veniunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lectores habeat judicio graves Non praejudicii quos malesana mens Raptos turbine latura per invias Ignotas aliis sibi sit vias Non hîc quae metuat saxa Capharea Erroris scopuli per mare turbidum Incertis animi fluctibus appetens Coelestem trepidus navita patriam Hîc sincera Patrum dogmata veritas Non fucata suis nuda coloribus Hîc Templi decor hîc unica numine Summo relligio digna per improbam Gentis sacrilegae saepius ô scelus Subnervata fidem Non neglecta Fides spreta Scientia Spes calcata trias nobilis inclyta Quin hîc ut decuit regia Charitas Primas obtinuit Caetera non loquar Quae fundata sacris omnia literis Sustentata Patrum munific â manu Felici liber hic praebeat alite Rich. Watson Caio-Gon Ad eos qui Authorem pro novatore sunt habituri NOn nova fert veterum satur at provectior annis Scit veterum facies queis fuit esse nova Idem De conjunctione amoris fidei in Tractatu de charitate piè vindicata QUae bis quina fuêre priùs praecepta feruntur Ad duo lex jubet haec haec facit unus amor Quin ergò quid summa fides cluet una triumphat Servit amor fidei nec comes esse queat Justificat beat una fides facit omnia quid non Credam ego factura haec si siet una fides At fidei nisi juncta foret dilectio fallor Aut haec vana foret si foret ulla fides Quae dum dissociant alii Shelforde beato En tuus in patriam foedere junxit amor In patriam dixi felix Ecclesia nexu Hoc quae per duo sic juncta fit una simul Idem ¶ To the Authour concerning his learned and pious Treatise of Gods house RIch soul and blest for so I dare go on To voice that man whose life 's religion Who fears not to be good gives God his due In this our age and in the Temple too Who scorns these lothsome times and dares learn us To be lesse bold lesse superstitious Not to make God a man joyn heav'n with earth Use him familiarly who gave us birth Nor man a God by following praising such Who neither pray nor preach yet teach they much Lord when I view our Temples which now be Ruin'd by time beauties worst enemie Or rather by neglect crumbling to dust Can I perswade my self or may I trust Those ancient Fathers those pure Saints should then Fables or fruitlesse stories write ev'n when They praise yea blesse their founders and condemne Their puft up Catharists those chair-preaching men Can I conceive S. Pauls expression weak Not like himself when thus I heare him speak Ye are Gods Temples Did th' Apostle mean Our clay-like houses should be kept unclean All cobwebd o're with vices that a lust Should there inhabit and that it should rust The Berill Jasper Amethyst those three Celestiall graces Faith Hope Charitie Or when the Priest the soul must sacrifice A comely Altar should he then despise A pure well furnisht heart must not the place Be hung with well knit vertues where blest grace Resides Yes sure and he whoe're hath done The contrary dilapidation Of that Temple shall to his charge be laid Because his body Gods house thus decayd Now as these walking churches must be drest And purg'd from filth by all as well as Priest So must the other that 's Gods Temple too Though made with hands which carelesly if thou Profane demolish or perhaps abridge That of its honour 't is proud sacriledge Reader no more That God may have his due Turn o're this book and it will teach thee how E. Gower Coll. Jesu Soc. Raptim De hoc opere verè Orthodoxo in Novatores DOgmata qui fingunt novitatis rara supremae Quà m facili applausu nullóque examine cudunt Quin si fortè Patrum sancita ad prela propinquant Dente Theonino lacerant probrisque lacessunt Rodere sic solitus maledictis Zoile castum Relligionis opus calcans mysteria coeli Antiquanda doces veterum monumenta cremanda Tu Shelforde tuum noli curare libellum Novimus hoc omnes te posse problemata sacra Edere non virus malesanae effundere linguae Hinc mea si tantum possint mandata valere I liber invidiâ major victórque triumpha Intimi amoris ergô exoptat R. LONDON A SERMON Shevving How we ought to behave our selves in Gods house PSALME 93. 6. Holinesse becometh thy house O LORD for ever OUt of this Text I must undertake three great tasks The first to shew what Gods house is because this is the subject of my Text. The second to shew what God is because he is the owner of it The third to shew what is that holinesse and behaviour which becometh this house and the owner For the first I must follow holy Scripture in describing of it Gods house began with an Altar as all creatures arise from small seeds built in the place where God appeared to Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 12. 7. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said Unto thy seed will I give this land and there builded he an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him In the eighth verse following it is said that he built another and called upon the name of the Lord. With this consent were our churches built where God appeareth to us by his word read and preached Secondly by the Sacrament of the Altar as it is called by the fathers and styled so in our own statute laws in which the sacrifice of our Lord Christ is remembred and represented unto his Father Thirdly by promise of salvation and the kingdome of heaven And lastly by prayer in which God is called on according to that of Isaiah 56. 