had mysterously thus avowed his own power and still used meek and loving intreaties whereas he might have come with a rod in vindication of his power in the kingdom of God it was out of jealousie of robbing God of his honor by thinking of men above what was written and to leave them also an example of greater humility since he that was chief amongst them took no more upon him Having also by this abatement of himself who as an Apostle was their chief Head an aim to reduce them from Schism caused through their esteeming too highly of others that were puffed up and yet had no Mission nothing written for their so doing as he had who was endued with power to command them in the Lord or in Christs name according to the written texts of He that receiveth you receiveth me c. So that we may see the mysterie of their duty of obedience to Christs Minister plainly inferred when by forbidding to think of men above what is written it must be supposed their duty to give what is written Without this way of interpretation and by consideration and regard had unto the Dignity and Authority of Christs Ministers and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God it will be very hard to make the word For to be pertinent in the said sentence That no one of you be puffed up for one against another Because we are to conceive that although faithfulness be required in Stewards yet it being not as heretofore noted subjected to mans judgement but to Gods whose Stewards they are the people are therefore to refer their censure of their Superiors power or prudence to him that is the Guide as well as the Searcher of their hearts When Christ at his second coming shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness that is shall discover the reason of this mystical way of empowering his Substitutes and shall then also by making manifest the counsel of hearts convince men that many things were by their Superiors done upon good counsel and consideration which they by hearkning to private Doctrines and Guides might misconstrue and so be led into schisms and seditions whilst they shall be thus puffed up for one another as they stood each one distinctly conceited and interessed in their several Congregations and Heads and thereby come to be really and effectually one against another in respect of that breach of publike Peace and Charity which this factious proceeding and dis-respect to one Head must produce And of this mystical delivery of his authority we shall farther instance in one place as particularly remarkable for setting the power of each Churches Head in such a way as not to be subject either to rob God of his honor or to give scandal by his own claiming authority to himself in too plain a manner He having praised the Corinthians for keeping the Ordinances delivered unto them whereby they had shewed themselves Disciples or followers of him as he was of Christ he then adds to take off all shew of boasting But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God That is I would not be understood as claiming this obedience in mine own name but as under Christ the head of every man that is more especially of every man thus exalted in power For as we cannnot interpret Christ to be Head of every single man so as to exclude the whole sex of women no more can we think that in regard of power and subjection one to another which is the scope of what went before and what follows that every man stands in like relation to Christ. But that although all single men and women so far as they are Christians are alike his members yet do they differ as they stand in their Oeconomy relating as Ministers and Members in each particular Church Therefore we cannot conceive that all this serious discourse should be litterally taken as driving at nothing but womens covering their heads or of mens being bare-headed in time of praying or prophesying as if God cared for the one or the other as in themselves But to shew that according to the drift of the former Chapters there ought to be order kept in all our publike services and that also this order and uniformity is to be directed by obedience So that by Man we may understand the Head of each Church and by women the members thereof and most especially those of the Clergy who are as wives to be directed herein by their husbands And Praying and Prophesying we may understand put for the whole outward service That this was only Parabolically spoken of women with intention that under the instance of their subjection to their husbands general subjection might be inferred will appear in that the woman is herein proposed as doing that which she is not permitted to do that is to prophesie and especially publikely For so we shall find him presently saying Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law and if they will learn any thing let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church In which place the occasion of the speech was also the same namely the avoidance of Schisms by having all things done decently and in order that is by means of subordination and subjection of the second and third ranks of Prophets and Teachers unto Apostolical Authority which is the first and so established by Christ also Again it will appear parabollically put for that the tokens of subjection there put down are not pertinent to set forth the subordination of women to men litterally taken but are mysteriously proper to set forth the subjection of each Church to that husband unto whom in Christ she is married For being bare-headed did not signifie Power and Freedom nor being covered signifie servitude but the quite contrary both in the sense of those times and ours But if it be supposed not fit for the Head of the Church to pray with his head covered for dishonoring his head that is Christ from whom all his Authority is derived even so again by covering understanding publike Church Rights and Orders each Church is not then to be supposed left bare and at liberty in these things by her Head as the Head thereof is by Christ his Head But that she is to observe them as her covering or else renounce her obedience by being shorn Again apprehending the duties of obedience and subjection to be signified under signs contrary we may observe that the man ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the glory of God that is in his head he is more particularly representing his Authority and universal Headship in respect of his Government and Power amongst
