the the working of apparent and undeniable Miracles we are to receive it as that which God himself hath commended to us as a Truth and himself born witness of it Indeed to determin what is the utmost that is in the Power of Natural Causes or Agents to produce without Supernatural Assistance and what is the least of those that are to be esteemed Supernatural Effects and which ought to be ascribed to a cause of Transcendent Power this is a matter of great difficulty But yet when such things are done as were never heard of from the Foundation of the World to be done by them that have made the greatest experiments of the strength and operation of Natural Causes yea which have directly crossed the course of Nature without using any Natural Causes to oppose one another I suppose that every rational man will account him absurd that will deny these to be Miracles and done by the immediate hand of God except he can shew any Natural cause that should be imagined to work these effects This we find our Saviour to stand much upon when he was on Earth for the confirmation of his being the true Messiah Joh. 5.36 I have a greater Witness then that of John though the Jews did most of them reverence him greatly for his strict life the works which my Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me And afterward Joh. 10.25 when the Jews asked Jesus to tell them plainly whether he were the Messiah he sends them to his Works The works that I do in my Fathers Name Ver. 37 38. they bear witness of me And further saith If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me yet believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And elsewhere Joh. 14.11 Believe me that the Father is in me and I in him or else believe me for the very works sake Joh. 15.24 And again If I had not done amongst them the works which no other man can do they had not had sin that is their sin had not been so great and inexcusable but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father Yea he tells those that were understanding persons among them that inasmuch as they had refisted and opposed that Doctrine which he had thus confirmed and had imputed these works to the evil Spirit Matt. 12.28 therefore they had sinned that sin against the holy Ghost which should never be forgiven Thus you see that Jesus himself laid great stress upon this Argument Mark 3.29 to prove himself to be the true Messiah because he had done such works to confirm this Truth as no other man could do yea such as none but God himself could do And that Jesus did work these Miracles to confirm the truth of his being the Messiah may be sufficiently evident both by what hath been spoken already and also by what he spake to the Disciples of John Baptist Matt. 11.4 When their Master sent them to him to be satisfied whether or no he were the true Messiah he answers them Go tell John the things that ye have seen and heard The blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the dead are raised up And therefore do you judge who it is that hath power to do such works as these It would be a large task to reckon up all the Miracles of Christ which are upon record I shall onely set before you some of those which do most apparently shew themselves to be works peculiar to the Divine Power to effect (a) Joh. 2. He turned water into wine at Cana of Galilee (b) Mat. 14. He fed 5000 men with five loaves (c) Mat. 15. and 4000 with seven loaves (d) Joh. 9.1 He restored divers blind men to sight amongst which one that was born blind (e) Mar. 7.32 He restored to speech and hearing one that was deaf and dumb He calmed the Seas twice He raised three dead folks whereof (f) Joh. 11. Lazarus had been dead four days so that there could be no doubt but that he was really dead and past being recovered by natural Causes These works and many others which Jesus wrought being such as no man can reasonably deny to be the works of Gods immediate power and being wrought to confirm the truth of his being the true Messiah may be sufficient to establish our Faith in the belief of it If the unbelieving Jews and Atheistical persons amongst us do doubt of the truth of these matters of fact and consequently of the truth that they are brought to confirm alledging that we bring onely the Writings of the New Testament for the proof thereof which is of suspected credit with them I answer that we have as much cause Reason it self being judg to believe the History of the New Testament as any other Histories which are written in the world If we believe the Roman History written by Livie and Suetonius Tacitus and the English Chronicles written by divers of our own Nation and should account him very unreasonable that should deny the truth of the things therein reported without alledging any sufficient ground for his suspecting the integrity of these Writers then why should we not believe the matters of fact recorded by the Writers of the New Testament seeing we cannot alledge any sufficient ground of doubting either the sufficiency of these Writers or yet their integrity But have rather ground to conclude that no bad creature would write those things which tend so directly to the beating down of Satans Kingdom and terrifying of lewd and wicked men nor would any good creature so far take the name of God in vain or wrong the souls of well-meaning people as to report such matters in the name of God which they knew to be untruths and that therefore it is most reasonable to conclude these things to be written by good men