a place of continual servile toil could not suddenly be wained and drawn unto contrary offices without some strong impression of terror and also for that there is nothing more needful then to punish with extremity the first transgressions of those Laws that require a more exact observation for many ages to come therefore as the Jews superstitiously addicted to their Sabbaths rest for a long time not without danger to themselves and obloquy to their very Law did afterwards perceive and amend wisely their former Error not doubting that bodily labors are made by accessity venial though otherwise especially on that day rest be more convenient So at all times the voluntary scandalous contempt of that rest from labor wherewith publiclkly God is served we cannot too severely correct and bridle The Emperor Constantine having with over-great facility licenced Sundays labor in Country Villages under that pretence whereof there may justly no doubt sometime consideration be had namely left any thing which God by his providence hath bestowed should miscarry not being taken in due time Leo which afterwards saw that this ground would not bear so general and large indulgence as had been granted doth by a contrary Edict both reverse and severely censure his Predecessors remissness saying We ordain according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed That on the Sacred day wherein our own integrity was restored all do rest and surcease labor That neither Husband-man nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden works For if the Iews did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shaddow of ours are not we which inhabit the Light and Truth of Grace bound to honor that day which the Lord himself hath honored and hath therein delivered us both from dishonor and from death Are we not bound to keep it singular and inviolble well contenting our selves with so liberal a grant of the rest and not incroaching upon that one day which God hath chosen to his own honor Were it not wretchless neglect of Religion to make that very day common and to think we may do with it as with the rest Imperial Laws which had such care of hallowing especially our Lords day did not omit to provide that other Festival times might be kept with vacation from labor whether they were days appointed on the sudden as extraordinary occasions fell out or days which were celebrated yearly for Politick and Civil considerations or finally such days as Christian Religion hath ordained in Gods Church The joy that setteth aside labor disperseth those things which labor gathereth For gladness doth always rise from a kinde of fruition and happiness which happiness banisheth the cogitation of all want it needeth nothing but onely the bestowing of that it hath in as much as the greatest felicity that felicity hath is to spred and enlarge it self it cometh hereby to pass that the first effect of joyfulness is to rest because it seeketh no more the next because it aboundeth to give The Root of both is the glorious presence of that joy of minde which riseth from the manifold considerations of Gods unspeakable Mercy into which considerations we are led by occasion of Sacred times For how could the Jewish Congregations of old be put in minde by their weekly Sabbaths what the World reaped through his goodness which did of nothing create the World by their yearly Passover what farewel they took of the Land of Egypt by their Pentecost what Ordinances Laws and Statutes their Fathers received at the hands of God by their Feast of Tabernacles with what protection they journeyed from place to place through so many fears and hazards during the tedious time of forty years travel in the Wildeness by their Annual solemnity of Lots how near the whole Seed of Israel was unto utter extirpation when it pleased that Great God which guideth all things in Heaven and Earth so to change the counsels and purposes of men that the same Hand which had signed a Decree in the opinion both of them that granted and of them that procured it irrevocable for the general massacre of Man Woman and Childe became the Buckler of their preservation that no one hair of their heads might be touched The same days which had been set for the pouring out of so much innocent blood were made the days of their execution whose malice had contrived the plot thereof and the self-same persons that should have endured whatsoever violence and rage could offer were employed in the just revenge of cruelty to give unto blood-thirsty men the taste of their own Cup or how can the Church of Christ now endure to be so much called on and preached unto by that which every Dominical day throughout the year that which year by year so many Festival times if not commanded by the Apostles themselves whose care at that time was of greater things yet instituted either by such Universal Authority as no Men or at the least such as we with no reason may despise do as sometime the holy Angels did from Heaven sing Glory be unto God on High Peace on Earth towards Men good Will for this in effect is the very Song that all Christian Feasts do apply as their several occasions require how should the days and times continually thus inculcate what God hath done and we refuse to agnize the benefit of such remembrances that very benefit which caused Moses to acknowledge those Guides of Day and Night the Sun and Moon which enlighten the World not more profitable to nature by giving all things life then they are to the Church of God by occasion of the use they have in regard of the appointed Festival times That which the head of all Philosophers