that rightly understandeth the Tenets of the Romish Church but will easily grant if he shall duly consider what a masse of humane Traditions both in point of belief and worship are imposed upon the judgments and consciences of all that may be suffered to live in the visible Communion of that Church and that with opinion of necessity and under paine of damnation The Popes Supremacy Worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints and Angels the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass Purgatory the seven Sacraments Transubstantiation Adoration of the host Communion under one kind Private Masses forbidaing Priests Mariage Monastical Vowes Prayer in an unknown tongue Auricular Confession All these and I know not how many more are such as even by the confession of their own learned Writers depend upon unwritten Traditions more than upon the Scriptures True it is that for most of these they pretend to Scripture also but with so little colour at the best and with so little confidence at the last that when they are hard put to it they are forced to fly from that hold and to shelter themselves under their great Diana Tradition Take away that it is confessed that many of the chiefe Arcicles of their Faith nutare vacillare videbuntur will seem even to totter and reel and have much adoe to keep up For what else could we imagine should make them strive so much to debase the Scripture all they can denying it to be a Rule of Faith and charging it with imperfection obscurity uncertainty and many other defects and on the otherside to magnifie Traditions as every way more absolute but meerly their consciousness that sundry of their doctrines if they should be examined to the bottome would apeare to have no sound foundation in the Written Word And then must needs wee conclude from what hath been allready delivered that they ought to be received or rather not to be received but rejected as the Doctrines and Commandments of men Nor will their flying to Tradition help them in this case or free them from Pharisaisme but rather make the more against them For to omit that it hath been the usual course of false teachers when their Doctrines were found not to be Scripture-proofe to fly to Tradition do but enquire a little into the Original and growth of Pharisaical Traditions and you shall find that one egge is not more like another than the Papists and the Pharisees are alike in this matter When Saduc or whosoever els was the first Author of the Sect of the Sadduces and his followers began to vent their pestilent and Atheistical Doctrines against the immortality of the Soule the resurrection of the Body and other like the best Learned among the Jewes the Pharisees especially opposed against them by arguments and collections drawn from the Scriptures The Saduces finding themselves unable to hold argument with them as having two shrewd disadvantages but a little Learning and a bad cause had no other means to avoid the force of all their arguments than to hold them precisely to the letter of the Text without admitting any exposition thereof or collection therefrom Unlesse they could bring clear Text that should affirme totidem verbis what they denied they would not yeild The Pharisees on the contrary refused as they had good cause to be tyed to such unreasonable conditions but stood upon the meaning of the Scriptures as the Sadduces did upon the letter confirming the truth of their interpretations partly from Reason and partly from Tradition Not meaning by Tradition as yet any doctrine other than what was allready sufficiently conteined in the Scriptures but meerly the Doctrine which had been in all ages constantly taught and received with an Vniversal consent among the People of God as consonant to the holy Scriptures and grounded thereon By this means though they could not satisfie the Sadduces as Heretikes and Sectaries commonly are obstinate yet so farre they satisfied the generality of the people that they grew into very great esteem with them and within a while carryed all before them the detestation of the Sadduces and of their loose errors also conducing not a little thereunto And who now but the Pharisees and what now but Tradition in every mans eye and mouth Things being at this passe any wise man may judge how easy a matter it was for men so reverenced as the Pharisees were to abuse the credulity of the people and the interess they had in their good opinion to their own advantage to make themselves Lords of the peoples faith and by little and little to bring into the VVorship whatsoever doctrines and observances they pleased and all under the acceptable name of the Traditions of the Elders And so they did winning continually upon the people by their cunning and shewes of Religion and proceeding still more and more till the Jewish Worship by their means was grown to that height of superstition and formality as we see it was in our Saviours dayes Such was the beginning and such the rise of these Pharisaical Traditions Popish Traditions also both came in and grew up just after the same manner The Orthodox Bishops and Doctors in the antient Church being to maintain the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the Consubstantiality of the Sonne with the Father the Hypostatical Union of the two Natures in the person of Christ the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and other like Articles of the Catholike Religion against the Arians Eunomians Macedonians and other Heretikes for that the words Trinity Homoüsion Hypostasis Procession c. which for the better expressing of the Catholike sense they were