and who did know themselves to write the truth Besides the Miracles that Christ is reported to have wrought were not done in a corner nor a great while before they were written He fed 5000 people at one time and 4000 at another miraculously yea most of Christ Miracles were wrought openly so that many of the Jews were present at the doing of them and they were written in the same age wherein they were done so that the unbelieving Jews who were such enemies to Jesus would certainly have contradicted them if they had written an untruth Yea other Writers besides the Evangelists do mention these Miracles See what testimony Josephus himself though a Jew Joseph Antiq. l. 18. c. 4. gives of Christ At that time was Jesus a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man for he was the performer of divers admirable works and the instructor of
Elect Angels to procure the confirmation of them in their estate of holiness and happiness But in this I determine nothing because the holy Scriptures are so sparing in speaking of it The usual acception of this word Mediator is to signifie him that reconciles parties that be at difference and in this sense Jesus Christ the word made flesh is truely and properly called a Mediator to reconcile God and man because he interposeth himself between God and us in this difference that sin hath made to reconcile Gods justice to us by making satisfaction for our sin and to reconcile us to God by sanctifying our natures and making us conformable to his will in this life inchoatly and at death perfectly CHAP. V. The holy Scriptures being owned at least in outward profession by men of all professions that lay claim to the common name of Christianity we may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from them should put an end to all strife amongst us The design and method of the four following Chapters proposed THe Reverence we owe to the authority of the holy Scriptures doth oblige every good Christian not onely to account it a necessary piece of humility to subscribe to the doctrine thereof as the will and pleasure of him that made us and to whom we owe all obedience but also to esteem it the safest and most prudential course to entertain and embrace the truths thereof as the Word of him who is Wisdom it self and therefore cannot err or be deceived and Goodness it self and therefore we may be sure he will not endeavour to seduce or delude us So that though there be divers things contained in this Sacred Volume which our shallow capacities cannot reach to comprehend yet we finde reason enough to impute it to the defects of our Nature and not to any over-sight in those Sacred Writings that we cannot always see a reason of every thing therein delivered And the Soveraign Authority and infinite Wisdom of him that inspired those holy men that wrote these Books is a sufficient argument to move us to a reverent submission to those matters of Faith which surpass the reach of our reason and therefore as every sober Professor of Christianity makes the Word of God the foundation of his Faith so the best Arguments that can be produced for the confirming of our Belief in that Faith which hath been delivered unto us will be such as are fetched from this Sacred Promptuary of holy Writ And as I was mentioning it before Chap. 2. for the honour of the Word of God that men of all Sects and perswasions who center in the common Profession of the Christian Religion do at least pretend great reverence to these Writings and whether in good earnest or in design to put off their opinions the more plausibly in the world do endeavour to represent even their most heterodox and incredible Notions as the Doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Scripture we may therefore very reasonably expect that Arguments drawn from the Scriptures should be convineing to them and an end of all strife And further that the fair and plain meaning of the words of Scripture which is most obvious to every man of understanding and which hath been received by the Church of God in all ages should be embraced by them as well as by us as the ground upon which all Arguments are to be built It being as absurd in matters of Reason and Faith for one or a few men to expect that his or their single Vote for some singular meaning of a plain Text of Scripture should be heard in opposition to the judgement of the Church of God in all ages as in matters of sense it would be for one man confidently and contentiously to pronounce that colour to be white or red which all his Neighbours and people of all Ages before him have received under the notion of black We may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from the plain and obvious sense of the Scripture such as hath been received by the Church in all Ages should be accounted sufficient both to confirm the faith of those that are serious in Christianity and also to convince or at least put to silence those that are dissenting from us In order therefore to the confirming of us in the belief of this Truth which is the substance of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel that The Word made flesh or God the Son manifest in the flesh hath truely and really undertaken and performed the Office of a Mediator to reconcile God and man I shall propound these four general Heads to be considered and confirmed First That the Lord did promise to Adam after his fall and to all the Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament his own Son to become man and in the