hath said of Women If they be good the half of the Commonwealth is happy wherein they are the same we may fitly apply to times Well to celebrate these Religious and Sacred days is to spend the flower of our time happily They are the splendor and outward dignity of our Religion forcible Witnesses of Ancient Truth provocations to the Exercises of all Piety shaddows of our endless Felicity in Heaven on Earth Everlasting Records and Memorials wherein they which cannot be drawn to hearken unto that we teach may onely by looking upon that we do in a manner read whatsoever we believe 72. The matching of contrary things together is a kinde of illustration to both Having therefore spoken thus much of Festival Days the next that offer themselves to hand are days of Pensive Humiliation and Sorrow Fastings are either of mens own free and voluntary accord as their particular devotion doth move them thereunto or else they are publickly enjoyned in the Church and required at the hands of all men There are which altogether disallow not the former kinde and the latter they greatly commend so that it be upon extraordinary occasions onely and
and proclaim Gâ—matisaâ—aâ— which sign fieth a Prohibition or forbidding of ordinary works and is the same Hebrew word wherewith those Feasts days are noted in the Law wherein they should rest The reason of which Commandment of the Lord was that they abstained that day as much as might be conveniently from Meats so they might abstain from their daily works to the end they might bestow the whole day in hearing the Word of God and humbling themselves in the Congregation confessing their faults and desiring the Lord to turn away from his fierce wrath In this case the Church having Commandment to make a Holiday mâ—y and ought to do it as the Church which was in Babylon did during the time of their Captivity but where it is destitute of a Commandment it may not presume by any Decree to restrain that liberty which the Lord hath given Joâ—l 12. 15. Exod. 13 3. Esib. 9. T. C. lib. 3. pag 193. The example out of Esther is no sufficient warrant for these Feasts n question For first as in other cases so in this case of days the estate of Christians under the Gospel ought not to be so ceremonious as was theirs under the Law Secondly That which was done there was done by a special direction of the Spirit of God either through the ministry of the Prophets whâ—ch they had or by some other extraordinary means which is not to be followed by us This may appear by another place Zaâ—h 8. where the Jews changed their Fasts into Feasts onely by the mouth of the Lord through the ministry of the Prophet For further prâ—ol whereof first I take the â—â— Verse where it appeareth that this was an order to enâ—ure always even as long as the other Feast days which were instituted by the Lord himself So that what abuses soever were of that Feast yet as a perpetual Decree of God it ought to have remained whereas our Churches can make no such Decree which may not upon change of times and at her circumstances be altered For the other proof hereof I take the last Verse For the Prophet contenteth not himself with that that he had rehearsed the Decree as he doth sometimes the Decree of propane Kings but oditeth precisely that as soon as ever the Decree was made it was Registred in this Book of Esther which is one of the Bâ—oks of Canonical Scripture declaring thereby in what esteem they had it If it had been of no further Authority then on Decree or then a Canon of one of the Councils it had been presumption to have brought it into the Library of the Holy Ghost The sum of my Answer is That this Decree was Divine and not Ecclesiastical onely 2 Mac. 15 34. â— Mac. 4. 55. a Commemoratio Apostolica passionis toâ—las Christianitatis magistra à cunctis jure celebratur Cod. l. 3 tiâ— 12 l.7 b T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. For so much as the old people did never keep any Feast or Holiday for remembrance either of Moses c. c T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. The people whâ—n it is called St. Pauls day or the Blessed Virgin Maries day can understand nothing thereby but that they are instituted to the honor of St. Paul or the Virgin Mary unless they be otherwise taught And if you say Let them to be taught I have answered That the teaching in this Land cannot by any other which is yet taken come to the most part of those which have drunk this poyson c. d Scilicet ignorant nos nec Christum unquam relinquere qui pro totius servandorum mundi saluâ—e passus est nec alium quempiam colere posse Nam hunc quidem tanquam Filium Dei a loramus Martyres verò tanquam Discipulos Imitatores Domini digne proptet insuperabilem in Regem ipsorum ac Praeceprorem benevolenuam diligismus quorum nos consories dicipulos fieri optamus Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 4. cap. 15. e T. C. lib. 1. pag. 153. As for all the Commodities c. f T. C. lib. 1. pag. 154. g T. C. lib. 1. pag. 154. We condemn not the Church of England neither in this nor in other things Which are meet to be Reformed For it is one thing to mislike another thing to condemn and it is one thing to condemn something in the Church and another thing to condemn the Church for it h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Clauâ—io dictum apud Dionys. lib. 50. Mark 2. 