7. My house shall be called the house of prayer From hence appeareth that the Altar is the principall part of Gods house as being the cause and originall of all the rest Secondly Gods house is described in Gen. 28. by a stone of which in the plurall number an house is made and by a ladder whose top reached up to heaven as Jacob upon the stone dreamed the angels went up and down by it and from thence the Lord spake to Jacob and when Jacob awoke he said This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven From whence we are taught that seeing Gods house is both Scala coeli and Janua coeli The ladder of heaven and the gate of heaven and that the angels use it therefore we also should use and respect it as the ordinarie and beaten way to that blessed place Thirdly as Gods house is here described by a dream so in Exod. 3. it is described by a vision the second mean of Gods appearing to the holy nation according to that of Joel Your old
Go saith he and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Were people now to be called and converted to the Gospel then not onely this kinde of preaching but miracles also were needfull but as S. Augustine saith When all the world beleeveth what need miracles and what need is now of Apostles and Evangelists and 70 Disciples Lastly when much needlesse and some unsound teaching by tract of time had sued into the ark of Christs Church by the prelates and priests thereof then in the 19 yeare of King Henrie the 8 began licenses to be granted by the court of Starre-chamber to preach against the corruptions of the time like to that of King Jehoshaphat But now thanks be to God the corruptions are removed and the ancient and true doctrine of the primitive Church by settled articles is restored therefore this extraordinarie kinde is not now so necessarie except it be upon some notorious crimes breaking in upon our people or some exorbitancies of green heads broaching the froth of their own brains which will hardly be reformed untill many of these be unfurnisht of their licenses and those that are permitted be restrained to certain times and seasons For better were it for our Church and people to have but one sermon well premeditated in a moneth which is insinuated by the Canon then two upon a day proceeding from a rolling brain and mouth without due preparation Such sermons are abortive like cast calves coming out of the wombe before the time and they runne into the curse of the Prophet Jeremiah Maledictus qui facit opus Domini negligenter Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently Many of these men partly to serve the expectation of others and partly to seek their own applause after they have been in the high place and saluted after the descent take it upon them as though they were young prophets and new apostles to preach a new Gospel to the world as our Puritanes Brownists and other Novelists have done I reade in Socrates Scholasticus l. 5. c. 20. that at Alexandria the inferiour priest did not use to preach but that order first began when Arius turned upside down the quiet estate of the Church But we have so many inferiour and young priests preaching among us that all the Bishops in the land can hardly keep down their wrong and unseasoned doctrine if Vox populi may be judge Such are work-makers and not finishers of work See Calvine upon 1. Cor. 1. 17. Sed cùm paucorum esset docere pluribus autem baptizare datum fuerit And S. Paul saith Are all teachers 1. Cor. 12. 29. Having shewed this kinde of preaching to be extraordinarie for speciall men speciall times and occasions it followeth that the preaching by reading proved out of Acts 15. and other places of scripture is the ordinarie preaching ordained by God himself in his Church as you may see in the 4. chapter of the epistle to the Colossians and 16 verse where S. Paul writeth thus And when this epistle is read of you cause that it be read in the church of the Laodiceans also and that ye likewise reade the epistle from Laodicea This was the ordinarie preaching in our Church before king Henrie the eighth and this was the ordinary preaching in the synagogues of the Jews as you may see in Acts 13. 15. and by the division of the three Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew Bible And by this demonstration of the extraordinarinesse of the kinde person and time we may answer all objections made of confused and undistinguishing wits out of 2. Tim. 4. and all other places of scripture because particular precepts do not binde all persons and confine all times For who can expect those gifts in the ordinarie Ministers of our dayes which God bestowed upon the extraordinarie Ministers and times of the first preaching of the Gospel And as for our large-carving professours in their way of preaching and knowledge this I finde that they which professe least live more justly then they which professe and know most because as my text directeth me knowledge puffes them up and upon their knowledge they presume for the more they know the lesse they fear and the lesse they fear the more they offend Who are more bold then they which know most and fear least The skilfullest captain he most hazardeth the cunningest physician he kills most and the ripest wits runne into greatest oversights Why because they presume so much of their knowledge and presuming draws carelesnesse Wherefore they which know lesse are the more industrious Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth Now to conclude with thee which runnest after this extraordinarie kinde where thou