Union of these two Natures to perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation Secondly That the Time which was appointed for the accomplishing of these promises and Prophesies and for the sending of the Son of God into the World is long since expired and consequently that we ought stedfastly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh Thirdly That we have full and sufficient grounds to believe that the same Jesus whom the New Testament holds forth unto us and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Fourthly That the Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament do hold forth unto us such a Christ as was really and truly God and Man Hypostatically united in one Person and who did in a real and proper sense satisfie Gods Justice for our sins and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits On this Rock is the Church of God built Matt. 16.18 On this have every one of us built our particular Faith and in this we had need to be fully and persectly setled And he that is confirmed in the truth of these four Positions is confirmed in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel Let us then proceed by the assistance of the good Spirit of God to the opening and confirming of them in order CHAP. VI. The first Proposition confirmed in its two Branches viz. First That God did promise to the Fathers of the Old Testament to send his Son into the World to take our Nature upon him Secondly That he promised that in the Vnion of these two Natures he should perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation ALL the Promises of God are Yea 2 Cor. 1.20 and Amen Faithfulness and Truth as being the Words of the God of Truth Tit. 1.2 who cannot lye Hath he spoken it and shall it not stand Hath he promised and shall he not make it good Mat. 5.18 Behold Heaven and Earth shall pass
imagine that the sins of the Children should hinder the fulfilling of them at the time appointed Secondly the promises concerning the Messiah were absolutely expressed without any respect to the worthiness or unworthiness of the people Jacob doth not say Gen. 49.10 If the people be obedient Shiloh shall come when the Scepter departs but speaks it absolutely The seventy weeks are said to be determined Dan. 9. not conditionally if the people did please God but absolutely And if the sins of the people did not hinder the fulfilling of other Prophesies of this Nature why should they be thought to have hindred this Doubtless this is but a Cavil invented by the Jews of latter ages for their fathers that lived about the time of Christs Birth did look upon them as absolute and did expect the Messiah about that time as I shewed before and this cavil is only invented to defend the obstinacy of this Nation at this day Nay let us hear what a promise the Psalmist mentioneth If the children of David do break my laws and keep not my commandments Psal 89.30 31 32. c. then will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their sins with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gon out of my lips And this must needs be understood of the Covenant concerning the sending of the Messiah so that their sins could not hinder the fulfilling of it in due time Thirdly the Messiah was promised to be a blessing to all Nations Gen. 21.16 and therefore the sins of one Nation could not hinder the sending of him in due time God promised Abraham that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed and Isaiah speaking from the Lord unto Christ Isa 49.6 saith It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Judah I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the earth The Gentiles were to receive benefit by his coming into the world as well as the Jews as I have before shewed and therefore it would be unreasonable to imagine that the sins of that one Nation should hinder the coming of Him who was to be a blessing to all Nations Ezek. 18.20 God saith The soul that sinneth shall dye the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Now if God will not punish the sins of the father on the son who is not accessary to his father's faults much less will he punish the sins of the Jews upon all the whole world who were not accessary to their sins Fourthly Dan. 9.24 The Messiah was promised to come for this end that he might take away sin to finish Transgression and to make an end of sin and to bring in everlasting Righteousness Isa 53.5 and to be wounded for our Transgressions c. as I have said before And therefore why should we think that the abounding of sin should hinder his coming Doth the sickness of the Patient hinder the Physitian from coming whose office is to cure Diseases and there would be no need of him if men were not sick Yea some of the Learned do tell us that the Jewish Rabbies that lived before Christ did foretel that when the Messiah should come there would be a great abounding of Iniquity in the world and therefore we may conclude this to be onely a Cavil of the later Jews to excuse their obstinate slighting of the true Christ whom their Fathers crucified As for that fond conceit of some of the Jews who say that the Messiah is indeed come but is hidden at the gates of Rome and that it shall be some time before he be discovered This is so far lighter than vanity that I shall take no further notice of it then to put you in mind thereby of that heavy curse of God that lies upon them That though the Prophet Malachi Mal. 3.1 for about two thousand years ago did tell them