiance whole Legions of the Heavenly Host are involv'd in the Rebellion That Heresie spreads like the Contagion of a Leprosie which hath an Arrius for its Founder and a Constantius for its Promoter And the Mahumetan Religion owes as well its monstrous Birth as its fatal Increase to the Malice and Cunning of an Apostate Jew and a Renegado Christian And to give but one instance more but of a far more Modern Date and therefore of more dangerous consequence That unhappy man Socinus a person otherwise of singular Wit and Learning but being in this sense unlearned i. e. having entertain'd so slender a Notion of the Church as to date a general Defection from the very Deaths of the Apostles upon this Perswasion thought it not Robbery to make himself equal to the most Oecumenical Councils to contradict the most receiv'd Doctrines of the Church and from this contempt of his Mother to proceed to that daring pitch of impiety as to deny even the Lord that bought him so dangerous is it for private men to rely solely upon the perspicuity of Scripture or to measure the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Incarnation of the Godhead his Consubstantiality with the Father by the scantling of Humane Reason Cedat curiositas fidei gloria saluti was the Advice of as great a Wit as any Age hath bred Our Curiosity must give place to our Faith the thirst of Temporal Glory to the benefits of Eternal Salvation 'T is true by our Reason we are first dispos'd to be Christians for no Creature beneath the Rational is capable of Divine Revelation but when once we have given up our Names to Christ 't is by our Faith we are saved but if we assent to no Doctrines but such as our Reason fully comprehends this is no longer Faith but Science and so we may continue Infidels whilst we go under the Notion of Christians And since we live in such a knowing Age wherein all captivating the Vnderstanding though it be to the Obedience of Faith is made the subject of Grievance and Complaint And
constant and familiar converse with their Master or else from that plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost which He vouchsafed them immediately upon His Restauration to His Heavenly Kingdom That which was thus wonderfully bestowed upon them their Successors are forc'd to acquire by hard Study great Industry frequent and fervent Address to the Fountain of Wisdom For not only the Knowledge of Languages a Calmness of Mind neither ruffled with the storms of Passion nor distracted with the Cares of the World but likewise a piercing Judgment to distinguish between the Literal and Figurative sense to weigh the scope and coherence of things to compare one place with another to illustrate obscure Texts by those which are more plain to consult and find out the sense of Antiquity is required to a right understanding of the Scriptures For they do not only contain things of themselves hard to be understood but moreover those very things are rendred more difficult by the Malice of Satan and the Cunning of his Agents The Enemy hath sown such a prodigious quantity of Tares that 't is very hard sometimes to find out the Wheat What wonder then if such a spawn of Monstrous Opinions flow from the Scriptures falling either into prophane hands or being interpreted by a private self-conceited and unruly Spirit If St. Paul who was caught up into the third Heavens and was even oppress'd with Revelations nevertheless cryes out as well for the Difficulty as the Dignity of his Function Who is sufficient for these things Then certainly it can be no Disparagement to the Laity however quick-sighted they may be in other Affairs to suppose them not such competent Judges here as those of the Clergy are And indeed we hear of very few though never such Despisers of the dull Clergy in their life-time but are very willing to admit of their advice and assistance when they come to Dye IV. Fourthly and lastly The necessity of this Submission appears as 't is the only means to restore Peace and Unity to the Church Happiness and Tranquillity to the State how ineffectual the several Projects of Comprehension Toleration unwarrantable Compliance have proved to effect the Work of Coalition I mean to Compose those Differences and Unite those Divisions which so furiously Rage among us we either are or 't is to be feared by sad Experience may be Taught These Projects can only lay claim to an imaginary Happiness and however plausible they may seem in the Notion yet may they prove dangerous in the Practice at least not attain the ends for which they were design'd For in truth as well may we expect To gather Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles as that a Toleration of Disagreements should produce the blessed Fruits of Peace and Concord These are Contraries and destroy each other Now what other Expedient have we left but the Restoring and Asserting the Discipline of the Church That so they who will neither Hold the Faith nor keep a good Conscience by being deliver'd up to Satan may learn at least not to blaspheme Many and grievous are the Guilts which are charg'd upon the Church of Rome yet such is the Exactness of Her Discipline and the Obedience of Her Sons and Daughters consequent upon it as hath hitherto preserv'd Her from Ruine Now if our Fears of the Increase of Popery be as real as they are pretended methinks it should be no ill Policy to learn Wisdom from our Adversaries for that which preserves a Corrupted Church from Falling in all likelihood will make a Pure One to Flourish However we are little the better for being deliver'd from the Slaveries of an Implicit Faith and Foreign Superstition if we run into Licentiousness Infidelity and Irreligion at Home For who is so blind as not to see that Irreverence and Disrespect for the Lord's Clergy hath been accompanied with a manifest Decay of Piety and a notorious Contempt of the most Essential Parts of Religion That want of Submission to the Just and Piously Determinations of the Church no less Justly and Piously ratified and established by the King and State hath given Birth to such monstrous Variety of Opinions as hath scarce left any Fundamental of the Faith unquestion'd if not denied Atheism creeping in by insensible degrees from indulging too great a Latitude in Matters of Religion And now in the Close of All Let every Man seriously consider with himself the Hainousness and Danger of Schism and the blessed Effects of Obedience The Danger of Schism in that it breaks the precious Vnity of the Church alienates the Affections of the Members thereof Who as they have but one Faith so they should have but one Soul And so instead of Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Forbearance Meekness Temperance those lovely Fruits of the Spirit which adorn private Men and secure the publick Peace there arise Hatred Variance Emulation Wrath Strife Evil Surmising Sedition Heresies Murders those ugly Works of the Flesh which dissolve the Bonds of Society and exclude Men from the Kingdom of God How that the Schismatick is arrested with Fears and Jealousies from without when he considers his Sin of Disobedience against those whom the Lord hath set over him and the Dreadfulness of the Churches Censures when justly incurr'd for his Disobedience How that he is tormented with sad and uncomfortable Reflections from within being Vnstable in all his Ways ever learning but never coming to the Knowledge of the Truth but being abandon'd to the Delusions of a Private Spirit he is miserably toss'd to and fro with every Wind of Doctrine till at length he makes an Eternal Shipwrack of the Faith On the contrary the blessed Effects of Obedience how the Humble Christian by an happy Resignation of his Judgment there where our Lord seems to demand it enjoys a perpetual Peace and Freedom from Dispute together with all his Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body As for those great Mysteries of Godliness which concern his Salvation though they are above his Reason yet not above his Faith and he had rather rely on the Churches Decisions of them when he finds no place of Scripture plainly contrary to such Decisions than either give way to his own Curiosity or heed to the Disputers of this World left he should thereby wrest them to his own Destruction And this he thinks he may do with less trouble to himself and greater assurance of the Truth and so he continues sound in the Faith without being skill'd in those unhappy Controversies in which the Disputers of this World have involv'd it And this Harmony of Faith and Doctrine is always accompanied with an entire League and Union of Charity that common Badge by which Christians were once distinguish'd from the rest of the World and a Blessed Vniformity of God's Publick Worship and Service whereby the Members of the Church Militant in some sort resemble the Saints of the Church Triumphant In a Word in this Obedience the Humble Christian goes on securely and chearfully in the Ways of God's Commandments And instead of troubling his Head with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Religion practiseth those plain but most important Duties of Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety which will render his Life happy here and crown him with Eternal Felicity hereafter FINIS