AN OLD WAY OF ENDING NEW CONTROVERSIES IN A SERMON PREACHED To the COMPTROLLER and the rest of the Gentlemen of the Honourable Society of the Inner-Temple On Sunday the 8th of January 1681 2. and at their special Desire Printed By THOMAS PITTIS D. D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Quisquis ab Ecclesiâ segregatus adulterae jungitur à promissis Ecclesiae separatur Cypr. De Unitat. Eccles Cath. Pag. 181. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Pelusiot Epist Lib. 4. Epist 67. LONDON Printed by J. R. for Joanna Brome at the Gun at the West-End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. To the Honourable the Comptroller and the rest of the Society of the INNER TEMPLE Gentlemen THat I expose an accidental Sermon to the world who have alwaies been so shie and wary is only from the force of your command delivered to me with that usual state though complement too which became men who at the time of preaching it had the Government of their house in their own hands I owe much excuse to the world but cannot reasonably owe any to you because your Judgment upon it justified the Discourse and your Authority enjoyn'd me to deliver up the Copy I was the more encouraged to do it because I heard you had made a Loyal Address to the King with which I hope the Sermon doth not interfere If you or others may receive Advantage by the Perusal I care not whether it please the Multitude or no for Physick is not acceptable to the Patient but shall rest satisfied that I have observed your Commands and that a Learned Body of Ingenious and Gentile Men are engag'd to defend it whilst I remain Gentlemen Your most Obliged and most Obedient Servant THO. PITTIS Jan. 13. 1682. 1 John 2.24 former part Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning AMongst all those various broods of Sects that ignorance and wilfulness have spawned in the World there is none but is covetous that Antiquity should Patronize it never decrying its venerable Testimony nor fearing its oraculous Answers but when they distrust its votes opposite to their present espousals Gray hairs being as well the Glory of an Opinion as the Crown of the Old man Hence is it that both Nations and Families have had such severe Contests with each other concerning the time of their first rise that from thence their Pedegree may appear Ancient and they might gain renown from the date of their Original And as in Persons and Opinions so in things too quo antiquius eò melius by how much the more Ancient a thing is by so much the more is it prized and valued by those that covet a strict inspection into the Periods that did preceed their own who measure the proportions of an infant World and thus antedate their own Beings How precious is a Script of Trismegistus Or the least Workmanship of an inspired Bezaleel The smallest Leaf of Solomon's Herbal would be deemed a Present Noble enough for the greatest Monarch How do we prize an old piece of Roman Coin Or an antiquated Grecian Monument Nor is this a Truth receiving a general impress and confirmation in respect of Artificial and Philosophical Objects but even Divinity too having for its Author the Ancient of Days values that which carries Age furrowed in its Face and has Gravity and Years visible on its Brow And nothing seems more to asperse and disparage whatever wears the Title of Religion than to accuse it of Novity and to bear the date of a late Invention Hence Haman endeavoured from this Topick to brand the Jews in that they used other Customs different from the ancient Laws of the Persians Esther 3. that their Novelty might render them odious to the King being a crime it seems sufficient to ruin them when Mordecai could not bow to so insulting a Favorite St. Paul when he Preached the Gospel at Athens Acts 17. had prejudice raised against the Truth of his Doctrine by affirming him only to be a setter forth of strange Gods and introducing new propositions into the World Celsus when he professedly wrote against the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Institutions Orig. contra Celsum Lib. 1. thought he had cast sufficient blemish and contempt upon its Authority when he had satisfied the World that it was new and unheard of Euseb Eccles Hist Lib. 1. Cap. 4. And Eusebius assures us that it was a common stratagem and usual contrivance for the Christian Religion from its first entrance to be reproached with its strangeness and novelty all mankind as it seems measuring the truth of things by their Antiquity and general reception and if we approach nearer to our own Confines we shall find the two great struglers for the Western Empire of Conscience and Religion still endeavour to Crown their Opinions with old Age and to gain both Strength and Honour to their Establishment from time and duration The Romans would have the World to understand that the Pillars of their Church were founded with Christianity and that our Saviour himself once held those Keys which he afterwards delivered to the Papal Succession But though they had a