that the Lord should suddenly come into his Temple yet they will believe that he is still to come Yea though they have felt the heavy wrath of God lying upon them to the utmost for so many Ages yea though their condition be so sad that they have no Prophets to tell them how long it shall last yet still they perfist in denying and opposing the true Christ Let us pray for their Conversion and endeavour to be setled our selves in this Article of the Christian Faith that the Messiah who was promised to the Fathers is long since come in the flesh CHAP. VIII The third Proposition viz. That we have full and sufficient Grounds to believe that the same Jesus which is held forth unto us in the New Testament and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Confirmed by the Miracles which he wrought to confirm this Truth and by the fulfilling of all Prophesies in him THat a Saviour was promised to the Fathers of Old and that these promises are long since out of date you have seen confirmed so that consequently we must look backward with the Eye of our Faith to a Christ already exhibited and not forward to one yet to come The next thing in which it will be necessary to have our Faith setled is that we are not deceived as to that particular Person upon whom we and all the Churches of God for this sixteen hundred years and upward have pitched as our Messiah or Saviour And though the consent of the Church in all Ages be a very good Argument to satisfie us in this point yet it may be necessary in these fickle times to look for a firmer Ground to build our Faith upon in this which is a matter of so great moment First then 1 Argument I argue from the many Miracles which Jesus wrought when he was upon the Earth for the confirmation of this Truth that he was indeed the Messiah that was promised A Miracle is a work that exceeds the power of any created cause to produce by his own strength and therefore whosoever can do miracles is either God or hath received power from God in a special and supernatural manner And as Gods giving power to any person to work Miracles for the confirming of any point that he teacheth is to be accounted as Gods setting his Seal to the truth thereof So it would be unreasonable as well as impious to imagin that the God of Truth should set his Seal to a ly and consequently whatever Doctrine hath been confirmed by
in some things and very careless in others Pals 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed saith David when I have respect to all thy Commandments This is a good sign of a truely conscientious person when he hath an even and equal respect to every part of Gods Law So to do one as not to leave another undone But on the contrary as in the Body we reckon it a sign of a distempered stomack when the appetite is carried out to an inordinate longing after some sorts of food which is attended with a fastidious nauseating of others so in the soul 't is a sign of a Conscience that is out of order when men are more then necessarily strict and scrupulous in some matters and careless of keeping other commands when men are not careful both to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Mat. 22.2 and to God the things that are God's 2. Especially if men spend a great deal of Zeal and make a great stir in the World about smaller and less confiderable matters and in the mean time are cool and remiss in matters of greater moment Indeed all Gods Commands are great and the least of them is not to be slighted but as our Saviour speaks of a first and great Commandment Mat. 22.38 and elsewhere of one of the least of his commandments Mat. 5.19 So he makes it a sign of an hypocritical Conscience when men strain at a gnat and swallow a camel Mat. 23.23 24. when they took special care to tythe mint and annis and cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law Justice and Mercy and the Love of God So if we see men that had rather kill a good Minister then hear a good Sermon rather pull down the houses of God then come to worship God in them rather starve their Pastour then pay him their Tythes rather cut off a mans head then move their own hat we may very reasonably doubt that 't is no well-informed Conscience that puts them upon spending so much zeal and industry about such trifles and nicityes 3. If men do what they do rather to gratifie their own humours than to please God and benefit his Church Those are truely good works and acceptable to God as proceeding from a right Christian spirit which are the Fruits of pure obedience to Gods Law and done with a true design to please God and to further the good of his Church And therefore if men embrace opinions and crochets in Religion or Heterodox singularities in their practices not so much because they believe them to be acceptable to God but because they suit with their own humours If men are so in love with what they have conceited to be convenient that though themselves cannot but believe and confess it to be an indifferent thing yet they will not depart an hairs breadth from their own humours though their complyance in such things would tend never so much to the peace of the Church and the good of the Community if there be not humour and pride at the bottom of this yet certainly there is but little shew of a well-informed Conscience 4. If men are stiff and zealous in their courses for this end that they may advance their fortunes in the world thereby He that is truely conscientious doth not onely talk much of the glory of God but doth indeed