us Which his glory being to arise from that subjection and obedience which these below do give unto him therefore the woman is the glory of the man And when it is said The man is not of the woman it is meant the Commander and his Power is not derived from the commanded But the woman is of the man meaning the subject from the Subjector And so again when it is said The man was not created for the woman but the woman for the man it is to be taken as relating to their respective duties of commanding and obeying only and as thereby causing Gods encrease of glory by being more eminently glorified by persons in Authority For else they themselves nay in their relations too are not for one another but for the glory of God But to make God the God of order here below The woman ought to have power on her head because of the Angels that is each Church and her Angels ought here by their obedience to acknowledge the power of their own Head claiming it to Gods glory as his image of Authority even because in Heaven God hath the like done to him by his Angels or Ministers and doth therefore require that the like subordination be observed by those members which in each Church serve as Angels to minister unto his Vicegerent the Head thereof Afterwards the Apostle explains how the Head and his Angels or Ministers are to be reciprocally supporters of each other For in the Lord that is in the execution of Church matters the King is not to act without his Bishops nor they without him even as the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord And therefore after the pacting fashion the Commanders and Obeyers in their reciprocal relations are not to shut out God but the Superiors themselves should be careful to attribute that honor to God which they do by his power receive because all things are of God For looking upwards to the honor and end of the work neither he that planteth nor he that watereth are any thing but God that giveth the encrease And looking downwards again to the object of their imployment the whole Church All things are theirs also whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas and they are Christs and Christs is God that is all things return to God as having his glory the last end of all power even as himself was the only efficient thereof In the three next verses the necessity of each Churches observance of appointed order in her publike service to God is farther implyed and urged as consonant to ordinary reason Judge in your selves is it comely for a woman to pray unto God uncovered that is for subordinate men and Ministers to frame what Forms of Worship they please Doth not even nature it self teach you that if a man in Authority have long hair that is be subjected in Church Orders it is a shame to him but if a woman have long hair it is a glory for her hair was given her for a covering where on the other side we may find that all tokens of subjection are proper for Inferiors and that especially in Church Rites and Ceremonies being most properly allude unto those under the Figure of Vail or Covering This Allegory is largely continued and set forth in his Epistles to the Ephesians taking occasion there also to press it in the like behalf of submission and obedience and in particular about publike Church Orders In which place likewise Wives were to submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord But because those Texts may be easily conceived by what hath been already delivered I shall omit the application of the particular allusions of the power of each Churches Head and of each Churches reciprocal subjection again there set down under the figure of Man and Wife But plain it is that the Apostle doth expresly there set it down not to be meant litterally but as a great mysterie concerning Christ and his Church and so leaves none but the following Verse to set out expresly the mutual duties of man and wife viz. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband that is although I have before appointed each Church to be in subjection to her Head or Husband as the whole Church is to Christ its Head and Husband so now I do litterally intend to direct you in these conjugal duties All which the words Nevertheless and In particular do manifest by cutting it off from the other discourse and appropriating it to this implying that before he alluded to another thing even the general relation between each Church and its Head but here of the particular relation of each man and his wife And by this means we may know how to unfold the mystical delivery of the power of each Churches Head under Christ which else by stubborn persons might have seemed so great a mysterie as not to be conceived farther extensive then of the Catholique Church her obedience to Christ himself A thing not to be otherwise performed then by each Churches obedience to its own Head in his stead as heretofore declared nor at all available to stopping of Schisms and Divisions by settling of Order in each Church which was the drift of the admonitions but rather to encrease them as heretofore noted also Where the followers of Christ himself are reckoned amongst other Schismaticks Nor need we much wonder why the Apostle in setting forth the duty of Obedience should personate the wife and allude unto that relation more then any other since we shall find this perfect obedience to be first enjoyned to wives and that not only to be given upon most strict terms but as done upon reason foregoing and upon the first promise of prevalence of Christ and his Church as the seed of the woman Thy desire shall be subject to thy husbands and he shall rule over thee So that as the general rule for Civil subjection was first given under the notion of Father and Mother even so also the mystical Precept for Ecclesiastick Subordination and Obedience was at first intimated and since continued under the notion of Husband Thereby inferring that although according to these Oeconomical relations men in Orders stood not naturally so subjected as others yet should their more Religious and Sacramental tye thereunto incite them unto such demeanor of themselves in Gods Houshold the Church that they may evidence themselves men of Orders whilst serving and obeying the God of Order by submission to this their spiritual Husband in such degree and manner as he appointed The case therefore thus standing between the fear of robbing God of his proper glory and the fear of destruction of men the instruments thereof by Civil war as we may see good ground for divine permission of those many changes of Families in
