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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01344	Ioseph's partie-colored coat containing, a comment on part of the 11. chapter of the 1. epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians : together with severall sermons, namely, [brace] 1. Growth in grace, 2. How farre examples may be followed, 3. An ill match well broken off, 4. Good from bad friends, 5. A glasse for gluttons, 6. How farre grace may be entayled, 7. A christning sermon, 8. Faction confuted / by T.F.	Fuller, Thomas, 1608-1661.	1640 (1640)	STC 11466.3; ESTC S4310	83,852	200

then with Micaiah wee must alwayes prophesie evil unto them In this I prayse you not Ministers must not commend their people when they doe ill 1. Dishonourable to God 2. Dangerous to the Ministers That Embassadour who being sent to proclaime warre pronounceth peace to Rebels There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Esay 57.21 deserves at his returne to bee preferred to the Gallowes 3. Dangerous to the people who are soothed in their sinnes Honey-dewes though they be sweet in taste doe black and blast the corne So those who prayse their people without cause are cruelly kind unto them it is pleasant to the pallate of flesh but destroyeth and damneth the soule It were to be wished that as those that live under the Equinoctiall at Noon-day have no shadowes at all so great men should have no shadowes no Parasites no Flatterers to commend them when they least deserve it But why doth Saint Paul deale so mildly with the Corinthians I prayse you not Me thinkes hee should have made his little finger as heavie as his loynes O yee Corinthians I excommunicate every mothers child of you I damne you all to the pit of hell and deliver you to Satan for your sinne of Drunkennesse at the receiving of the Sacrament never to be absolved but on your most serious and solemne repentance Otherwise considering the corrupt humour in the Corinthians the Apostles purge was too gentle for them Theophylact answers that Saint Paul reproves the rich men the more mildly lest otherwise they should be implacably incensed against the poore fretting against them as the causers of the Apostles anger 2. It was the first time hee told the Corinthians of their fault and therefore used them the more gently on hope of their amendment This corrupt humour in the Corinthians was not as yet growne tough bak't and clodded in them by custome and therefore the easier purged and removed Ministers must use mildnesse especially at their first reproving of a sinne Yea God so blest the mild serveritie of Saint Paul that the Corinthians reformed all their errours for no fault reprehended by the Apostle in them in this first Epistle is taxed againe in the second Epistle a very strong presumption that all those faults were amended Now whereas wee find such abuses in the Church of Corinth presently after it was newly planted we may learne Corruptions will quickly creepe into the best Church Thus Saint Paul no sooner went back from the Galatians but they went back from his Doctrine Gal. 5.7 Yee did run well who did hinder you And as we reade of Mezentius a cruell Tyrant who joyned dead corpes to living men and so killed them with lingering torments So some Seducers in the Church of Galatia sought to couple the lively grace of God and active faith with the dead Letter of the Law and old legall Ceremonies long since dead buried and rotten in the Grave of our Saviour If it be done thus to the greene Tree what shall be done to the dry If Primative Churches whilst the Apostles which planted them were alive to pruine them had such errours in them no wonder if the Church at sixteene hundred yeares of age may have some defaults Moses said unto the Israelites Deut. 31.27 Behold while I am alive with you this day yee have beene rebellious against the Lord and how much more when I am dead So if while Saint Paul survived Churches were so prone to decline what can be lesse expected in our dayes It was therfore well concluded in the 39. Session of the Councell of Constance * That every ten yeare at the farthest there should bee a Generall Councell held to reforme such errours in the Church as probably in that time would arise VERSE 23. For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Iesus the same night in which hee was betrayed tooke bread AFter hee had fully reproved the corruptions of their Love-feasts commeth he now to reduce the receiving of the Sacrament to the first Institution of Christ It is the safest way to correct all the Errata's in the Transcript according to the Originall Copie Thus did Christ in the matter of Divorce Mat. 19.8 But from the beginning it was not so Excellently Saint Cyprian Wee must not heed what others did who were before us but what Christ did who was before all Were this used betwixt us and the Papists to cleare the streame of Gods service by the Fountaine of its first Institution how soone would seven Sacraments shrinke to two how quickly would Creame Oyle and Spittle fly out of Baptisme and leave nothing but faire water behind How soone c. For I have received of the Lord How could Saint Paul receive it of the Lord with whom hee