and truth make it his utmost end And therefore if we see men stickle for novel opinions and conceits in Religion and betake themselves to parties and separations and embrace odd kinde of singularities in their lives onely that they may be taken notice of beyond other people by being of another Colour If men plead hard for such things in the advancing of which and opposing the contrary they have greatly promoted their worldly estates though these later may seem to shew somewhat of a grateful spirit towards those things that have been good benefactors to them yet neither sort shew any better Zeal then Demetrius and his crafts-men did in crying out against St. Paul and his Doctrine Act. 19.25 not that they cared so much for the honour of Diana but because by that craft they had their wealth 5. If men spend much Zeal in finding faults with others but little or none in reforming what is amiss in themselves Tiberius in Tacitus observed it to be the temper of men of mutinous spirits Tacitus Annal. l. 3. Accusare tantum vitia deinde cum gloriam ejus rei adepti sint simultates facere They sought for applause and the Title of pious men onely by loud exclamations against the faults of other men and when they had raised their credits amongst the vulgar by these arts then upon this stock they set up a Trade of Faction and Sedition And when we see men spend all their time and zeal in censuring and reviling and scorning at the practices of others while in the mean time they are careless of themselves and neglect to reform what is amiss in their own lives we may conclude that if there be not Sedition to be sure there is little of Conscience at the bottom for the office of Conscience as you have heard is to judge not other mens persons or actions but chiefly and in the first place our own 6. When men avoid and despise the means of Conviction it is a signe that their Consciences are not in right order Every truly conscientious person makes it his earnest desire in the first place not to do amiss and next to this that he may be made sensible of his errors and brought back into the right way when he hath wandred from it And those therefore that make it the first principle which they teach their Disciples to forsake and despise the publick Ordinances for fear lest they should be convinced of the errors which they are running into 1 Sam. 11.2 do make such a Covenant with them as Nahash desired to do with the Children of Israel To thrust out their right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon Israel And they shew that they have rather taken a strong fancy to their own Conceits then that they have a well-informed Conscience and a sincere desire to do as they ought By these and such like Rules we may both try those motions that we find in our own minds whether they proceed from a well-informed Conscience or no And also may give a ghess at those who are about us whether they be in good earnest and well-advised in their large talking of Conscience in their proceedings And that I may prevail with you to lay these things to heart let me add that 'T is a business of great importance to have our judgments well informed in this point and that I shall briefly demonstrate by shewing in two words the great hazzard that men run in entertaining their own fancies or the motions of lust or the suggestions of Satan for motions of Conscience First While men embrace
solid and setled in the Faith that we may be secured in these troublesome times when there are so many blustering winds of strange Doctrin abroad to try our stability And this calls me to the V. 5 Part. Part of the Text viz. The instrument of this great mistake which he sets forth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the winds of strange Doctrine New fancied and false Doctrines may fitly be compared to the Wind. 1. As to the original of them both The Wind is conceived to be an Exhalation arising out of the Caverns of the Earth Arist 2. Meteor c. 4. And false Doctrines are Exhalations arising out of the bottomless pit sent forth by that infernal Aeolus at the command of an angry Juno Raised I say by the Prince of darkness though in the shape of New Lights permitted by the wise and just providence of God whom we have thereunto provoked by our sins 2. As to the substance of them the Wind is so leight and fluid a body that it escapes our sight nor are we well able to tell what it is Such are false doctrines though they make a great noise and bustle so as to fill the world as the Wind doth yet are they indeed if well looked into but vain and empty nothings contending to appear as something extraordinary to men of common apprehensions 3. As to the effects of them Pulchra Metaphora dum omnes hominum doctrinas c. saith Calvin in locum It is an elegant Metaphor whereby the Apostle compares all the novel Doctrines of men to the Wind for as the Wind doth remove things from their places and tosseth them to and fro so false doctrines do tend to unsettle us and remove us from the Faith whereas the intent of the Word of Truth is to root men and settle them in the Faith And hereunto I may add that as the Wind though a leight and fluid body yet hath a very great strength and force in it so false doctrines though in themselves lighter then vanity yet are very powerful to amuse and unsettle mens mindes from their former profession 4. As to the uncertainty of them Adhaec incertam dubiam falsam doctrinam confert Paulus cum vento c. saith Sarcerius in locum The Apostle compares false