forced to use were not expressely to be found in the holy Scriptures had recourse therefore very often in their writings against the Heretikes of their times to the Tradition of the Church Whereby they meant not as the Papists would now wrest their words any unwritten doctrine not conteined in the Scriptures but the very doctrine of the Scriptures themselves as they had been constantly understood and believed by all faithfull Christians in the Catholike Church down from the Apostles times till the several present ages wherein they lived This course of theirs of so serviceable and necessary use in those times gave the first occasion and after-rise to that heap of Errors and Superstitions which in processe of time by the power and policy of the Bishop of Rome especially were introduced into the Christian Church under the specious name and colour of Catholike Traditions Thus have they troden in the steps of their forefathers the Pharisees and stand guilty even as they of the Superstition here condemned by our Saviour in teaching for doctrines mens Precepts But if the Church of Rome be cast how shall the Church of England be quit That symbolizeth so much with her in many of hir Ceremonies and otherwise What are all our crossings and kneelings and duckings What Surplice and Ring and all
Imprimatur IO. FELL Vicecan Univ. OXON Aug. 9. An. 1669. AD CLERUM A SERMON Preached at a VISITATION holden at GRANTHAM In the COUNTY and DIOCESS of Lincolne 8. Octob. 1641. By a late Learned PRELATE Now Published by his own Copy Sirac 3. 24. For many are deceived by their own vaine opinion and an evil suspicion hath overthrown their Judgment OXFORD Printed by H. Hall Printer to the UNIVERSITY for Ric. Davis 1670. MATTH 15. 9. But in vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men 1. OUr Saviour sometimes forewarneth his Disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees Which leaven as he expoundeth himself and he best knew his own meaning was of two sorts the leaven of hypocrisie Luk. 12. and the leaven of corrupt and superstitious doctrine Matth. 16 Wee read 1 Cor. 5. of a third sort and that is the leaven of maliciousness which also usually accompanieth the other two Where any of the three are in abundance but especially where they all meet and abound as in these Pharisees it is impossible by any care or cunning so to keep them hidden as not to bewray themselves upon occasion to an observing eye As you know it is the nature of leaven though it be hidden never so deep in a heap of meale to work up to the top so that a man may certeinly know by the effects and be able to say that there it is In the storie of this present Chapter the Pharisees discover all the three Malice Hypocrisie and Superstition Their Malice against Christ although it appeared sufficiently in this that their quarrelling his Disciples for eating with unwashen hands was with the intent to bring an odium upon him for not instructing them better yet he passeth it by without taking any special notice thereof It may be for that his own person was chiefly concerned in it But then the other two their Hypocrisie and Superstition in rejecting the Commandments of God for the setting up of their own Traditions because they trencht so neer and deep upon the honour of God his heavenly Father he neither would nor could dissemble But themselves having given him the occasion by asking him the first question Why doe thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders he turneth the point of their own weapon full upon them again as it were by way of recrimination not without some sharpness do you blame them for that But why then do you your selves also transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition which is a farre greater matter That is their Charge vers 3. Which having made good by one instance taken from the fift Commandment more he might have brought but it needed not this one being so notorious and so convincing he thenceforth doubteth not to call them Hypocrites to their faces and to apply to them a passage out of the Prophet Esaias very pat to his purpose Wherein the Prophet charged the people of those times with the very same crimes both of them whereof these Pharisees are presently appealed to wit Hypocrisie and Superstition Hypocrisie in their Worship and superstition in the Doctrine The Leaven whereof by how much more it swelled them in their own and the common opinion making them to be highly esteemed among men for their outward preciseness and semblances of holyness by so much the more it sowred them towards Almighty God rendring the whole lump of their so strict Religion abominable in his sight So true is that of our Saviour Luk. 16. That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God Their Hypocrisie he putteth home to them in the Verses before the Text Ye Hypocrites well did Esatas prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me That done he forgetteth not to remember them of their Superstition too continuing his allegation out of the Prophet still in the words of my Text But in vaine do they wohship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men This later verse I have chosen to entreat of alone at this time For although Hypocrisie and corrupt teaching do often go together as in those Jewes whom the Prophet long before reproved and in these Pharisees whom our Saviour here reproveth yet have I purposely severed this verse from the former in the handling moved thereunto out of a double consideration First because Hypocrisie lurking more within we are not able to pronounce of it with such certainty neither if we