thinkest best I will shew the inconvenience First thou breakest the Church-canon and when thou fallest on breaking of Canons then follows nothing but confusion disorder Secondly thou discreditest thine own Minister though he hath better parts and gifts then the men that thou runnest after Thirdly thou troublest thy neighbours seats in a strange church Fourthly thy servants and children will no◠come to catechizing because thou art absent the hatchet flies one way and the helve another thou gainest and thy family loseth Fifthly when thou shouldest help thy neighbours in singing psalmes to Gods praise then thy trumpet is abroad in another parish Lastly if all the rest should follow thee some would fall short under hedges and there pray lewd parts The Lord open thine eyes to give thee more discretion that thou mayst give a better example Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth HAving spoken of the first part of my text now I must proceed to the second in which I must as much extoll Charitie as before I disabled unformed knowledge for it was never the Apostles minde nor mine to speak any thing against well qualified knowledge which belongs to perfect men as the learned have noted nor yet against moderate and sober knowledge fit for all sorts of men taught by the forenamed preachers but onely to withstand the immoderatenesse and misgovernance of it in the vulgar who know no better how to use it then a mad man doth a sword If thy knowledge be greater then thy charitie then it will do more hurt then good but if thy charitie exceed thy knowledge then that by its government makes all good because charitie is the master and governour of knowledge You may surfet with knowledge so you cannot with charitie Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth The word but signifieth a difference between charitie and knowledge because the conjunction is discretive And indeed the difference is great as the Apostle expresseth because charitie is to use the School phrase an act giving life and perfection it edifieth among the vertues theologicall and morall but knowledge without charitie is a matter of vanitie because it puffeth up it is like a bladder or bubble which have
of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things
worldly and seek him who is supernaturall happinesse then is conversion wrought and not before Faith converts the minde to God but it is love and charitie that converts the heart and will to God which is the greatest and last conversion because we never seek any thing untill we desire it Our conversion therefore is begun in the minde by faith but this conversion is but half a conversion yea it is no conversion of the whole man except the love of the heart where lieth the greatest apprehension do second and follow it We see salvation by faith but we never obtain it untill we desire and seek it by charities desire Wherefore I conclude that for so much as charitie is the nearest and immediate cause of our conversion of our seeking and finding God therefore this is the most precious grace of God for our good and is the greatest mean and instrument of our justification because justification and conversion to God is all one for God is our righteousnesse but the greatest mean of our apprehending of him is by charitie which layes hold of him in the will and reasonable affection therefore this must be the greatest mean of our justification signified by the Apostle where he speaks of the severall means Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charity Which demonstration he that preferreth faith before charitie would elude by urging this absurd consequence Ergò rex meliùs terram arabit quà m agricola meliùs calceum faciet quà m sutor quia nobilior est utroque Ergò homo celeriùs curret quà m equus plus oneris portabit quà m elephas quia dignitate superat Ergò angeli meliùs terram illuminabunt quà m sol luna quia praestantiores Then saith he the king should plough better then the husbandman should make shoes better then the shoemaker because he is more noble then them both Then a man should run swifter then a horse should carry a greater burden then an elephant because he excells them in dignitie Then angels should illuminate the earth better then the sunne and moon because they are more excellent But this is nothing but a running from the state of the question because every thing that is greatest and best to his proper object and in proper comparison is not greatest and best to every object and in every comparison But the Apostle here compareth charitie with justifying faith and hope absolutely and in the most excellent way as appeareth in the 31 verse of the 12 chapter beforegoing and it is manifest that the most excellent way is the way of our justification and conversion to God and here he affirmeth this to be the greatest and chiefest and therefore absolutely so it is Again he preferreth faith before charitie because faith is the cause of charitie If he could shew faith to be the efficient cause of it he should say something but when he can prove it to be no more but the disposing and instrumentall cause then by the same argument the ax should be greater and better then the house because it is an instrument used in the preparing of it which argument is absurd But to prove the truth for this noble vertue which none shall be able to overturn because it is founded upon the rock of Gods word I have these arguments 1. God justifieth Rom. 8. 