Precepts are as most Catholick in extent and obligation so most reasonable and most Christian in their nature CHAP. II. SECT I. IT is the Interest and Duty of Man in Society be he Supream or most Inferiour to be in earnest contrivance for Peace and to be unmovably sixt in desire and practice to that be it matter of Priviledge or of Duty and to that only which GOD which Reason and the Constitution he is in hath given unto or required of him so nothing therein be forbidden of God Also to be universal in Charity and more especially to love the Brotherhood i.e. his own Nation or Society This in Thesis is owned by all yet very oft is it that some on the one hand usurp and impose too far and some on the other enter upon Sedition and Schism Instances we have too near us I will mention two Section II. 1 The Hellish and horrid Plot to alter our Government and Religion in or with which some were so Devillish and Romish as to contrive to shed Royal and most Sacred blood I mean the Blood of our King As God hath discovered and hitherto prevented so I hope he will at length give perfect salvation from it That our King our Nobles and we may sing to God's glory and praise the 124th Psalm Which the most Ingenious Woodford thus paraphraseth I. Had not the Lord our Cause maintain'd The Lord himself may Israel say Had not the Lord the Victory for us gain'd Instead of getting we had lost the day And Captives been to them who now are made Our prey II. On us they came and like a flood Which would within no banks be held They fiercer grew the more they were withstood Increas'd in rage when we their force repell'd And by Our opposition higher only swell'd III. God on the banks in view did stand And when the floods did loudest roar Mov'd o're the floods his All-commanding hand They stood awhile and gaz'd then backwards bore And chid their fellow-waves which came too slow before IV. The Lord himself has made Our way And from their Snares has set us free The Snares are broke which they for us did lay And when they look'd that we should taken be God who first loos'd the Net did give us wings to flee V. God is our refuge and in vain Frail Man against him thinks to stand His Word made all things all things do's sustain And he deliverance for us will command Has past his word to do 't and will use his Hand Section III. 2 The now Revived Contest betwixt Consormists and Non-conformists in Church matters which I fear will if not so designed by some strengthen the former or give being to another Plot in this Kingdom If what Mr. Baxter as I hear hath said be true that the Devil hath stirred up this strife it concerns them so to resist that both may fly from them So far as I see into it that great and good Man speaks truth I wish it may so impress as to issue in speedy and greater Vnion though I fear it will not I rarely read either of their Disputations because I am very well satisfied that the Impositions of the one and the Separations of the other are mischievous things yet being by fame and importunity brought to an Antidote so entituled against a Discourse I had lately because of ill words given it read I find one of St. Paul's Novices so far engaged in the Dispute and so lifted up that I doubt he will fall and pluck others with him being they are Admirers of him into the state of deadly Ill-will I find this Antidote hath the needful loud praise for wit and argument so hath Melius Inquirendum but whether so needful I know not because I have not read it Somewhat like a farther or better Inquiry I meet with as Leaf-gold closing up this Antidote The whole is very precious so if he please he may call it Optimum Inquirendum It begins at page 100. Thus have I at length rubb'd through the Reverend Author's Discourse and upon a calm reflection on my work do not think I can displease any one more than my self Such is the common fate of eager Disputants that whilst they would reach a knock at their Antagonists they lose their blow and wound themselves So easie it is while we are Scribling to forget that we are dying and that our Sand runs faster than our Ink If the late change of Ink-horns into Ink-glasses had but taught us how frail and brittle we all are it had been the most innocent significant ceremony that ever was invented These are his words Now that you may see how he deals with other men rather than to suggest his intent in them I remark thereon thus You see Sirs after that Ink on 99 Pages and one large Epistle to Sir T. R. had obliterated the Old as mischievous he constitutes the Glass a new Ceremony and it being once Horn but lately changed into Glass is become very instructive and the most Innocent significant Ceremony that ever was invented He doth not I confess impose it yet so solemnly is it proposed that I guess his Flock and Admirers may receive and use it as such from him For 1 It is the most innocent significant Ceremony that ever was invented he saith 2 It is not of mens invention being his own peculiar every other man will say His own did I say Was he in the Body or out of it I cannot tell but this I find he was upon a calm reflection out or most displeased with himself and by a wound Own-self had given him occasioned by being more eager and less skilful at Sharps than his Antagonist was put into thought of dying I find him also in fresh remembrance if not in sight of so great a Miracle as is said to be in Transubstantiation no less than the change of Ink-horns into Ink-glasses which change was in design or when least had aptitude to teach us great parts of Religion such as that to know our selves i.e. as he saith how frail and brittle we all are He might have added as well to know God his Omniscience since we are transparent like Glass in his sight and so from truth to truth and from duty to duty even so far as fancy can make Glass to go The Ink having no share in the Miracle he prudently omits suggesting instruction thence else as red or black or both it might have yielded much as he I presume knows hath been experimented heretofore Now a most Innocent significant Ceremony founded on a miraculous Change and as such seriously proposed by an opposer of Human Inventions Carnal Ordinances and the beggerly rudiments of this world and being as it were Leaf-gold on Antidote what flesh alive can resist it The upper and lower Tier of Cannon in Ship Sovereign can never kill and slay like this it so far pierceth me that I cannot call it Human because so without reason or wit I wish his