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better a milstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea As there is a distinction of the greatest in the kingdom of heaven verse 4 to note that these things could not be spoken of Christians universally for then received and receiving should be confounded and still the same so to shew it could not be meant of many in each Kingdom or Church that should by us be thus received it follows in the singular number in the fifth verse Who so shall receive one and so in the sixth verse Who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me c. By which last expression of believe in me as we finde children in the litteral sence excluded so may we finde our obedience to Christ to be unquestionably due to such our rightful Superiours as are Christians and believing on him But because Christ himself had formerly foreseen that our owne natural pride and lusts would ordinarily draw us both to Antichristian disobedience against our Superiours and unto neglect of the dutyes of love and charity to our neighbours it was the occasion of his expressions that he came to send fire on earth and that he came not to send peace c. For in that consideration he here saith that it must needs be that offences must come but then he also gives a wo to them by whom the offence cometh and admonisheth that it were better to cast from us those lusts and enticements hereunto although they be as deer to us as our owne hands or eyes then we should be in danger of hell by dispising one of these little ones who were by office to prevent and decide those offences and breaches of charity which our lusts should produce And that because they having charge of flockes committed unto them from Christ who came to save that which was lost so it was also their duty to regard the strayings of every particular sheep in their foulds and it came thereupon to be the will of God that none of these little ones should parish that is perish by violence and insurrection The farther proof that these phrases of little and least were parabolically meant of persons to be substituted in Christs power appears in that through all the three forementioned Evangelists the immediate following discourses do set out unto us the plain description of some persons by Christ in that sort owned Saint Mark and Saint Luke do it as of one that had no direct mission from him who yet is by Christ owned because he did his works of power in his name and owned also according to Saint Marke under the same expression for obedience as he had formerly set downe to the little Children viz. whosoever shall offend c. Nay Saint Mark takes in that discourse of him that acted in Christs name and authority so as he intermingles it with the description of these little ones as all one And to ascertain us that by them he intended his Disciples and his succeeding deputyes he directs his speech of receipt to them directly Whosoever shall give you a Cup of water to drinke in my name because ye belong to Christ Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me c. by that means making them and these little ones all one As for Saint Matthew he sets downe the description of the Apostles power of the keyes immediately after the discourse of these little ones so that by setting downe the chief mark of the power of the Churches head next we have farther instruction that both discourses belong to the same person Our Saviour in setting downe the office of the Churches heads under these notions of little ones and little Children and of defining their duty of humility answerable thereunto might have allusion unto the like manner of expressions used by his typical Father David who was usually personated as the Churches head as we find it expressed in the 131 Psalm saying My heart is not haughty c. and again surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his Mother my soul is even as a weaned child And as thus he answers for his mind and inward behaviour so is it to be noted that himself as the Paragon king was in his person very little whereas his predecessour Saul was not onely haughty but also higher then others by the shoulders and so not so fit as David to be one of these little ones by our Saviour spoken of And indeed this caveat for humility given by our Saviour to such as were to succeed as heads and guides in the Christian Church is but the same in effect that was given in the Jewish Church to be put in practise by their Kings that his heart be not lift up above his brethren And although our Saviour do thus set downe obedience to the Church heads under the notion of little ones to take off occasion of their pride yet that he intended such persons as should be in greater charge then ordinary appears notably by his telling us by way of terror of their power namely that in heaven their Angels do alwayes behold the face of God that is they have in regard of their great trust amongst us their eminent guardian Angels appointed By which we may know how to interpret Saint Paul concerning the Angels which should be judged at the last Judgement that is that such of them as had been more particularly trusted with the guardianship of particular Churches should give accompt thereof to these that had formerly been heads of Churches themselves as to the Apostles and the like And that we were to distinguish these little ones or the Churches rulers here spoken of from her other members commonly called Children but without the addition of little will farther appear by the observation of what was spoken of before For unless we so construe them I see not how that discourse can be direct in answer to the Disciples question of who shall be greatest that is whom he would make governor over the rest which is in three places done And although he deny them this power over one another yet doth he not theirs or others having it over ordinary Church-members upon condition they must be converted from pride and become humble and little before God And by the word little thus received may we interpret that speech of our Saviours concerning Iohn the Baptist He that is least in the Kingdome of heaven is greater then he For as by the kingdome of heaven we are to understand the Church because in heaven it self every one shall not be greater then he so are we not to understand that every one here either should exceed in greatness him that was the greatest of those which were born of