firm Foundation they have built upon it a tottering Superstructure The Protestant would willingly obliterate the odium of a late Reformation and will antedate Luther and the German heats searching in the midst of a bloody Inquisition some being willing to Travel to Bohemia to derive their Principles from John Hus and Jerom of Prague not only sending us to our own Wiccliffe but eating through the Mountains to find out the more Ancient though obscure Waldenses others and that more justly too as if all this will not yet evince their Principles Aged will Travel farther to the Churches Cradle and find out the Manger in which our Saviour himself was laid and from his Mouth receive their Doctrine reviving what might seem dead having for some time been buryed in the dust and rubbish of mens Inventions and freeing it from those Burdens and Corruptions which a gainful Interest and bold Presumption had loaded it withal thus cause that to abide in them which Christians heard from the beginning Antiquity then being so powerful a motive to persuade to Religion that all strive to catch and grasp it I shall easily prevail for a diligent attention since what I deliver shall be that which has been heard from the beginning In which Text we have an Exhortation both Grave and Seasonable Grave it is avoiding those levities and varnish which Novices use to wrap their late and uncouth Opinions in that they may be snatched at with the more greedy Appetite As Physicians put their bitter Pills in sweet Conserves that the Patient may swallow them with the greater delight and seasonable was this advice too since Simon and the Gnosticks did now attempt the murdering Christianity when it was just born as Herods cruelty drinking in with an insatiable thirst the blood of
Infants would have Crucified our Saviour in his Cradle before Age had given him Strength and Stature not only to publish his Fathers Message but even to bear his own Cross Nay least this accursed and Antichristian Sect provoking their desires to unlawful Lusts detracting from Christianity by an impious and incoherent intermixture of Jewish and Heathen Rites and Practices with what was now Solemn in its proposal and Sacred by its establishment should not be able to impede or retard the most glorious flourish of Gospel Truth and forbid the spreading of the Christian Church that Noble Vine but newly Planted Cerinthus also now advanced with all the wild Boars of the Forrest if possibly to undermine and root her up denying the Divinity of its first Author An Heretick so foul and polluted that the blessed Pen-man of my present Text would not come into the same Bath in which the wicked Cerinthus washed least he should be defiled with that water which had touched so filthy and loathsome a Carcass and the Bath it self sensible of its own pollution should immediately fall to make a Grave for its self and possessours In the Exhortation then there are three Parts presented to our view 1. A Duty Let that therefore abide in you 2. It s Object Which ye have heard Lastly The Motive and Inducement to the Duty Because it was from the beginning I must crave leave to invert the Parts though it shall make no alteration in the Sence that first the Object being explained and the Motive proposed the Duty may be with the greater facility pressed and embraced 1. Then Let the Object in the Text exhibite it self and this is nothing but what ye have already heard As Faith it self is generated by the Ear so what you have heard is nothing else but the Object of your Faith for thus does the Apostle conclude the inference Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 But as Hearing is the Conduit to convey Faith so sometimes is it the decoy to infidelity because there are many false Prophets gone forth into the World and a seeming truth may make the same impression with truth it self Nay our blessed Saviour that he might not leave us without due Caution has informed all Ages and Generations that there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets yea and shall superadd Wonders to their Oratory not only to amuse the World but to gain credit and reputation to their Doctrine insomuch that if it were possible they shall prevail to the dismal shaking of the strongest Oakes and the rooting up the tallest Cedars of Libanus even to the putting a falacy upon the very Elect Matth. 