never convers't in the flesh being one borne out of time as he confesseth of himselfe He received it 1. Mediately by Ananias who began with him where Gamaliel ended Besides lest the Corinthians should say that they received it likewise at the second hand as well as Saint Paul he had it immediately from God Gal. 1.12 For I never received it of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Iesus Christ I also delivered unto you The Greeke is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Latine Tradidi vobis English it as you please I traditioned it unto you Nota saith A Lapide on this place Hunc locum pro traditionibus quas Orthodoxi verbo Dei scripto adjungendas docento Bellarmine also starts Traditions out of the same place What eye-salve are their eyes anoynted with that can see unwritten Traditions here when the Apostle delivereth nothing but is recorded in 3. Evangelists Mathew Marke Luke However hence we will take occasion briefly to speak of unwritten Traditions the Church of Rome maintayning that the Scriptures of themselves are too scant to salvation except the course list of unwritten Traditions be cast in to make measure and this they will have of equall authority with the written Word Marke by the way 1. This is the Reason why Romanists are so zealous for Traditions for finding themselves cast by the Scriptures they would faigne appeale to another Judge yea hereon are founded those points which get them their gaine as Purgatory and the Appurtenances thereof Hath not Demetrius then reason to stand for Diana Act. 19.25 when his goods and her Godship must go together 2. Though they lock up the Scriptures in an unknowne language and forbid the Laity to reade them yet they suffer Traditions to bee preached and published to all in generall Such woodden Daggers will never hurt Popery to the heart and therefore they suffer their children to play with these dull tooles though not to handle the two-edged Sword of Gods Word 3. Romanists will never give us a perfect List and Catalogue of their Traditions that we may know

their set number how many there be of them but still reckon them up with an Et Caetera leave still a Plus ultra to place more in if need require And as the Athenians for feare they should omit any Deity erected an Altar to the unknowne God So the Papists in summing up their Traditions will not compleat their number but are carefull to leave Blankes and void places for a Refuge and Retreating Place that in case they be prest in Disputation and cannot prove their point by places of Scripture they may still plead it is a Tradition 4. Whereas the word Tradition is taken in severall senses and there be many kinds of them Papists jumble and confound them together As Cheaters use to cast their counterfeit coyne amongst good gold hoping so to passe it away currant and undiscovered So they shuffle false and true Traditions together in one heape that the bad may goe off under the countenance and protection of the good Wee will marre their Mart by sorting them into these severall Rankes 1. Traditions in a generall sense are taken for things delivered though in Scripture by Christ and his Apostles thus Saint Basil cals Baptising In the name of the F S. and H G. a Tradition 2. For such matters of Faith which are not found in Scripture totidem verbis in the words and sound but yet in the same sense and substance or at least may by faithfull consequence bee thence deduced as the Trinity of Persons two wils in Christ his Consubstantiality with God the Father Thus Lindan a Papist cals Originall sinne a Tradition 3. For such opinions against which nothing appeares in Scripture and the Church in all times and ages have maintained them condemning the Opposers for erroneous As that the Mother of Christ was ever a Virgin 4. For such Rites and Ceremonies of the Church no matters of Faith which therein have beene used from great Antiquity and therefore probably might have their Original from the Apostles As Fasting in Lent though the manner time and continuance in keeping it was very different in severall Churches Take Traditions in the first and second acception wee account them to have equal force and authority with the Written Word In the third sense wee honour and embrace them as true In the last Acception wee approve and practise them as decent and ancient provided alwayes they be not obtruded as things necessary to salvation but indifferent in their nature But all this makes nothing for the blacke Guard of Romish Traditions which lag still behind some of them frivolous As this Apostolical Tradition That a Priest if against their wils they receive any money from wicked men they must in no case expend it on meat but to buy wood coals Some impious and blasphemous worshipping of Images prayers to Saints the Sacrifice of the Masse Purgatory c. having nothing for them much against them in Gods written Word To draw to a conclusion Scriptures besides many others have two most principall priviledges above Traditions First their Infallibilitie as being inspired by the Spirit of God 2 Pet. 1.20 So that yee first know this that no prophecie of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation vers. 21. For the Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost As for the authors of Traditions they might both falli and fallere be deceived themselves and deceive others They might be deceived themselves either by mis-understanding the Traditions delivered unto them or by mis-remembring or by mis-relating them againe They might deceive others either unwillingly by these forenamed slips and infirmities or else willingly and wittingly by venting those things as received from the Apostles which they had not received from them And by usurpation intitling the fancies of your owne heads to bee Apostolicall Precepts 2. The Providence of God plainely appeares in his preserving of the Scriptures against all oppositions Many a time from my youth up may the Scriptures now say yea many a time have they fought against me from my youth but they could not prevaile against me Neither Antiochus before Christ nor Iulian the Apostate since him nor the force of Tyrants nor the fraud of Heretikes though the world of late hath scarce yeelded a wicked sharpe wit that hath not given the Scriptures a gash could ever suppresse them Their treading on this Cammimell made it grow the better and their snuffing of this candle made it burne the brighter Whereas on the other side the Records of Traditions are lost and those bookes wherein they where compiled and composed Aut in curia hominum aut injuria temporis or by some other sinister accident are wholly miscarried and no where appeare Papias is reported by * Eusebius in five bookes to have contained all the Apostolicall Traditions which they call the Word not written by Bellarmine himselfe confessed that these are lost Likewise Clemens Alexandrinus as the same Eusebius storieth it wrote in a booke those Traditions which hee received from the Elders and they from the Apostles which booke the Papists themselves at this day cannot produce I will conclude all with Gamaliels words Act. 5.39 But if it be of God yee cannot destroy it Had these bookes beene inspired by Gods Spirit no doubt the same Providence would have watched to preserve them which hath protected the Scripture Let us therefore leaving uncertaine Traditions stick to the Scriptures alone trust no Doctrine on its single band which brings not Gods word for its security Let that Plate be beaten in peeces which hath not this Tower-stampe upon it That the Lord Iesus the same night wherein he was betrayed Christ bestowed the greatest courtesie on mankind when hee foresaw that hee should receive the greatest cruelty from them O that wee were like minded with our Saviour to move fastest in Piety when wee draw neerest the Center of Death and then chiefly to study to fasten favours on our Enemies Why did Christ institute it then and not before Because dying men bequeath not their Legacies till they make their wils nor departing friends bestow their tokens till they take their farewell 2. Because till then the Passeover a Sacrament in the same kind did continue in full force and the Lords Supper was not to bee lighted til the Passover was first fairly put out Seeing Christ appoynted it a Supper how comes it now to be a Dinner God hath instrusted the discretion of his Church on just occasion to alter some circumstances in the Sacrament True it is such circumstances as are Sacramental not only of the Commission at large but also of the Quorum nomina whose absence or alteration maims and mangles the Sacrament are unchangeable But Common and ordinary circumstances such as is the Time Place Kind of Bread and Wine the Church hath power to alter by vertue of a Warrant left

to it by Christ Let all things be done decently and in order It was turned into a dinner 1. To avoid the Inconveniencies which a full stomake surfetted and surcharged will bring as in the Corinthians 2. That our bodies which are like new barrels whiles we are fasting may first bee seasoned with the liquor of Christs blood Let us thanke God that we are not necessitated to receive the Communion in the night as in the Primitive Church in time of Persecution when Christians to drink Christs blood did adventure the loosing of their owne Tooke Bread Why did Christ choose so cheap and common a thing to exhibite his body in Herein he graciously provided for the poor Had he appoynted some rich and costly receit the estate of the poore could not procure it for themselves and the charity of the rich would not purchase it for others 2. Had he instituted it in some dear and precious element happily people would have imputed the efficacie therof to its natural worth and working not to Christs Institution Christ therefore chooseth plaine bread a thing so meane in it selfe it is not within suspition to eclipse God of his glory none can be so mad as to attribute to plaine Bread it selfe such spirituall Operation Let us take heed how we take snuffe at the simplicity of Gods Ordinance say not with Naaman Is not Abanah and Pharphar c. Is not the Bread in the Bakers panniers and the Wine in the Vintners cellar as good as that which is propounded in the Sacrament And farre be it from us to seeke with our owne inventions to beguard that which God wil have plaine rather let us pray that our eyes may be anoynted with that eye-salve