27. Numb 15.32 a Hi vacare consueti sunt seprima die neque aâ—ma portaâ—e in praedictis diebâ—s neque terrae culturam contingere neque alterius cujuspiam curam habere parluntur sed â—â— templis extendenâ—es manoâ— adorare usque ad vesperam solitisunt Ingrediente verb in civiâ—aâ—em Lagoâ—um â—um exerciâ— mulâ—is hominibus cum custodiâ—e dobueriâ—t civiâ—aâ—em ipsis â—â—â—titiam observantibus provinciâ— quidem dominum suscepit amarissimum Lex verò manifesâ—â—ta est malaâ—â— habere solennitatem Agathâ—râ—bid apuâ— Ioseph lib. 1. coâ—â—r Appiâ—â— Vide Dionys. lib. 37. b 1 Mac. 2.40 c Nehe. 13. 15. d Coâ— l. 3 â—â— 12 l.3 e Leo Constiâ— 54. f T. C. lib. 3. â—â— â—2 Dies sesâ—oâ— a Matth. 28.1 Mark 16.1 Luke 24.1 John 20.1 1 Cor. 16.2 Apoc. 1.10 b Apostolis prâ—â—csiâ—om suiâ— â—on uâ— beges de sestis diebus celebrâ—nd sancirent ied uâ—recte vivendi caâ—ioâ—â—â—â—â— pie 〈…〉 bis authores essent Socra Hill lib. cap. 23. c Quae toto tertarum or he servantur vel db ipsâ—s Apostolis vel Consilus gâ—neralibus quorum 〈…〉 rimain in Ecclesia authoritas â—â—â— stratuts est ntelligere liceâ—â— Sicuâ—â— quâ—d Domini Passio Resurrectio in Coelum Ascensus Adventus Spiritus Sancti anniversaria solemnitaâ—e celebrarenuâ— August Epist. 118. d Luk 2.14 Of Days appâ—inted as well for ordinary as for extraordinary Fasts in the Church of God T. C. lib. 1. pag. 30. I will not enter now to discuss whether it were well done to Fast iâ— aâ—l places according to the custom of the place You oppose Ambrose and Augustine I could oppose Ignatius and Tertullian whereof the one saith it is aefos a deâ—â—â—ble thing to Fast upon the Lords Day the other That it is to kill the Lord Tertulâ— the Coron il Ignatius Epist de Phillips And although Ambese and Augustine being private men at Rome would have so done yet it followeth not That if they had been Citizens and Ministers there that they would have done And if they had done so yet it followeth 〈…〉 but they would hase spoken against that appointment of days and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Fasting whereof Eusebius saith that Moâ—taâ—â—â— was the first Author I speak of that which they ought to have done For otherwise I know they both thought corruptly of Fastings when as the one saith It was a remedy or reward to Fast other days â— in 〈…〉 not in Fast was in and the others asketh What Salvation we
what went they out to see a Man Cloathed in Purple and fine Linen no indeed but an obscure harmless Man a Man in poor Clothes his Loynes usually girt in a course Gown or Canonical Coat of a mean Stature and stooping and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his Soul his body worn out not with Age but Study and Holy Mortifications his face full of Heat-Pimples begot by his unactivity and sedentary life And to this true Character of his Person let me add this of his Disposition and behaviour God and Nature blest him with so blessed a hashfulness that as in his younger days his Pupils might easily look him out of countenance so neither then nor in his Age did he ever willingly look any Man in the face and was of so mild and humble a Nature that his poor Parish Clark and he did never talk but with both their Hats on or both off at the same time and to this may be added that though he was not purblind yet he was short or weak-sighted and where be fixt his eyes at the beginning of his Sermon there they continued till it was ended and the Reader has a Liberty to believe that his Modesty and Dim sight were some of the reasons why he trusted Mistris Churchman to choose a Wife for him This Parish Clark lived till the third or fourth year of the late long Parliament betwixt which time and Mr. Hookers Death there had come many to see the place of his Burial and the Monument dedicated to his memory by Sir William Cooper who still lives and the poor Clark had many rewards for shewing Mr. Hookers Grave-place and his said Monument and did always hear Mr. Hooker mentioned with Commendations and Reverence to all which he added his own knowledge and observations of his Humility and Holiness in all which Discourses the poor man was still more confirm'd in his opinion of Mr. Hookers Vertues and Learning but it so fell out that about the said third or fourth year of the long Parliament the present Parson of Borne was Sequestred you may guess why and a Genevian Minister put into his good living This and other like Sequestrations made the Clerk express himself in a wonder and say They had Sequestred so many good Men that he doubted if his good Master Mr. Hooker had lived till now they would have Sequestred him too It was not long before this intruding Minister had made a party in and about the said Parish that were desirous to receive the Sacrament as in Geneva to which end the day was appointed for a Select Company and Forms and Stools set about the Altar or Communion Table for them to sit and eat and drink but when they went about this work there was a want of some Joynd-stools which the Minister sent the Clerk to fetch and then to fetch Cushions When the Clerk saw them begin to sit down he began to wonder but the Minister bade him cease wondering and lock the Church door To whom he replied Pray take you the Keys and lock me out I will never come more into this Church for all men will say my Master Hooker was a good Man and a good Scholar and I am sure it was not used to be thus in his days And report says The old man went presently home and died I do not say died immediately but within a few days after But let us leave this grateful Clerk in his quiet Grave and return to Mr. Hooker himself continuing our observations of his Christian behavior in this place where he gave a holy Valediction to all the pleasures and allurements of Earth possessing his Soul in a vertuous quietness which he maintained by constant Study Prayers and Meditations His use was to Preach once every Sunday