33. God is charitie John 4. 8. Therefore charitie justifieth 2. The fulnesse of God in man is that which justifieth him Charitie is the fulnesse of God in man Ephes. 3. 19. Therefore charitie justifieth him 3. The fulfilling of the law justifieth Rom. 10. 4. Charitie is the fulfilling of the law Rom. 13. 10. Therefore charitie justifieth In the assumption let not the reader understand the power of nature or naturall love but charitie the principall grace of Christ united to faith and hope In the preferring of this vertue S. Gregorie in his 38 homilie upon the Gospel calleth charitie the wedding garment which he that wanted at the great marriage was thrown into utter darknesse His words are these Quid debemus intelligere nuptialem vestem nisi charitatem Intrat enim ad nuptias sed cum nuptiali veste non intrat qui in sancta Ecclesia assistens fidem habet sed charitatem non habet What are we to understand by the wedding garment but charitie For he goeth in to the wedding but not with the wedding garment who being in the holy Church hath faith but hath not charitie He addeth further to this purpose Omnis ergò vestrûm qui in Ecclesia positus Deo credidit jam ad nuptias intravit sed cum nuptiali veste non venit si charitatis gratiam non custodit Therefore every one of you which being placed in the Church hath beleeved in God hath alreadie entred into the marriage but he cometh not with the wedding garment if he doth not preserve the grace of charitie There are many which come into Gods house which is his Church because they have faith to beleeve for this is that which first brings a man to God according to that Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must beleeve that God is yet though they be in Gods house and at his Sonnes wedding for a time when he comes to lift up their heads in his house as it is said Gen. 40. that is to reckon with them they must be thrown out again because as S. Augustine saith Expos. in Epist. Joh. Tract 5. Dilectio sola discernit inter filios Dei filios diaboli Signent se omnes signo crucis Christi respondeant omnes Amen cantent omnes Alleluia baptizentur omnes intrent omnes ecclesias faciant parietes basilicarum non discernuntur filii Dei à filiis diaboli nisi in charitate Onely charitie maketh a difference between the sonnes of God and the sonnes of the devil Let all signe themselves with the signe of Christs crosse let all answer Amen let all sing Alleluia let all be baptized let all go to church let all build churches the sonnes of God are not distinguished from the sonnes of the devil but by charitie They are none of Gods sonnes because they want charitie the robe of Christs righteousnesse and therefore they have no right to the place Further that must be the most excellent grace which joyneth the soul to God but this doth charitie because the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 6. 17. He that cleaveth to the Lord as S. Hierome translateth or he that is joyned to the Lord as our translation hath it which in meaning is all one is one spirit But charitie above all vertues causeth a man to cleave to God because as S. Bernard saith by charitie the soul is as it were married to God and in marriage a man forsakes all other to cleave to his wife and the wife forsakes all other to cleave to her husband according to that rule for marriage in Gen. 2. 24. Therefore shall a man leave
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect
father and mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh So they that have charitie will leave all things to cleave to God to be one spirit with him Yea so fast doth charitie glue the good soul to God as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth that it will die before it leave him as is to be seen in all the holy Martyrs Nothing may quench this fire as Solomon singeth Set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a signet upon thy arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruell as the grave the coals thereof are fiery coals yea a vehement flame Much water cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love they would greatly contemne it For what is that which makes all the marriages in the world is it not love if they did not love one another they would never come together Now this charitie is nothing else but divine love and this makes God and man one spirit as naturall love and marriage makes man and wife one flesh and it is called Charity to distinguish it from naturall love for that it is the most deare and precious love in regard it is between God and mans spirit Again that must be the most excellent vertue which makes man most like to God but there is nothing that makes man more like to God then charitie because S. John saith God is charitie therefore they that have charitie must needs be most like him It is the holy Ghosts child as I may say sanctifying the soul. It is no where said that God is faith or God is knowledge for then the devils should be more like to God then man because they know more and beleeve more then any man but he is called in scripture onely charitie in regard of goodnesse and sanctitie for that all goodnesse of sanctification proceeds from charitie So God loved the world saith our Lord in John 3. 