to see Majesty in the meanesse and the state in the simplicity of the Sacraments But amongst such variety of others such cheape Elements to represent Christs body in why was bread preferred above all To shew our bodies can as well subsist without Bread as our soules without a Saviour It is called the staffe of Bread other meats are but as pretty wands to whisk in our hands Without Bread no Feast with Bread no Famine VERSE 24. And when hee had given thankes hee brake it and sayd Take eate this is my body which is broken for you this doe in remembrance of mee And when hee had given thankes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} SO it is Luke 22.19 But Saint Matthew chap. 26.26 hath it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hee blessed Yet let not these two words fall out for they are Brethren of affinity in sense and signification At this day {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hee gived thankes hath christned the whole service of the Eucharist Whensoever wee are to receive any food wee are to give God thankes but especially at Sacrament 1. It is our duty God the Lord Paramount of the World though hee hath made us in Christ Free-holders of all his creatures yet hath reserved thankes as a quick Rent for himselfe 2. It is profitable for us 1 Tim. 4.45 For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thankesgiving for it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer Yea thanksgiving makes every creature both chew the cud and cleave the hoofe The Physician may forbid one meat the Divine cannot it may bee against ones health not ones conscience True the Jewes life was a constant Lent from much forbidden meat but Christians paying thankes to God buy a License to eate any thing Hee brake it To signifie how his body should bee broken for mankind Whilst therefore the Priest in the Sacrament breaketh the Bread let the peoples meditation attend his Action and conceive they see Christs head backe hands feet side broken with the thorns whips nailes speare And hence it appeareth that the celebrating of Christs body in broken bread is more naturall to Christs Institution and more expressive in it selfe than as the Church of Rome doth in a whole and entire VVafer And said unto them Take That is take it in their hands and put it to their mouth not as the custome lately induced in the Romish Church for the Priest to put it in the mouth of every Communicant But it is pleaded for the Popish custome that it is unmannerly for Lay-men to handle Christs body and therefore it is most reverence to take it with their mouthes There is no such Clowne in Christianity as he who will bee more mannerly than God will have him It is most reverence for us to doe as God commands us Ahaz tempted God in saying he would not tempt him when God bid him aske a signe Esay 7.12 Those do little better who more nise then wise straine courtesie not to take Christs body in their hands when hee reaches it 2. Take it strictly and our mouthes are as unworthy as our hands to receive Christs body No more sanctity in the one than in the other being both made of the same lump of flesh But seeing it is Christs pleasure to come under the roofe of our mouth let him also passe through the porch of our hands The rather because it seemeth that wee entertaine Christs body in more state and with more observance towards it when the more servants attend it the more members of our body using their service in receiving it 3. Lastly the Romish custome in putting it into their mouthes looseth the expression and significancie of the hand of faith The taking Christs body in our hands mindeth us spiritually by faith to apprehend and lay hold on his mercies and merits And here let us take notice of the needlesse cavill of such as snarle at the practise of our English Church Because whereas Christ said in a generality once for all to his Disciples Take and eate our Church speaketh it to every particular person VVee answer this is no considerable variation from Christs form for first it appeares not in the Text to the contrary but that Christ might speake these words severally to each Apostle though it be not expressed because Histories trusse up things in bundles and omitting particulars set downe only the totall summe Secondly God hath intrusted the Ministers of his Church to spin out his universall Precepts and promises into particulars Thus Mat. 28.19 Christ saith Teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. Which the Priest by the consent of all Churches applyeth to each Infant I baptize thee c. This is my Body That is that which signifies signes and presents my body and sacramentally is my body and which received with faith seales to thee all the benefits of my death and passion not transubstantiated into my body according to the Popish opinion whereof briefly The Doctrine of Transubstantiation was first occasioned by the unwary speeches of Damascen and Theophylact. These seeing no