women but because these little ones or these least in the Kingdome of heaven have as elsewhere shewed received from Christ the honour and trust of binding and loosing which Iohn had not therefore were they greater then he And so again when Christ brings in himself speaking at the last judgement he useth the like expressions Inasmuch as ye have done it or not done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it or not done it unto me By one of the least we are to understand such a single person to be meant as more eminently representing Christ may through obedience to him in Christs stead make charity extensive and useful to all occasions and not think that Christ made that charity best which was done but to any one ordinary man or that the particular works there mentioned were all that needed But rather that here as elsewhere these additions of least and little are added in the singular number to Children and Bretâ—ren that together with the distinction of them from other children and brethren he might both set forth that extraordinary humility that should be in all governours and might also relate litterally to that mean estate of his Disciples the Churches present governours who being probably to be most persecuted of any other therefore are those instances of charity brought in which become men in that condition That these Epithetes of little and least when added to children do both signifie persons substituted in Christs authority and was also given to teach humility and love especially one toward another will lastly appear by those passages discribed by the other Evangelist Saint Iohn because spoken while Christ is deligating his Apostles as is related in the 13 chapter and afterward For in these chapters his speech of little children cannot be taken otherwise then as a proper address to them By which and by that fact of washing their feet we may finde how desirous he is that that great power he had given them should not exalt them above one another but make them ready by that his example to do all loving offices one towards another since none of them could be so great over one another as he that had so done was over them all But although here as elsewhere he is most copious in putting them in mind of that duty of meekness and humility which becometh their large power yet that a great power was delegated unto them appeares in the beginning of the Chapter Now when Iesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father that is knowing he himself could be no longer the living light or guide of the world he therefore thought now time to delegate his own which were in the world and whom for that service he had chosen out of the world And therefore Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God that is knowing he had finished the work he had to do and being to return to him that gave him this mission and authority he then thinks it time to take care of his Churches charge in his absence and to go on with his mission of others in his name as he had been before sent in his fathers name This in the other Evangelists runs As my Father sent me so send I you and whosoever heareth you heareth me and the like but this beloved Disciple after his usual manner coucheth all under the notion of love And therefore their power or mission is amongst other things parabolically set downe As my Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love that is as I have power had from God the Father as his beloved son so shall you from me as my beloved Disciples And this his deputation or mission thus given them he more clearly expresseth in his prayer As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world All which and other considerations before spoken of in confirming the Churches power under her owne Ministers should methinks be sufficient to stop the haste of such as do so headily obtrude their owne private interpretation of Scripture against that which is publike and made by lawful authority For unless they can make some extraordinary mission appear whereby God hath something to say by them not said before why should men be so beguiled as to think them not subject to like passions and infirmities with those that have the interpretation of Gods word already And truly their crying out for obedience to Gods word onely and yet proposing it as such when guided according to their sence onely imports none other then an ayme thereby to engross all honour and authority to themselves only And therefore that command appears at this time extreamly necessary to put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey Magistrates to be ready to every good work to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing meekness to all men And a greater truth cannot be spoken nor a moâ—e seasonable admonition given then to mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they have learned and to avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their owne belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple For so long as the foundation is not destroyed so long as Christ is not deceived but our faith is entire in him the prosecution of particular sects under that of Paul Apollo or Cephas and our hatred varience emulations wrath strife seditions envyings murthers c. are works of the flesh not of the spirit and are because we are carnal and walk as men But yet because we are to know that it is not faith alone that is our duty and can secure our salvation but faith and love or faith that worketh holy love we will now speak more fully of that grace of love or charity which must be joyned to keep us innocent and also of that other grace of obedience which is requisite to make charity effectual CHAP. VII Of love and obedience and of our state of innocence thereby TO be sensible of good or happiness is to be living and to be the more hereof sensible is to be more living For as there is a positive dignity by sensation it self that is of sensitive above Inanimates so is there a comparative exellence therein again arising from degree thereof Whereby each thing stands in degree of happiness and excellence differenced by that degree of vigour and intensness in apprehension and also by degree of steadiness and continuance in possession Now as experience in the natural course of things doth inform that in all progression there must be a perfection and summety so in this case