16. that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now as all good of sanctitie comes from Gods love to man so from mans charitie comes all the like goodnesse toward God and our neighbour Light comes from faith and understanding from knowledge but goodnesse and sanctitie come onely from charitie And if God be charitie then what interest have they to God and his kingdome who live continually in malice and quarrels Moreover Charitie is called of Divines the universall grace because S. Paul Colos. 3. 14. calleth it the bond of perfection Above all these things put on charitie which is the bond of perfectnesse He saith above all because this is the best of all and he calleth it the bond of perfectnesse first because it tieth man to God in the heart who is perfectnesse it self and next because it tieth all vertues together as we are taught in the Collect of Quinquagesima Hast thou charitie then canst thou want no vertue because all are bound up in it There is justice there is mercy there is liberalitie there is fidelitie there is the highest there is the lowest there is magnanimitie there is humilitie charitie bindes all together in one man Then get charitie and thou needest not run from parish to parish to get understanding because it dwells in charitie According to this S. Austine saith Scriptura nihil praecipit nisi charitatem nihil culpat nisi cupiditatem The scripture commandeth nothing but charitie and blameth nothing but concupiscence Now what charitie is the Father in that place thus defineth Charitatem voco motum animi ad fruendum Deo propter ipsum se atque proximo propter Deum I call charitie saith he a motion of the minde to the fruition of God for himself and of himself and his neighbour for God Lastly there is yet another title of eâ—cellencie belonging to charitie and this is Queen of vertues because it commandeth and governeth them all to right ends For say I had all knowledge and could confute all men and say I had all eloquence that I could with Orpheus move the stonie heart say I had all patience and could give my body to be burned and say I had all faith that I could remove mountains yet if I did not know to Godward speak to Godward suffer to Godward and beleeve to Godward and so of all other vertues all this would do me no good Why because the Queen of vertues Charitie which should bend and order all these to Godward is wanting For every action as the learned know proceeds from election election is in the will and the principall power of the will is love and charitie therefore look which way that goeth that way go all thy actions of heart and minde If thy love be naturall then it orders and carries all thy actions to a naturall end and that leadeth to hell but if thy love be divine and spirituall which my Text calleth Charitie then that like a Queen regulates all thy actions to a supernaturall end which is to serve God and to gain his kingdome And the more good actions thou dost in this kinde the more thou edifiest as my Text saith Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth that is to say Charitie buildeth As the carpenter and mason build with wood and stone so charitie buildeth with good and godly actions Faith is often idle knowledge sleepie and hope is drousie but charitie is alwayes working because it is the hearts pulse to God-ward As the pulse never leaves beating so charitie never leaves working and the more it worketh the greater is the edifying Little charitie makes a little Christian and great charitie makes a great Christian and perfect charitie makes a perfect Christian. The main Tenet of the scripture is that God will reward every man according to his works Therefore the more good works a Christian doth in the kingdome of grace the greater shall be his crown in the kingdome of glorie For as S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 15. 41 42. As one starre differeth from another in glory so is the resurrection of the dead the body with the more good works it riseth the more it shall shine in heavens glory In my Fathers house are many mansions saith our Saviour John 14. 2. Every man here strives to have the fairest house if he be a man of worth Then if thou desirest one of the better mansions in the kingdome of glorie thou must build for it here in the kingdome of grace The more good works thou preparest here the larger shall be thy house there the holier works the higher habitation in heavens majestie Wherefore brethren be never weary of well doing but as S. Paul exhorteth 1. Cor. 15. 58. be abundant alwayes in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. There is nothing lost but all gotten by good life and good
works But you may say It seemeth otherwise because the mansions there are already built and therefore they depend not upon our building and edifying Yes they depend upon our edifying in regard of the placing and bestowing because the better a man is edified in good life here the better building God will bestow upon him there he made the best for the best For thou rewardest every man according to his work Psal. 62. 12. Luke 6. 38. 1. Cor. 3. 8. 2. Cor. 9. 6. You may say again that heaven is but one house which is the Fathers house I reply As our Saviour in John calleth heaven a house so S. Paul Heb. 12. 