24.24 The Ear of Man being the recepticle of all Sounds no wonder that it admits the sounding Brass and tinckling Cymbal as well as the Trumpets of the Sanctuary Simon Magus may be as as welcome to the Samaritans as Paul and Barnabas to the Disciples at Antioch If a vain-glorious Herod has but Confidence enough to make an Oration though repugnant to the first Principles of Religion nor wonder that it makes such an impress upon the Multitude that they give shouts with the loudest Acclamations and attribute to him the Wisdom of a Deity who is scarce endowed with the Prudence of a Man Acts 12.22 If a mechanick Silversmith prompted with no other motive than what Avarice and Interest can dictate shall confidently plead for the Shrines of Diana the clamorous Multitude shall soon cry out Great is Diana of the Ephesians Act. 19.28 So easily captivated are vulgar Affections and of so slender a value is popular Applause The mutable Croud will change their Religion with their Garments and is of that still which is of the newest fashion As if novitas essendi were the Being of Devotion and Age were not the Measure of Divinity As if the newest Stamp were to be deemed alwaies the truest Metal and the last dictate of a fallacious Understanding were the best object for the Wills embracement Then indeed our Saviours Argument would be nothing but a Sophism against Pharisaical Devorces From the beginning 't was not so Matth. 19.8 nor would the Advice in the Text be solid Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning But it is not every thing that pleases the Ear that must be closeted and lodged in the Heart lest Tares being sowed amongst the Corn they spread and flourish and o'er-shadow the Grain Our Saviour therefore knowing our promptitude to imbibe what might seem pleasant and to swallow Poyson if wrap'd up in gilded Pills leaves a grave and severe Caveat Take heed what ye hear Mark 4.24 and lest our strict observation of the matter should make us regardless of the manner of performance St. Luke delivers it Take heed how you hear Luke 8.18 Eccles 5. As well knowing that too too few look to their Feet when they approach the Sanctuary of the Lord but are more ready to offer the Sacrifice of Fools then to hear their Vices redargued as they ought not allowing themselves so much either of time or seriousness as to consider that they do evil These are such Auditors as St. Austin reprehends Aug. de bono persever lib. 2. cap. 14. Audientes corporis sensu qui non audiunt cordis assensu who use the Word and Doctrine of the Gospel only as an Ornament to deck the Head not as a foundation to establish the Heart that hang it only as a Jewel in the Ear but reserve it not as a choice treasure to enrich the Soul whose practice is just opposite to St. James's advice they will not lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness that they may receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save their Souls James 1.21 Too too many sooner bow their Ears to what may irritate and provoke their lust to the frothy discourses of deceitful Tongues to bold Rants and jovial Catches to those lewd Sonnets that are the loose composures of looser brains which being heated with vice boil over in scum and filth men are more attentive to new Oaths and unheard of Blasphemies to such as jest and droll down Religion that it may no longer interrupt the pleasant wickedness of a degenerated Age to such as are so hardy as to Lampoon Heaven and make Satyrs against the Quire above that would if either method might prevail Flout or Hector God Almighty from his Throne whose Language is more exalted than rayling Rabshekeh's These that are spots in our Feasts of Charity become the only Persons worthy of Entertainment their black Language is viewed and gazed on as the brightest Oracles every shrug raises admiration and a little smile is enough to authorize a great jest as if these wandering Comets were of more solidity than the fixed Stars and the Language of Hell to be more diligently attended than the Voice of Heaven God at once pardon and remedy it The Ambassadours of the
Most High may take up the Lamentation of him that first gave them their Commission To whom shall we speak and give warning that they may hear Behold their Ear is Vncircumcised and they cannot hearken Behold the word of the Lord is to them a reproach they have no delight in it Jer. 6.10 Some indeed are much for the Ear attending to those scandals and reproaches that the envious man will cast upon him whom his malice ruins or his ambition undermines others even in Sacred things reduce devotion all to the Ear and when God principally requires the Heart in Prayer these will give little else but the Ear in Hearing being as partial in their Sacrifices towards God as they are in their Censures towards their Neighbours as if the Decalogue were now abolished and the only Command were Hear O Israel 'T was the error of the Euchites to be always Praying and 't is as great an error to be always Hearing as if the School of our Saviour should not only be enjoyned Biennial silence but be for ever mute Porphyry indeed that great Blaspemer big with malice against the Heavens when checks of Conscience forced him to speak out something of the results of his own Reason teacheth us to Sacrifice our Souls to God in silence with Chast thoughts How Chast men are at those seasons that ought to be attended with Solemnity and Devotion it would be presumption in any to judg but sure I am that they put in practice this sage advice of their Father Porphyry who thus pretend to Worship God in silence As if he that made the Tongue as well as the Ear did not require the one to make Oblations of Prayer and Praise