and he or his Curate to Catechize after the Second Lesson in the Evening Prayer His Sermons were neither long nor earnest but uttered with a grave Zeal and an humble Voice His Eyes always fixt on one place to prevent his imagination from wandring insomuch that he seem'd to Study as he spake the design of his Sermons as indeed of all his Discourses was to shew Reasons for what he spake And with these Reasons such a kinde of Rhetorick as did rather convince and perswade then frighten men into Piety Studying not so much for matter which he never wanted as for apt illustrations to inform and teach his unlearned hearers by familiar examples and then make them better by convincing Applications never laboring by hard words and then by needless distinctions and subdistinctions to amuse his hearers and get glory to himself But glory onely to God Which intention he would often say was as discernable in a Preacher as an Artificial from a Natural Beauty He never failed the Sunday before every Ember week to give notice of it to his Parishioners perswading them both to fast and then to double their Devotions for a Learned and Pious Clergy but especially for the last saying often That the life of a pious Clergy-man was visible Rhetorick and so convincing That the most godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present Lusts did get secretly wish themselves like those of the strictest lives And to what he perswaded others he added his own example of Fasting and Prayer and did usually every Ember week take from the Parish Clerk the Key of the Church door into which place he retired every day and lockt himself up for many hours and did the like most Fridays and other days of Fasting He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession perswading all both rich and poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his Perambulation and most did so In which Perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse then at other times and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembred against the next year especially by the boys and young people still inclining them and all his present Parishioners to meekness and mutual kindnesses and love because Love thinks not evil but covers a multitude of infirmities He was diligent to enquire who of his Parish were sick or any way distressed and would often visit them unsent for supposing that the fittest time to discover those Errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them And having by pious Reasons and Prayers molded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthning of those holy Resolutions and as a Seal betwixt God and them of his mercies to their Souls in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful and charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Law-sutes still urging his Parishioners and Neighbors to bear with each others
whereof whoso tasteth shall thirst no more As the Will doth now work upon that object by desire which is as it were a motion towards the end as yet unobtained so likewise upon the same hereafter received it shall work also by love Appetitus inhiantis fit amor fruentis saith St. Augustine The longing disposition of them that thirst is changed into the sweet affection of them that taste and are replenished Whereas we now love the thing that is good but good especially in respect of benefit unto us we shall then love the thing that is good onely or principally for the goodness of beauty in it self The Soul being in this sort as it is Active perfected by love of that infinite good shall as it is Receptive be also perfected with those Supernatural Passions of Joy Peace and Delight All this endless and Everlasting Which Perpetuity in regard whereof our Blessedness is termed A Crown which withereth not doth neither depend upon the nature of the thing it self nor proceed from any natural necessity that our Souls should so exercise themselves for ever in beholding and loving God but from the Will of God which doth both freely perfect our nature in so high a degree and continue it so perfected Under Man no Creature in the World is capable of felicity and bliss First because their chiefest Perfection consisteth in that which is best for them but not in that which is simply best as ours doth Secondly because whatsoever External Perfection they tend unto it is not better then themselves as ours is How just occasion have we therefore even in this respect with the Prophet to admire the goodness of God Lord what is man that thou shouldst exalt him above the works of thy hands so far as to make thy self the Inheritance of his Rest and the Substance of his Felicity Now if men had not naturally this desire to be happy how were it possible that all men should have it All men have Therefore this desire in Man is natural It is not in our power not to do the same how should it then be in our power to do it coldly or remisly So that our desire being natural is also in that degree of earnestness whereunto nothing can be added And is it probable that God should frame the hearts of all men so desirous of that which no man may obtain It is an Axiom of Nature that natural desire cannot utterly be frustrate This desire of ours being natural should be frustrate if that which may satisfie the same were a thing impossible for Man to aspire unto Man doth seek a tripple Perfection first a sensual consisting in those things which very life it self requireth either as necessary Supplements or as Beauties and Ornaments thereof then an Intellectual consisting in those things which none underneath Man is either capable of or acquainted