hand but it concernes every one of us to make a punctuall and direct answer thereunto Vpon examination all will confesse themselves guilty except a dumbe Devill or a Pharisaicall spirit hath possessed any Yet are there degrees of guiltinesse Some are guilty that they have not these graces at all but the opposite vices in stead of them in stead of knowledge ignorance All the reason Laban could render Iacob in cozening him with the elder sister for the younger was but pleading the custome of the countrey Gen. 29.26 And this is the best account some can giue why they receive the Sacrament It is an old ceremony a fashion of their Fore-fathers a custome of the Church that young men and maidens at such an age use to receive and so of the rest in stead of repentance obstinacy in sin in lieu of faith unbeliefe in place of charity malice an indifferency for desire and ingratitude for thankfulnesse these in no case must presume to receive but tarry till these vices are amended and graces in some degree begotten in them Others are guilty that though they have them in sincerity yet they have them not in perfection these are bound to come to Gods table his dainties are provided properly for such guests by his blessing these holy mysteries may worke in them what is wanting and strengthen what is weak And to conclude as the father of the lunatick child cryed out Mar. 9.24 Lord I beleeve help my unbeliefe so may the best of us all when we come to communicate call out with teares Lord I come with knowledge helpe my want of knowledge Lord I come with repentance help my want of repentance Lord I come with faith helpe my want of faith Lord I come with love help my want of love Lord I come c. VERS 30. For this cause many are weake and sicke among you and many sleepe RIght at this time there raged and raigned in the Church of Corinth an Epidemicall disease and my Apostle in my Text tels them the Fountaine from which it flowed namely from the unprepared and unreverent receiving of the Sacrament The words containe the punishment and the cause thereof I must confesse in the Heraldry of nature the cause is to be handled before the effect but because the punishment being the effect discovered it selfe first while the cause was yet unknown we will first treat thereof The punishment containes three steps to the Grave 1. Weaknesse 2. Sicknesse 3. Temporal death called sleep Learne God inflicteth not the same punishment for all but hath variety of correction In his Quiver some Arrowes are blunt some sharpe and of these some he drawes halfe way some to the head And the Reason is because there are divers degrees of mens sinnes some sinne out of Ignorance others out of Knowledge some out of Infirmity others of Presumption some once others often some at the seducing of others others seduce others God therefore doth not like the unskilfull Empiricks who prescribe the same quantity of the same receit at all times to all ages tempers and diseases But wisely he varieth his physick few strips to those that knew not his will and many stripes for them who knew his wil and did it not Sometimes hee shooteth halfe canon weaknesse sometime full canon sicknesse sometimes murthering Peeces death it selfe Let us endeavour to amend when God layeth his least judgement upon us let us humble our selves with true Repentance under his hand when hee layeth his little finger upon us lest we cause him to lay his loynes on us let us be bettered when he scourgeth us with rods lest we give him occasion to Sting us with Scorpions for light punishments neglected wil draw heavier upon us Let Magistrates and men in authority mitigate or increase the punishment according to the nature of the offence Let there be as well the stocks for the Drunkard the house of correction for the idle Drone the whip for the petty Lassoner as the brand for the fellon and the Gallowes for the Murtherer Let mercy improve it selfe to obtaine if not a pardon yet a lighter punishment for those in vvhose faces are read the performance of present sorrovv and promise of future amendment Let severity lay load on their backs vvhich are old and incorrigable sinnes so that there is more feare of their perverting others than hope of their converting Then shal the gods in earth be like to the God in Heaven and Magistrates here imitate the patterne which God setteth in my Text For probable it is that those Corinthians who are least offenders in the irreverent receiving of the Sacrament were punished with weaknesse the greater with sicknesse the greatest of all with death temporall called Sleepe in my Text The death of the Godly in Scripture language is often stiled sleepe And indeed sleepe and death are two twins sleepe is the elder brother for Adam slept in Paradise but death liveth longest for the last enemy that shall bee destroyed is death But some will object was Saint Paul so charitably opinioned to these Corinthians as to thinke that they some wereof were drunken at the receiving of the Sacrament that they slept that is dyed and went to Heaven me thinkes so strong a charity argues too weake a judgement I answer the Apostle had perceived in these mens lives the strength of unfained piety and though God suffered them to fall into a sin of so high a nature as this must be confest to be yet Saint Paul did Christianly beleeve that this sinne by Repentance and faith in Christ was pardoned and their soules eternally saved Let us measure the estates of men