doctrines to the Wind for their uncertainty and doubtfulness Nothing more variable then the Wind and nothing more uncertain then they that have once left the Foundation of their first Faith to embrace Novelties And further saith he this expression denotes the imperpetuity and short continuance of errours The Truth shall endure for ever like the Heavens but Errour shall vanish like the Wind when it hath spent its boysterous blasts as long as the most wise God sees fit False doctrines then as you have heard are like the Wind But these Winds have an Aeolus that sends them abroad and manageth them to the mischief of mankind And this leads us to the Sixth 6 Part. and last thing in the Text viz. the Authours or foundation of this great mischeif set forth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we render it not improperly by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive Beza renders it In hominum alea per veteratoriam ad insidiose fallendum versutiam which I would thus translate By the cogging of men and their pestilent craftiness whereby they endeavour to betray men into the snares of errour Tremellius out of the Syriack reads it thus Ad omnem ventum doctrinarum versutarum filiorum hominis qui per astutiam suam sese componunt ut fallant By the wind of subtil doctrines of the sons of men who by their subtilty do compose themselves to deceive others Our Doctor Hammond in his Marginal Note reads it By the subtilty of men through their craftiness for the contriving of deceit which seems to me to come nearest to the sense of the words in the Greek All these versions concurr in the substance and shew us that there is a great deal of subtilty and cogging which Seducers do make use of in order to the beguiling of ignorant and unstable Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Dye may signifie cogging Some would make this construction of it Vt hic per aleam intelligantur incerti illi casus Marlorat quibus jactantur homines c. As nothing is more moveable than a Dye so nothing more uncertain and wavering than the mindes of erronious persons But I rather incline to them that say Per aleam intelligitur aleatoria quaedam vafrities Such craft as is used by Gamesters in cogging the Dice So Calvin and Bullinger in locum Alludens ad lusorum quorundam artes c. He alludes to the cogging of Gamesters whereby they cheat those that play with them False teachers have an art of cogging with the Holy Scriptures to make them seem to fall to their own minde and to maintain their own Opinions and thereby they easily impose upon those they have to deal withal For there is such a reverence in the mindes of well-disposed persons towards the Authority of the Scriptures as being the Word of the God of Truth that they are presently induced to receive with a great deal of respect and zeal whatsoever appears to them to be grounded upon the Word of God And therefore it is that Seducers do take this course as that which they have alwayes by experience found to be very effectual Yea further saith Calvin Huc decedit quod ad struendas insidias excubant They are said to lye in wait to deceive Which notes the vigilance and unwearied diligence that false teachers use to catch poor Souls into snares They humble themselves and stoop and creep and comply to intise men into their snares even as Vitellius in the Historian who is said projicere oscula c. quicquam facere pro Imperio that he would prostitute his Salutations and Embraces to gain mens hearts to own him as Emperour Or as Absalom who hugged the people and kissed them and gave them good words when they came to him complaining of the King his Father and promising them great matters when he should come to the Kingdom and by these arts he stole away the hearts of the men of Israel 2 Sam. 15. Even so these Seducers do humble themselves and give fair words to those that follow them they complain of great disorders in the Church of England and promise them strange things if they will but come over to their Sect or Party and by such arts they lay in wait to steal away the hearts of simple people Yea they spare no pains but as our Saviour saith of the Pharisees Mat. 23.15 They compass Sea and Land to gain one Proselyte to their opinions Now as this shews the inveterate malice and subtilty of that old Serpent who hath been so long versed in the accursed art of
to move round it to save the Sun the labour of moving Others are like Alexander of whom the Satyrist Vnus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit Orbis Juvenal Sat. 10. Aestuat infaelix angusto limite mundi Vt Gyarae clausus scopulis parvâque Seripho This small Earthly-Globe is not wide enough for their over-grown Fancies to bustle in and therefore they have added to it a New World in the Moon To which yet they have not thus far attained to set up a Post-office that we might have some correspondence with the people of that Region Others will needs fancy a Communis anima mundi to save the divine Providence the labour of looking to particular things in the World Others dream of a long time of the Prae-existence of the Soul of man before it came into the body much like the Egyptians that conceit themselves to have a Chronicle of many thousands of years before the world began These and many other fancies in Philosophy we may reasonably believe to have proceeded rather from an humour to oppose the vulgar Opinions and desire to finde out something New under the Sun then that men did verily believe such things to be so as