with lastly a Spiritual and Divine consisting in those things whereunto we tend by supernatural means here but cannot here attain unto them They that make the first of these three the scope of their whole life are said by the Apostle to have no God but onely their Belly to be earthly-minded men Unto the second they bend themselves who seek especially to excel in all such Knowledge and Vertue as doth most commend Men. To this branch belongeth the Law of Moral and Civil Perfection That there is somewhat higher then either of these two no other proof doth need then the very Process of Mans desire which being natural should be frustrate if there were not some farther thing wherein it might rest at the length concented which in the former it cannot do For Man doth not seem to rest satisfied either with fruition of that wherewith his life is preserved or with performance of such actions as advance him most deservedly in estimation but doth further covet yea oftentimes manifestly pursue with great sedulity and earnestness that which cannot stand him in any stead for vital use that which exceedeth the reach of Sense yea somewhat above capacity of Reason somewhat Divine and Heavenly which with hidden exultation it rather surmiseth then conceiveth somewhat it seeketh and what that is directly it knoweth not yet very intentive desire thereof doth so incite it that all other known delights and pleasures are laid aside they give place to the search of this but onely suspected desire If the Soul of Man did serve onely to give him Being in this life then things appertaining unto this life would content him as we see they do other Creatures which Creatures enjoying what they live by seek no further but in his contentation do shew a kinde of acknowledgment that there is no higher good which doth any way belong unto them With us it is otherwise For although the Beauties Riches Honors Sciences Vertues and Perfections of all Men living were in the present possession of one yet somewhat beyond and above all this there would still be sought and earnestly thirsted for So that Nature even in this life doth plainly claim and call for a more Divine Perfection then either of these two that have been mentioned This last and highest estate of Perfection whereof we speak is received of Men in the nature of a Reward Rewards do always presuppose such duties performed as are rewardable Our natural means therefore unto Blessedness are our works nor is it possible that Nature should ever finde any other way to Salvation then onely this But examine the works which we do and since the first Foundation of the World what one can say My ways are pure Seeing then all flesh is guilty of that for which God hath threatned eternally to punish what possibility is there this way to be saved There resteth therefore either no way unto Salvation or if any then surely a way which is Supernatural a way which could never have entred into the heart of man as much as once to conceive or imagine if God himself had not revealed it extraordinarily For which cause we term it the Mystery or Secret way of Salvation And therefore St. Ambrose in this matter appealeth justly from Man to God Caeli mysterium doceat me Deus qui condidit non homo qui seipsum ignoravit Let God himself that made me let not Man that knows not himself be my instructer concerning the Mystical Way to Heaven When Men of excellent wit saith Lactantius had wholly betaken themselves unto study after farewel bidden unto all kinde as well of private as publick Action they spared no labor that might be spent in the search of Truth holding it a thing of much more price to seek and to finde out the reason of all Affairs as well Divine as Humane then to stick fast in the toil of piling up Riches and gathering together heaps of Honors Howbeit they both did fail of their purpose and got not so much as to quit their charges because Truth which is the secret of
Councils or by secret approbation as in Customs it cometh to pass but the same may be taken away if occasion serve Even as we all know that many things generally kept heretofore are now in like sort generally unkept and abolished every where Nothwithstanding till such things be abolished what exception can there be taken against the judgment of St. Augustine who saith That of things harmless whatsoever there is which the whole Church doth observe throughout the World to argue for any mans immunity from observing the same it were a point of most insolent madness And surely odious it must needs have been for one Christian Church to abolish that which all had received and held for the space of many ages and that without any detriment unto Religion so manifest and so great as might in the eyes of unpartial men appear sufficient to clear them from all blame of rash and inconsiderate proceeding if in servor of zeal they had removed such things Whereas contrariwise so reasonable Moderation herein used hath freed us from being deservedly subject unto that bitter kinde of obloquy whereby as the Church of Rome doth under the colour of love towards those things which be harmless maintain extreamly most hurtful corruptions so we peradventure might be upbraided that under colour of hatred towards those things that are corrupt we are on the other side as extream even against most harmless Ordinances and as they are obstinate to retain that which no man of any conscience is able well to defend So we might be reckoned fierce and violent to tear away that which if our own mouths did condemn our consciences would storm and repine thereat The Romans having banished Tarquinius the Proud