after death by the rule of their lives and though wee see some commit grievous sinnes yea such sinnes for which they are brought to exemplary death perchance by the orderly proceeding of the Law yet withall if wee had knowne that the drift and scope of their lives had beene to fear God wee may and must charitably conceive of their finall estate and that with the Corinthians in my Text they are fallen asleepe So much for the punishment wee come now to the cause For this cause many are weake All sicknesses of the body proceed from the sinne of the soule I am not ignorant that the Lethurgy ariseth from the coldnesse of the braine that the dropsie floweth from waterish blood in an ill affected Liver that the spleen is caused from melancholly wind gathered in the midriffe but the cause of all these causes the Fountaine of all these Fountaines is the sinne of the soule And not onely the sinnes which wee have lately committed and still lye fresh bleeding on our consciences but even those which wee have committed long agoe and which processe of time hath since scarred over Iob 13.26 For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me possesse the sinnes of my youth So that Iob being gray is punished for Iob being greene Iob in the autumn of his age smarts

Congregation It was the Boone Saul begg'd of Samuel Honour me before my people And surely it is but reason wee should seeke to grace the Shepherd in the presence of his Flock though perchance privately wee may reprove him disgrace him not publikely before those that are under him I am come now to neglected Ministers at whose Churches Solitudo ante ostium and within them too whilst others perchance lesse deserving are more frequented Let not such grieve in themselves or repine at their Brethren When Saint Iohn Baptists Disciples told him That all flock't to Iesus whom hee baptized beyond Iordan I must decrease answered hee and hee must increase Never fret thy selfe or vexe out thy soule if others bee preferred before thee they have their time they are Crescents in their waxing full Seas in their flowing Envie not at their Prosperity The Starres in their course did fight against Sisera thy course of credit may chance to bee next thy turne of Honour may chance to come after One told a Grecian Statist who had excellently deserved of the Citie hee lived in That the Citie had chosen foure and twenty Officers and yet left him out I am glad said hee the Citie affords twenty foure abler than my selfe So let Ministers triumph and rejoyce in this that the Church yeilds so many men better meriting then themselves and be farre from taking exception thereat And let us practise Saint Pauls Precept by Honour and Dishonour by good Report and Disreport Seven yeares have I served God in good esteeme and well respected by the time I have served God so long in disgrace and reproach perchance the Circulation of my credit may returne and with patience I may regaine the esteeme I have lost and if otherwise let him say with David Lord here I am doe with thy servant as thou pleasest By this time mee thinkes I heare the people saying unto mee as the Souldiers to Iohn Baptist but what shall wee doe Now the Counsell I commend to you is this First ever preserve a reverent esteeme of the Minister whom God hath placed over thee For if a Sparrow lighteth not on the ground without Gods especiall Providence surely no Minister is bestowed in any Parish without a more immediate and peculiar disposing of God and surely their owne Pastor is best acquainted with their diseases and therefore best knoweth to apply spirituall Physicke thereunto And as Gods Word hath a generall Blessing on every place so more particularly is it sanctified and blessed there to those Parishioners from the mouth of their lawfull Minister Let not therefore the Sermon of a stranger who perchance makes a Feast of set purpose to entertaine new Guests be preferred before the paines of thy owne Minister who keeps a constant house and a set Table each Lords day feeding his owne family Wherefore let all the Ephesians confine themselves to their Timothy Cretians to their Titus every Congregation to their proper Pastor And I hope Pastors considering the solemne oath they tooke at their Institution and the profit they receive from their people and how irrationall it is to take wages and doe no worke and the heavie account they must make at the day of Iudgement will provide Milke in their brests for those who must suck of them As for those whose necessary occasions doe command their absence from their Flocks let them be Curats of their Curats over-see such whom they appoynt to oversee their people Columella gives this counsell to Husband-men never keepe a horse to doe that worke which may be done by an Asse both because Asses are of a lower price and cheaper kept But God forbid Ministers should observe this Rule and so consult with their profit as to provide unworthy Substitutes to save charges Let them not make odious comparisons betwixt Ministers of eminent parts It is said of Hezechiah 2 King 18.5 That after him was none like him of all the Kings of Iudah neither any that were before him It is said also of King Iosiah 2 King 23.25 And