are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things These are some hints at the State of Love which may suffice to prove that whereever it doth preside or prevail it settleth and secureth happiness It is true the number who inhabit this Canaan are too few yet this is to be said they are all choice i. e. Chosen Ones and though not as an Earthly or Temporal state yet as single Inhabitants who are to live for ever they have in their eye and go step by step daily towards an exalted place and to a more numerous Company which in perfection and glory excel Humane conception One caught up thither for a moments view or some other like him hath told us so far as he could of these unutterable things that it is Mount Sion and the City of the living God Heb 12.22 23 24. the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and the Spirits of Just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of Sprinkling that speaking better things than that of Abel To this they move not in uncertainty for they are on the foundation of God 2 Tim. 2.19 which standeth sure having this Seal the Lord knoweth them to be his and they depart from iniquity Beside there the fore-runner is for them entred Heb 6.19 20. 1 Cor. 15. Joh. 14.1 2 3. Acts 1.11 1 Thess 4.14 c. even JESVS who became a-kin to them to purchase it and was the first-begotten from the dead as to assure them of it so to go before to make the way accessible to them and to prepare a place for them And hereafter as an Harbinger to come back again and meet them in most glorious manner and so lead them thither Which hope they have and use as an anchor of the Soul Heb. 6.19 both sure and stedfast i.e. keeps them from being tost or shipwreckt with the billows of the World and which entreth into that within the Veil as being able thereby to see through afflictions and to see beyond them daies of Peace and release here and further to see into the eternal and far more exceeding weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. that holy and happy place whereinto none but the true Christian enters One would forego any Lust and use the utmost diligence to be imbodied with these men who practise and hope as you have heard See how in troops they march Woodford Psal 84. till all at length To Sion come and there renew their strength Object But do we not find the contrary Are not the Religious and Vertuous oft despised oppressed c. Answ 1 True they are so but with it they have to over ballance it to weigh it down so that those you call Oppressions c. are light and as but for a moment to them for they are chosen of God Jam. 2.5 1 Cor. 1.20 27 c. rich in Faith supported and comforted by invisible and Divine assistances as St. Paul was 2 Cor. 4.8 c. Answ 2 So far as they for Vertues sake are afflicted they gain thereby having therefore those supports and strong Consolations here and the farther degrees of glory hereafter which without them they would not have had Answ 3 Sometime their Troubles come on them through their own defect in Religion In that case Vertue is not to be charged but Sin as the culpable and procuring cause of them Answ 4 This objected is not to my Argument being directable only to single persons I challenge any to name the time wherein any People were distressed or despised who were united to God and to each other as I have described a Nation to be whose temper is Love Section II. Of such force is Love's tendancy to Happiness though there be many in a State who in temper are as Spirits created or used for Vengeance to punish or destroy yet if one Principal therein be Goodness or Love he soon changeth or soon subdueth them under him Psal 47.9 One Shield of the Earth of this temper in his Dominion will quench in a moment all the fiery darts of the wicked Of these Impiety and Ill-will are not the least which like poysonous Darts inflame the parts that are wounded with them and once removed comes ease and pleasure in their stead Oh happy Nation when thus cured and most blessed of God is the Royal Physician who so healeth us Having spoken this I purpose to make it good i.e. to prove it true so well as with my designed brevity I can And in truth I think it needs no forreign aid Behold the sense of the Proposition and it will confirm it self I am well assured no one of Mr. Serjants Self-evidencing Principles comes near this Self-evident thing No other appearance now in Flesh can be more a God and is it hard to come at this Notion that Almighty and all Goodness and all Bliss is in him I am most satisfied that this is the Thing which shall go on conquering and to conquer if God use any thing Humane to bring in Everlasting Righteousnes and Peace unto the Nations For what below God can do more thereto in the Kingdoms of Men than a King 1 Sincerely Pious without the enforcement either of Adversity or of some regard of State 2 Preferrer of the Publick weal before all other respects whatsoever Like the Saviour of the World who though he was rich yet became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich I presume my Reader to be a Man i.e. one who takes in the sense and not the sound of these words I intend not to put meanness or poverty into his Character but that of Grace like to what St. Paul saith we know to be in Christ 1 Cor. 8.9 a King who is forward and sincere in Love always giving testimony thereof in his dealings towards his Subjects who is disposed to exhaust himself when necessary to common salvation whereby his love becomes his liberality and bounty to them He that finds this King is come to the procurer of general peace and quiet He may as one saith err and must die but Fame will free him from both errour and from death both with and without the help of Time Because Generals may not sufficiently impress I will come to particular evidence hereof 1 From the Ordination of God 2 The Government of God 3 Happiness is connatural to his temper and practice who as Head causeth it to be so unto the whole Body To the two first of these enough hath been said already I will more particularly though very briefly discourse the latter But before we enter thereon let us refresh our selves a little by singing with tuneable hearts to God's glory and in