as well as the other to Hear his Word or he that Created the whole man would be contented with a partial Sacrifice And now if any one has Ears to hear let him hear and not only so but retain also what he has heard so will the Exhortation in my Text be embraced Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning Having thus endeavoured to free mankind from such diseases and distempers in Religion I must now crave leave to attempt the recommendation of our duty and persuade men to the diligent attention to that Sacred Word which is able to make us wise unto Salvation and be greedy to receive it when not extended in an adulterated hand For as we cannot hear without a Preacher so he cannot Preach that is not sent Rom. 10.15 Some men are like those large tongued women in Tertullians time Tert. de prae Scrip. Hae. et cap. 41. who though a person of excellent Language was yet forced to inveigh against them that being so liberal of their Speech in Private conjectured they had if not Rhetorick and Reason yet yet words enough to declame in Publick whom the Father reprehends in this Prohibition Tert. de virg velandis cap. 9. Non permittitur mulieri in Ecclesiâ loqui sed nec docere nec tinguere nec offerre nec ullius virilis muneris nedum sacerdotalis officii sortem tibi vindicare or like those that St. Austin complains of in the second Chapter of his first Book of the Trinity that are garruli ratiocinatores elatiores quam capaciores that are pratling Disputants more shrill than rational How many dismal mourning souls whose Education never advanced them to any degree above Mechanism steal away the Priests Office as Neanthus did Orpheus's Harps who thinking to effect the same wonders Orpheus did and make Woods and Trees dance after his melody played so ill that the very Dogs being affrighted at his strange noise tore him all in pieces When we hear therefore we must not throw away our attention upon usurping Schismaticks whose very Preaching is their Crime because without a Sacred and Divine Commission and since giving them Audience is their encouragment it can no less involve such easie Auditors in a snare and guilt And yet since the Text exhibits something that always has been heard it does not only imply our duty of attention but presents us with what we ought to hear and that 's the Gospel what both the Apostles and Disciples were acquainted with from the beginning And since in that Sacred Testimony to our Saviour there are various Truths which make up its Contexture those things are first to be heard and received that are in themselves most Fundamental Primarium dogma de Christi divinitate says Justinian the chief Doctrine of the Divinity of our Saviour without which the Foundation being sunk the whole fabrick must of necessity be demolished For since his Divinity gives merit to his Passion by which his temporal punishment bears proportion to an infinite offence detract from his Deity and you spot his sufferings and then if he be a Lamb with blemish though he be slain he cannot satisfie and so the series of our Salvation becomes disordered and our eternal safety undermined And now perhaps some wise person might take advantage to exhibite or adventure at a Catalogue of Fundamentals and a clamorous Adversary might with as much confidence and triumph demand them but when we receive a particular of Explicits we may then attempt a Catalogue of Fundamentals In the mean time since Faith is the general condition of the Gospel and He that believeth and and is baptised shall be saved Mark. 16.16 Methinks we need disturb our selves no further for Fundamentals than to define what compleats that one thing Faith And though Interest and Opinion have rendered it as different from it self as one mans fancy from another and we have created almost as many varieties of Faith not only as there are Nations in the world but men too multitudes dealing by it as Caligula did by the Image of Jupiter Olympiacus when he took from it its head of Gold and put upon it an head of Brass yet if we will admit the Father of the Faithful to explain the difficulty we shall find that the practice of the Patriarch Abraham who is exhibited as a pattern for Gospel believers will give us a prospect of that Faith which had its being from the beginning And though there are many acts of this ancient Faith presented to our perusal in New Testament Pages yet there are two comprehensive of all the rest to wit Belief and Obedience For when he to whom all things are possible had promised a branch should sprout forth from this dry Root and that he would be his shield and great reward Gen. 15.1 Abraham did not question the word of a Deity who he knew was able to controul the world and alter the power of second Causes according to the pleasure of his own will but stedfastly assented to the truth of what God had promised relying on it with Faith and Expectation And as this Action includes belief of the Promises so the second prescribes obedience to the Commands and it was that work which St. James says justified