like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might neither after him rose up any like him The Holy Spirit prefers neither for better but concludes both for best and so amongst Ministers when each differs from others all may bee excellent in their kinds As in comparing severall handsome persons one surpasseth for the beauty of a naturally painted face A second for the feature of a well proportioned body A third for a grace of Gesture and Comelinesse of carriage so that Iustice it selfe may bee puzled and forced to suspend her Verdict not knowing where to adjudge the Victory So may it bee betwixt severall Pastors Ones Excellency may consist in the unsnarling of a knowne controversie an other in plaine expounding of Scripture to make it portable in the weakest memory One the best Boanarges an other the best Barnabas Our Iudgements may bee best informed by one our Affections moved by a second our lives reformed by a third I am perswaded there is no Minister in England for his Endowments like Saul Higher then his Brethren from the shoulders upwards But rathes some hundreds like the Pillars in Salomons House all of a height But grant some in parts farre inferiour to others was not Abishai a valiant and worthy Captaine though hee attayned not to the Honour of the first three And may not many bee serviceable in the Church though not to bee ranked in the first forme for their sufficiencie Let them entertaine this for a certaine truth That the Efficacy of Gods Word depends not on the parts of the Minister but on Gods blessing on his Ordinance Indeed there is a Generation of Preachers that come upon the Stage before ever they were in the Tyring-house whose backwardnesse in the Vniversity makes them so forward in the Countrey where what they lack in Learning they supply in boldnesse I could wish that as Gen. 21.19 When Hagars Bottle of water was spent God opened her eyes and shee went to the Fountaine againe So when these Novices have emptied their store of set Sermons they brought with them that their Parents would remit them backe to the Vniversity the Fountaine of Learning and Religion to furnish themselves with a better stocke of sufficiencie Such Ministers as these I account as none at all but as for those that have the Minimum ut sic the least degree of tolerability to enable them in some measure to discharge their Office God may bee and often is as effectuall in and by them as by Rabbies of farre greater parts To conclude let us with one mind and one mouth advance the Glory of God that thereby the Gospel may bee graced Wicked men amazed some of them converted the rest of them confounded weake Christians confirmed to the griefe of Devils Ioy of Angels Honour of God himselfe Amen FINIS Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES May 30. 1640. Observ. Caution Quest Answ. Doct Vse Quest Answ. Doct. Object * Cornel. ● l. ●● pide on the Text Answ. 1. * Thom. Morton in his comment upon the 1 Cor. 11. * Cal. 1 Cor. 11.2 Doct. Doct. Rea 1. 2 It confutes 1 2 * Libro de Haeresibus ad quod vult deum Quest Answ. * S. Ang. loco prius citato saith of him Haereses quidem ipse comnemorat sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haereses non videntur Quest Answ. * Epist. 118. ad Ianuar. cap. 5. Ipsam acceptionem Eucharistiae caen●m Dominicam vocat Doct Vse * Spondanus Annal. Eccles. in anno 903. * Loco prius citato Vse Observ. Quest Answ. Doct Vse Quest Answ. * Moral lib. 30. cap. 28 ante medium Vse Object Answ. Doct. Doct. Reasons Vse 1. Doct. Reasons Vse Object Answ. 1. 2. Observ. Doct. Vse * Fox Martyrol page 594. Observ. Vse Quest Answ. 4. Observeables concerning Traditions lib. 3. contra Eunomium Clemens Rom. lib. 40. cap. 10 Apost. Constit * Lib. 4. Hist. cap. 8. Lib. 6. Hist. cap. 11. Observ. Quest Answ. 1. 2. Quest Answ. Reasons of the charge 1. 2. Quest Answ. 1 2. Quest Answ. Doct Rea 1. 2 Object Answ. 1. 2. 3. T. C. needlesse cavill Argum. 1 Answ. Argum. 2. Answ. Argum. 3. Answ. Doct. Rea 1. 2. Object 1. Answ. 1. Object 2. Answ. 2 Object 3. Answ. 3. * Eusebius lib. 1. Demonst. Evan. cap. 10. * Lib. 5. de Sacramentis cap. 4. Object 1. Answ. 1. Object 2. Answ. 2 Object 3. Answ. 3. * Loco prius citato Quest Answ. Doct Vse Observ. Quest Answ. Three-fold worthinesse 1 2. 3. Object Answ. Reasons of the necessity 1. 2. 3. Doct Vse 1. Vse 2. Quest Answ. Answ. 2. Rea 1. 2. Object Answ. Cambd. Brit. in Northumberland Vse 1. First kind of examples Vse of them Abuse of them Second sort Vse of them Abuse of them Third sort Vse of them Abuse of them Fourth sort Vse Abuse of them Fifth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Sixth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Seventh sort Vse of them Abuse of them Eighth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Ninth sort Object Answ. Rules how to unlove the world 1. 2. * Look Lord Bacon in his life * Munsters Cosmog de Germ. l. 3. pag. 143. Observ. 1. Observ. 2. Vse Observ. 3. Quest Answ. Doct Rea. Rea. 2. * Lib. 30. Marat ca. 28. ante medium Rea. 3. Mot. 1. Mot. 2. Mot 3. Observ. 1. Obser. 2. Quest Answ. 1. Doct. Object Answ. 1. Observ. Observ. Vse Vse Doct. Object Answ. Tacitus Doct. Misch. 1. Misch. 2. Misch. 3. Misch. 4. Remedy 1. Remedy 2.