praise of this Prince some part of the XLV Psalm I. Prophetick Fancy doth my heart With glorious Raptures fill 'T is of the King I speak my tongue Prevents the Writer's quill II. Fairer than fairest Sons of men Grace on thy lips is pour'd God therefore hath on thy lov'd head Immortal blessing shour'd The Rhime is not bad and the Reason very good to our purpose for you may therein see Happiness and Love in a perpetual connexion within him and how far it thence descends to all his Dominions we may see anon in the other part of that Psalm for I guess it will not be long ere we be disposed again to sing in his praise who is so good in himself and so good to us in whom also we must be blest because his temper and his practice are founded upon or are streams issuing from as the best moral so the most natural grounds or springs of Happiness All which will be most manifest when you have heard me speek to these three things 1 The foundation on which he is built 1. Supream 2. Subordinate 2 The principle or spring in him of action 1. Divine Love 2. Good-will 3. Knowledge and Internal sense 3 His practice or tenour of actions 1. Publick to God 2. Private to Man Of which I will speak but very briefly and therefore too promisenously in the next Section Section III. 1 His Supream foundation is Vnion to God in being most affectionate unto Religion which he alwaies establisheth and promotes in his Dominions and unto the true Professours and Practisers thereof in his Kingdoms I will for once spoil the Poesie though not the sense of Doctor Woodford on Psalm 15. ver 4. IV. Whose heart against a wicked man does rise And shews true scorn yet pity by his eyes The good he honours counts them dear Worthy his love and favour too All who in truth God's Sacred Name do fear And when he to his Word does swear What he has sworn though he is sure to lose will do 2 His subordinate foundation is Vnion to his People to their Persons and Interests whereby they are his own and in his opinion or sense but one Soul in sundry bodies himself in divers Skins 2 The principle or spring in him of action is Divine Love i. e. the Love of God prevalent in him Good-will i. e. Benevolence to Man tenderness of Compassion as of a Parent to her Infant hanging on the breast Benignity of Nature like that in God spoken of 1 Pet. 2.3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious or how sweet the Lord is From these as also lastly from knowledge and sense that God hath raised him for the Peoples good he considers them as he doth himself and so extendeth the same liberality and kindness to them that stand in need of it also the same care and protection that in the like case he would wish to himself He apprehends himself as the mean between God and the People i.e. that he is debtor to both and accordingly all his practice is Piety towards the one and Beneficence to the other He abuseth not himself by thinking he is his own man or by tying himself to himself He acts as he is the States and not as if the State were his That these and such like are the spring will appear by what is alwaies issuing from him in the third thing proposed 3 The course of action or practice he is in 1 Publick in which 1 By improving and securing his Peoples enjoyments by redressing their real grievances and relieving their necessities he doth what is possible to make all Orders of Men under him so happy as the condition of this World will bear He considers what hath been done and what is begun to be done that nothing be imperfect or ill executed 2 He with diligence or care rules his Subjects by Law I mean here though I except not God's the Laws himself with his People in their Representative as one have made Those being especially if they be for Common good alwaies most sacred or dear to him In Mean towards the People rather a Guardian or Surety than their Lord or Master 3 He ascends unto the hearts of his Subjects as to the safest the highest and most desirable Throne and by constant goodness and seasonable bounty like God he gains that gift from them Which when he hath gotten neither Wife nor Brother nor any other importuning thing can dispose him to hazard or forfeit but secure it he doth to himself and to his for ever in applying alwaies thereto what gained them at first choosing rather to be loved than to be adored by them 4 He will not make Evil daies or confederate with or assist those who do so by Blood by Rapin by Truce-breaking or by being without natural affection to his People or such like mentioned by St. Paul to Timothy 2 Epist 3. 2 His Practices more private are of like Nature For 1 He chooseth such Ministers of State and Law whose temper is sound and most sutable to Law and who will unmoveably adhere thereto He judgeth of their temper by their conforming in practice to God's and to his own Laws 3 Prerogative and Will he shuns as less Divine and most Inhumane He deems Tempters thereto Imps of Hell well knowing that no other Prince than he who is the Prince of Darkness leads men captive at his will He therefore carefully avoids as the occasion so the appearance of this evil By which he appears to be no mean spirited thing as it is felicity to have power to do what a man will so is it true greatness to will that a man should Hereby in temper he is a-kin to the Greatest Majesty in Heaven who therefore commands because the things are for our good Deut. 10.12 13. Micah 6.8 and who sometimes proposeth to reason the matter out with us Also frequently appeals to Sense or Conscience within us about the equity and the abundant and the condescending kindness he hath done us saying oft Isal 5.3 4. Are not my waies equal O house of Israel Or this And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and Men of Judah Judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it There is indeed one sort of Prerogative which in imitation of God he is sometimes in i.e. to perform acts of Goodness and to scatter abroad or disperse what is gracious to the deservers of Evil. These he may do because he will do them for herein is no hurt so Prudence direct as it alwaies doth in him But when the thing to be done will be pain or punishment to any that it then shall be done because I will I find not with God nor with Good men I was about to say only with men as such 4 He admits none to come to places in Church or State by unworthy means nor hinders them in the discharge