were have we indeed any good warrant so to doe as we may of unsound Doctrines which lye more open to the view and are allowed to our examination Secondly and especially because hundreds of those my brethren whom I cannot in reason excuse from symbolizing with the Pharisees in teaching for doctrines the commandments of men which is the fault reproved in this verse I cannot yet in charitie and in my own thoughts but acquit from partaking with them in the measure at least of that their foul hypocrisie wherewith they stand charged in the former Verses The Words themselves being one entire proposition to stand upon the curious dividing of them would be a matter of more ostentation than use And the truth thereof also when the meaning is once layd open will be so evident that I shall presume of your assent without spending much time in the proof The main of our business then upon the Text at this time must be Explication Application and Use First the Explication of the Words then the Application of the Matter and lastly some Corollaries inferred there from for our Use Which for your better understanding and remembrance I shall endeavour to do as plainly and orderly as I can As for the Words first There are three things in them that desire Explication First what is meant by the commandements of men secondly what it is to teach such Commandements for doctrines thirdly how and in what respect they that teach such doctrines may be said to worship God in vain For the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Commandment properly and strictly taken is an affirmative precept requiring something to be done the contrary whereof is a Prohibition or negative precept forbidding the doing of something But in the Holy Scriptures as in our common speech also the word is usually so extended as to comprehend both Prohibitions also as well as Commandements properly so called The reason whereof is because Affirmatives and Negatives do for the most part mutually include and infer the one the other As in the present case it is all one whether the Pharisees should command men to wash before meat or forbid them to eat before they had washed We call the whole Decalogue the ten Commandements though there be Negative Precepts there as well as Affirmative yea more Negative than Affirmative And those
Negatives Touch not Tast not Handle not are called the Commandements of men Col. 2. 22. Which place I note the rather because the appellation here used and cited out of Esai 29. according to the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not found any where else in the whole Testament besides in the relation of this storie save in that one place onely By the analogy of which places in as much as there is mention made in them all as well of Doctrines as of Commandements and that in some of them with the Conjunction Copulative between them we are warranted to bring within the extent of this word according to the general intention and scope of our Saviour in this place Doctrinals as well as Morals that is to say as well those that prescribe unto our Judgments what we are bound to believe or not to believe in matter of Opinion as those that prescribe unto our Consciences what we are bound to do or not to do in matter of Practice Although the special occasion whereupon our Saviour fell into this discourse against the Pharisees and the special instance whereby he convinceth them do withall shew that the Morals do more principally properly and directly fall under his particular intention and scope therein In the full extent of the word then all those prescriptions are to be taken for the Commandements of men wherein any thing is by humane Authority either injoyned or forbidden to be believed or done especially to be done which God in his Holy Word hath not so enjoyned or forbidden Jonadab's command to the Rechabites that they should not drink Wine they nor their sons for ever and the Pharisees tradition here that none should eat with unwashen hands were both the commandements of men This is clear enough yea and good enough hitherto if there were no more in it but so For you must observe or else you quite mistake the Text and the whole drift of it that it is no part of our Saviours meaning absolutely and wholly to condemne all the Commandements of men For that were to cut the sinews of all Government and Order and to overturn Churches Kingdoms Corporations Families and all other both greater and lesser Societies of men none of all which can be upheld without some posttive Laws and Sanctions of mans devising We do not therefore find that either Jonadab was blamed for commanding the Rechabites not to drink wine or that they were blamed for observing his commandement therein But rather on the contrary that God well approved both of him and them yea and rewarded them for their obedience unto that command though it were a command but of mans devising and had no more than a bare humane Authority to warrant it And therefore those men are very wide that vouch this Text against the Ecclesiastical Constitutions or Ceremonies with such confidence as if they were able with this one Engine to take them all off at a blow not considering that it is not barely the Commandments of men either materially or formally taken that is to say neither the things commanded by men nor yet mens commanding of them but it is the teaching of such Commandments for Doctoines that our Saviour here condemneth the Pharisees for What that is therefore we are next to enquire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men In the 29. of Esaie the substantives have a Conjunction copulative