they have attempted to make others believe Nor is the wantonness of mans wit content to vary in Philosophy except they may have liberty to frame a new body of Divinity too And sure 't is strange how some mens humours suit with disputing and opposing each other Who doubtless would not embrace so many Paradoxes were it not that to be heterodox will gall other men and make themselves appear to be some body in the world by wearing a colour distinct from other men But we may say by too sad experience that Nimium altercando amittitur veritas men have mudded these clear Crystalline streams of Religion by too much stirring in them so that Truth can very hardly be discerned in the bottom And indeed Pruritus disputandi scabies Ecclesiae This itch of disputing is one of the curses of the Law sent upon our Nation for not keeping the Commandments of God it hath taken off mens fingers from a zealous practising of good duties to claw this itch of opposition while the life and power of Godliness hath been almost forgotten amongst such people Yea it hath opened the mouths of Papists and men of Atheistical spirits to reproach the Protestant Religion if not all Religion doubting whether there be any such thing in reality because the professors of it cannot agree about it It might have been a necessary act of charity to have digressed here a little to have fortified us against those advantages that Papists and Atheists are apt to take against our Church by reason of these divisions By telling the Atheist that there were as great differences between the Platonists and Peripateticks the Stoicks and Epicureans and Academicks as there are now amongst Christians By telling the Papist that the differences between the Thomists and Scotists between the Jesuites and Seculars between the Jansenists and Sorbonists are not inseriour to those which they see amongst the Protestants Besides that the Church of England properly so called is like Jerusalem a City compact together and as for those that are turned aside to dangerous Sects and Errors we may say They went out from us 1 Joh. 2.19 because they were not of us And I might refer both Papists and Atheists to that pious and learned Father St. Augustine de Civ Dei l. 18. c. 51. where he sheweth how the Lord is pleased to suffer Errors and Schisms in his Church for the trial of our Faith and for the benefit of the Church in the issue But these things the time commands me to passe over Greg. Naz. Orat. 10. I shall therefore conclude this head with that of St. Gregory Nazianzene It is the first and chief wisdom to despise that wisdom which consists in talking and subtilty of words and in captiousness and opposition one of another Leaving this then let us proceed to view the Seventh and last Pillar in this bullding 7 Pillar The Wisdom that is from above is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vultum non accipit saith Beza it doth not regard the faces or outward shew of men Sine simulatione saith Tremellius without counterfeiting or dissembling Diog. Laert. Diogenes Laertius reports of Diogenes the Cynick his trampling on Plato's pride sed majori fastu And this Cynick would sometimes in the coldest time of VVinter go to bathing himself in cold water to make the people admire and pity him But Plato easily saw that it was not virtue but vain-glory that made him do this and perswaded the people to leave off taking notice of him and he would presently be weary of these tricks So the strange austerities and affected singularities of many of our deluded people it is to be feared arise from no better ground And yet as the Poet saith of covetousness Fallit at hoc vitium specie virtutis umbrâ Cum sit triste habitu Invenal Sat. 14. vultuque veste severum These austerities and singularities are apt to impose upon injudicious people as pieces of Self-denyal and singular parts of mortification and forsaking of the world But there hath been a far worse sort of Hypocrisie practised in our dayes like that of Nero of whom the Historian speaks Quoties fugas aut caedes jussit c. When he had appointed to banish or murther any man Tacitus Anual l. 14. then he must have publick thanksgiven to the gods and that which before was a sign of the common weal did then become a token of the common woe How many of these Jezabel-fasts and thanksgivings have we seen to the prophanation of the sacred Name of God and to the scandal of our Religion This was the fruit of that wisdom which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devilish But this subject of Hypocrisie is too large to be entred upon at this time I shall onely say that he that onely seems to be a good Christian hath onely the shew of Wisdom but he alone that professeth himself to be such as he ought to be and is as good as he professeth himself he hath that wisdom which is from above For this is the bond and perfection of all the excellencies of this VVisdom that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Hypocrisie You have seen now the House of VVisdom surveyed with its seven Pillars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the Sum. First it is easie hence to judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is a wise man among you and endued with knowledge even he that can shew out of a good conversation these fruits with meekness of VVisdom these Fruits I say which always grow upon the Tree of saving-knowledge It is not enough to shew a man to be wise from above to talk much of Religion and Purity and of giving God his