22. calleth it a citie It is called a house because he is Father of the familie there and it is called a citie because he is King of the place Palaces have many rooms and chambers in excellency one above another so cities have many houses some more spacious some more costly and some more stately then others Why should it not be so too in the celestiall Jerusalem except we should think that God had some wants there There be degrees of edifying in us here therefore there are degrees of edifices for us there Charitie edifieth As charitie edifieth so it pulleth down too As the understanding builder when he sees something in his edifice amisse will not rest till it be demolisht and set up in a better manner so is it with the good Christian when he perceiveth some faults in his life he will not cease till they be removed And this part S. Paul also referreth to charitie 1. Cor. 13. 5. It doth no uncomely thing it seeketh not her own it is not provoked to anger it thinketh no evil Therefore if there be in thee any undecent lecherie or gaping covetousnesse or passions troublesome or any evil whatsoever if charitie be in thee it will seek and endeavour to remove all because they be uncomely for spirituall and Christian buildings And from this text S. Prosper inferreth that charitie is the death of vices and the life of vertues Charitie edifieth Lastly as charitie edifieth in a mans own self so it edifieth in others also If there be any infirmitie in neighbours it will beare with it and help to amend it Charitie suffereth long it boasteth not it self it is not puffed up There is no pride in charitie but it submitteth it self to all good ordinances both in Church and Commonwealth This will not flie out like the disobedient professour this will not runne from his neighbours this will not contemne his Ministers but this wil labour to uphold all This will say Come neighbours let us hold together we must be subject to our governours for conscience sake we may not do what we list we may not be our own judges we may not make our selves equal with Apostles and say in our own causes It is better to please God then men and then please neither for now it is not as it was in the Apostles dayes then were wicked governours now we have godly governours Thus charitie edifieth in our own selves and others but proud knowledge pulleth down and destroyeth And in this Predicament are they which make havock of Church-discipline they will not keep holy dayes though they be in honour of the Saviour of the world they will not observe Saints dayes though their examples in the Liturgie be the glasses of our lives to stand up in reverence when Gloria Patri Te Deum Benedictus and the rest are said wherein we speak to God with them is a needlesse ceremonie Confession and Absolution is flat Poperie and with such all is superstition save onely a sermon from the spirit without premeditation and a prayer ex tempore or of their own framing without authoritie Might these have their wills there should be no face of religion among us They professe themselves to be hearers but if you talk with them then they will be preachers Not need but pride not edifying but ambition makes them to amble about the countrey for choise hearing and precise fashions but the true speakers and true hearers are alwayes in charitie Ephes. 4. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will conclude all with the saying of Hugo de S. Victore lib. 6. Dilectio supereminet scientiae plus enim diligitur quà m intelligitur intrat dilectio ubi scientia foris est FINIS ¶ Almae Matris Academiae carmina Comitialia hanc veritatem attestantia Bona opera sunt efficaciter necessaria ad salutem VIrtutes Charitésque omnes redeatis ad astra Non audent vobis astra negare locum Ecce negant homines homines sine numine vestro Eximium fidei numen inesse putant Gratulor ô vobis homines hoc credere vestrum Quod coelo clivum non sinit esse suum Quantorum facitis compendia quanta laborum Credere justitia est omnis una salus At non sic olim tam mollis semita nunquam Heroum lassos duxit ad astra gradus Sed labor virtus sancta superbia dextra Non facili pennâ stravit in alta viam At neque tu matris fidei puer aure◠credas Coelis esse aliâ conditione fores Ni sit quae tibi summa procul spes sydera mōnstret Ni sit inocciduâ qui face flagret amor Ni non larga pius tibi pocula temperet usus Ni justam in trutinam pendeat aequa manus Ni vigili stet in arce memor mentisque pudicae Servet inaccessas sedula cura nives Tolle tuam nec enim fidei fiducia tanta est Improbe tolle tuam nomen inane fidem Vana fides ubi sola fides dilectio vera Spes viva accedant non aliunde salus His nisi sit formata fides est mortua plané Próque fide fidei triste cadaver habes Haec sunt quae sibi regna vocant aeterna nec unquam Coelorum retulit praemia sola fides ERGO Virtutum sancta speciosae caterva salutem Divino ex pacto quam meruêre dabunt A TREATISE Shewing That Gods Law now qualified by the Gospel of Christ is possible and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life TO shunne homonymie and to state the question that we might not fall to andabatisme we are to understand that as there be two kindes of perfection viae patriae one of our way the other of our countrey to which we are travelling so there are two kindes also of fulfilling Gods law one of this life the other of the next That of this life may stand with divers interruptions because here we are not confirmed in grace but that of the next which is in heaven will admit no interruption because there all are confirmed in grace and cannot sinne That there is a fulfilling of Gods law in this life the scripture admits where it saith in S. James If ye fulfill the royall law according to the scripture Thou shalt love