between them in the Septuagint and they are read in the very same manner and order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by St. Paul alluding thereunto in Col. 2. But in the Greek Text in all Copies extant both here and in Mark 7. where the same Historie is related they are put without the Conjunction by Apposition as the Grammarians call it The meaning is the same in both readings onely this latter way it appeareth better and it is in effect this Whosoever shall endeavour to impose upon the judgments of men in credendis or in point of faith any thing to be believed as a part of Gods holy truth or shall endeavour to impose upon the Consciences of men in agendis or in point of manners any thing to be observed as a part of Gods holy will which cannot be sufficiently evidenced so or so to be either by express testimonie of the written Word of God rightly understood and applied or by clear natural and necessary deduction therefrom according to the Laws of true Logical discourse is guilty more or lesse of that Superstition our Saviour here condemneth in the Pharisees of teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men And a fault it is of a large comprehension It taketh in all additions whatsoever that are made to that absolute and all sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners which God hath left unto his Church in his written Word In what kind soever they are whether in Opinion Worship Ordinance Injunction Prohibition Promise or otherwise From what cause soever they proceed whether from credulity ignorance education partiality hypocrisie misgoverned zeal time-serving or any other For what end soever they may be done whether those ends be in truth intended or but in shew pretended say it be the glory of God the reformation of abuses the preventing of mischiefs or inconveniences the avoiding of scandals the maintenance of Christian liberty the furtherance of piety or whatever else can be imagined If they have not a sufficient foundation in the sacred Text and yet shall be offered to be pressed upon our judgments or consciences in the name of God and as his Word they are to be held as chaffe fitter to be scattered before the wind or cast out to the dunghil than to be hoarded up in the Garners among the wheat alas what is the chaff to the wheat or as wood hay or stubble meeter to become fewel for the Oven or Hearth than to be coffered up in the treasurie among gold and silver and precious stones And he that bringeth any such doctrine with him let his piety or parts be otherwise what they can be should he in either of both or even in both match not onely the holy Apostles of Christ but the very blessed Angels in heaven yet should we rather defie him as a Traitor for setting Gods stamp upon his own Bullion than receive him as his faithful Embassadour and salute him with an Anathema sooner than bid him God speed Especially if the doctrine be apparently either false or ungrounded and yet positively and peremptorily delivered as if it were the undoubted word and will of God I may not now descend to particulars But thus much it will concern us all to know in the general That whosoever teacheth any thing either to be absolutely unlawful which God hath not forbidden in his word or to be absolutely necessary which God hath not required in his word he teacheth for doctrines the commandments of men and so far forth plaieth the
Pharisees part in burthening the consciences of Gods people with the superstitious fansies of his own brain But otherwise the enjoyning of something for a time which God hath not forbidden or the forbidding of something for a time which God hath not required by those that are endued with lawful Authority in any Ecclesiastical Political or Domestical Society so as the same be not done for conscience sake towards God or with any opinion of worship merit or operative holiness but meerly out of prudential considerations and for the reasons of order decency expedience or other like respects of conveniency and accommodation is a thing no waies justly chargeable with Pharisaisme superstition or to be cryed down and condemned under the name of will-worship nor doth it come within the compass of our Saviours reproof in this place If Jonadab had laid an obligation upon the consciences of the Rechabites not to drink wine by telling them that for conscience sake towards God they ought to abstain therefrom or if the Jewish Elders and Governors leaving the consciences of the people free had onely made a Law under some penalty for decency and cleanlinesse sake that no man should sit down to meat in publick with unwashen hands to my seeming had he then been guilty of this Pharisaical superstition and they free In brief then to conclude this Enquiry To lay an obligation either upon the judgments or consciences of men in point of opinion or practice which God hath not laid that and nothing but that is to teach for doctrines the commandments of men We have yet a third thing to be enquired of for the Explication of the words namely how and in what respect they that teach such doctrines may be said to worship God in vain The ambiguity of our English word Worship hath occasioned many Errors among Divines and mis-understandings of one anothers words and writings whereby the disputes and controversies about Worship are become of all other the most intricate and perplexed The Hebrews and the Greeks too have sundry words and those of distinct notions and significations which we in English for want of fitter expressions are faine to translate promiscuously by this one word Worship The Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word here used are all indifferently rendred worshipping Here according to the notion of the Greek word it properly signifieth the performance of some religious or devout act with an intention to honour God thereby Whereby it appeareth that these Pharisees placed a great part of their Religion in the observation of these Traditions of mens devising and flattered themselves with this conceit that they did God a great deale of honour in so doing and that therefore he could not choose but be marveilous well pleased with them for so doing By long accustoming themselves to which-like outward observances they had almost lost the vigor and soul of true Religion ' which consisteth in the inward reverence and devotion of the heart and had litle other left than the bare carcase or empty outside thereof and that also patcht and pieced up for the most part with the devises and inventions of men And this our Saviour now telleth them is VVorship in vain He saith so indeed but hath he any Text for it The place he citeth is in Esaie 29. 13. where the words according to the Original run but thus Their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men but that it is vain the Prophet doth not there say He doth not say it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those very words according to the Hebrew but the scope of the place importeth all that and more For God there threatneth to punish the people for such worship which he would not have done if he had been either pleased with it or honoured by it But the very word and all is so found even as our Saviour citeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint there which being the most common and received Translation in those dayes was therefore for the most part followed by Christ and his Apostles in their quotations especially where it swerved not very much in sense from the Original Now a thing is said to be done in vaine when it hath not that wished effect which the doer intended and expected Those Pharisees then intending by those superstitious will worships to honour God and hoping to please him therewithall when their expectations should be so far frustrated that God should all on the contrary profess himself dishonoured and displeased thereby it must needs be acknowledged that this their Will-worship was all in vain Certainly God will reject what himself hath forbidden and he hath forbidden and that both frequently and with the severest interminations all manner of VVill-worship of this kind and properly so called and all additions of men unto his holy Word In the several parts of the Text thus opened we may see the full meaning of the whole God will not approve of nor accept any VVit-worship or VVill-worship forged or devised by man with an opinion as if it were a necessary part of Gods service nor allow of any doctrine that tendeth to bind the Judgments or Consciences of his people further than he hath thought fit himself to bind them by the expresses of his Word He will when time serveth root out every plant which is not of his own planting And when the day is come which shall declare by a fiery trial every mans work of what sort it is the gold and silver and pretious stones shall abide the fire and the workman that built with such good stuff shall receive a blessed reward But he that buildeth wood or hay or stubble though by the great mercy of God he himself may passe through the fire and be saved with some difficulty so long as he holdeth fast the foundation which is Christ and his merits yet he shall suffer losse in his work however That shall be sure to burn and perish whatsoever becometh of him All that fear of God is but superstitious and vain that is taught by the Precepts and Commandments of men From the Explication of the Text hitherto I came now to the Application of it Wherein I doubt not by Gods help but to make clear to the judgment of any man that is not either uncapable through ignorance or fore-possessed with prejudice these three things First that the Papists are guilty of the Pharisaical superstition and Will-worship here condemned Secondly that the Church of England and hir regular and obedient children are not guilty of the same Thirdly that those Divines and others in the Church of England that so undutifully charge her therewithall are in truth themselves inexcusably guilty of that very crime whereof they unjustly accuse her First for the Papists That they are the right children and successors of the Pharisees no man
customs in matters wholly or in part Ecclesiastical partly concerning the use of sundry pastimes and recreations partly concerning sundry usages and customs in vita communi in things meerly Civil and not sacred or Ecclesiastical the particulars whereof would amount to many scores if not hundreds I shall present unto your view a dozen onely which I have selected from the rest of those that I have observed to have been most urged of late in Sermons and Pamphlets by which you may in part judge of the rest And they are these 1. First that the appointing of a set forme of Prayer or Liturgy to be used in the service of God is unlawful or Antichristian or that it is a straitning or limiting of the Holy Spirit of God 2. That it is not in the power of the Church to ordain any Rites or Ceremonies in the service of God which the people are bound to observe other than such as God hath commanded in his Word 3. That Rites and usages devised or abused either by Heathens or Idolaters may not be lawfully used by Christians in the service of God 4. That it is unlawful or superstitious to kneel at the holy Communion in the act of receiving the Sacrament 5. That Instrumental Musick may not be used in the service of God as well as Vocal 6. That Episcopacy is Antichristian or repugnant to the Word of God 7. That the Presbyterian discipline is the very Scepter of Christs Kingdom or the order appointed by Christ himself for the perpetual Government of his Church which ought of all particular Congregations to be inviolably observed unto the Worlds end 8. That it is simply unlawful for a Minister to be possessed of two Benefices 9. That Ecclesiastical persons may not meddle in secular affairs nor can with a good conscience exercise any Civil office or Jurisdiction although by humane authority Law or custome allowed them 10. That it is not lawful in preaching Gods word to recite sentences out of the Fathers much lesse from the writings of Heathen Writers 11. That the Election or consent of the people is of necessity required either to the ordeining of Ministers or to the appointing of them to their particular charges 12. Lastly which though I find not positively delivered in terminis nor is the danger thereof so generally observed as of sundry of the former yet for that I find it often touched upon in these late Treatises and conceive it to be an Errour of no lesse dangerous consequence than many of the former I thought meet not to omit it That the Examples of Christ and of his Apostles ought to be observed of all Christians as a perpetual Rule binding them to Conformity even as their Precepts doe unto Obedience 23. Concerning which Positions I do here in the face of this Congregation take God to witness who shall judge us all at the last day that I do verily believe and in my conscience am perswaded that all and every of them are the vaine and superstitious inventions of men wholy destitute of all sound warrant from the Written Word of God rightly understood and applied and till they shall be better proved ought to be so esteemed of every man that desireth to make Gods Holy Word the rule of his opinions and actions Many and great are the mischiefs otherwise that come to the Church and people of God by the teaching of these and other like groundless Positions As amongst others these three following First great scandal is hereby given to Atheists Papists Separatists and other the enimies of our Religion especially to the Papists who will not onely take occasion thence to speak evil of us and of the way of truth and holiness which wee profess but will be themselves also the more confirmed in their own wicked errors by objecting to us that since we left them we cannot tell where to stay Secondly many sober and godly men both Ministers and others who cheerfully submit to the established Lawes and Government as they take themselves by the Law of God bound to doe in things which they believe not to be repugnant to his Word are by this means unworthily exposed to contempt and miscensure as if they were time-servers or inclined to Popery or Superstition at the least But if they shall farther endeavour in their Sermons or otherwise to shew their just dislike and to hinder the growth of these unlawful impositions and to hold the people in their good beliefe by instructing them better they shall be sure to be forthwith branded as opposers of the Gospel As if there were such a spirit of Infallibility annexed to some mens Pulpits as some have said there is to the Popes Chaire that whatsoever they shall deliver thence must needs be Gospel Thirdly hereby many an honest-hearted and well-meaning Christian is wonderfully abused by being mis-led into Error Superstition and Disobedience by having his conscience brought into bondage in those things whereunto it was the good pleasure of God to leave him free and by being disposed to much uncharitablenesse in judging evil of his brother that hath given him no just cause so to doe Besides these and sundry other mischiefs of dangerous consequence too long now to repeat the thing that I am presently to affirme concerning all and every of the positions aforesaid and other like them pertinently to the Text and business in hand is this That whosoever shall doctrinally and positively teath any of the same doth ipso facto become guilty of the Superstition here condemned by our Saviour and so farre forth symbolizeth with the Pharisees in teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And I doubt not but there are in the Church of England sundry learned iudicious and Orthodox Divines no way suspected of favouring Popery or Popish Innovations that by Gods help and the advantage of Truth will be ready to maintaine what I now affirme in a fair Christian and Scholar-like trial against whosoever are otherwise minded whensoever by authority they shall be thereunto required I have now finished what I had to say from this Scripture by way of Application From the whole premisses would arise sundry Inferences as Corollaries and by way of Use In the prosecution whereof had we time for it I should have occasion to fall upon some things that might be of right good use for the setling of mens judgments and consciences in a way of Truth and Peace And truely my aime lay chiefly here when my thoughts fixt upon this Text. But having enlarged my self so far beyond my first purpose allready I shall onely give you a short touch of each of them and it may be hereafter as I shall see cause and as God shall dispose I may take some other occasion here or elswhere to enlarge them further The first should be an earnest request to such of my Brethren as through inconsideration zeale against Popery or profanenesse or any other cause have been a little