and taken a Solemn Oath that they never would permit any man more to reign could not herewith content themselves or think that Tyranny was throughly extinguished till they had driven one of their Consuls to depart the City against whom they found not in the world what to object saving onely that his name was Tarquine and that the Commonwealth could not seem to have recovered perfect freedom as long as a man of so dangerous a name was left remaining For the Church of England to have done the like in casting out Papal Tyranny and Superstition to have shewed greater willingness of accepting the very Ceremonies of the Turk Christs professed enemy then of the most indifferent things which the Church of Rome approveth To have left not so much as the names which the Church of Rome doth give unto things innocent To have ejected whatsoever that Church doth make account of be it never so harmless in it self and of never so ancient continuance without any other crime to charge it with then onely that it hath been the hap thereof to be used by the Church of Rome and not to be commanded in the Word of God This kinde of proceeding might happily have pleased some few men who having begun such a course themselves must needs be glad to see their example followed by us But the Almighty which giveth wisdom and inspireth with right understanding whomsoever it pleaseth him he foreseeing that which mans wit had never been able to reach unto namely what Tragedies the attempt of so extream alteration would raise in some parts of the Christian World did for the endless good of his Church as we cannot chuse but interpret it use the Bridle of his Provident restraining hand to stay those eager affections in some and to settle their resolution upon a course more calm and moderate lest as in other most ample and heretofore most flourishing Dominions it hath since faln out so likewise if in ours it had come to pass that the adverse part being enraged and betaking it self to such practices as men are commonly wont to embrace when they behold things brought to desperate extremities and no hope left to see any other end them onely the utter oppression and clean extinguishment of one side By this mean Christendom flaming in all parts of greatest importance at once they all had wanted that comfort of mutual relief whereby they are now for the time sustained and not the least by this our Church which they so much impeach till Mutual Combustions Bloodsheds and Wastes because no other enducements will serve may enforce them through very faintness after the experience of so endless miseries to enter on all sides at the length into some such consultation as may tend to the best re-establishment of the whole Church of Jesus Christ To the singular good whereof it cannot but serve as a profitable direction to teach men what is most likely to prove available when they shall quietly consider the tryal that hath been thus long had of both kindes of Reformation as well this moderate kinde which the Church of England hath taken as that other more extream and rigorous which certain Churches elswhere have better liked In the mean while it may be that suspence of judgment and exercise of Charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men then the hot pursuit of these Controversies wherein they that are more fervent to dispute be not always the most able to determine But who are on his side and who against him our Lord in his good time shall reveal And sith thus far we have proceeded in opening the things that have been done let not the principal doers themselves be forgotten When the ruines of the House of God that House which consisting of Religious Souls is most immediately the precious Temple of the Holy Ghost were become not in his sight alone but in the eyes of the whole World so exceeding great that very Superstition began even to feel it self too far grown the first that with us made way to repair the decays thereof by beheading Superstition was King Henry the Eighth the Son and Successor of which famous King as we know was Edward the Saint In whom for so by the event we may gather it pleased God Righteous and Just to let England see what a blessing sin and iniquity would not suffer it to enjoy Howbeit that which the Wiseman hath said concerning Enoch whose days were though many in respect of ours yet scarce as three to nine in comparison of theirs with whom he lived the same to that admirable childe most worthily may be applied Though he departed this world soon yet fulfilled be much time But what ensued That work which the one in such sort had begun and the other so far proceeded in was in short space so overthrown as if almost it had never been Till such time as that God whose property is to shew his mercies then greatest when they are nearest to be utterly despaired of caused in the depth of discomfort and darkness a most glorious Star to arise and on her head setled the Crown whom himself had kept as a Lamb from the slaughter of those bloody times that the experience of his goodness in her own deliverance might
descend to a more distinct explication of Particulars wherein those Rules have their special efficacy 11. Solemne Duties of Publick Service to be done unto God must have their places set and prepared in such sort as beseemeth actions of that regard Adam even during the space of his small continuance in Paradise had where to present himself before the Lord. Adam's Sons had out of Paradise in like sort whither to bring their Sacrifices The Patriarks used Altars and Mountains and Groves to the self-same purpose In the vast Wilderness when the People of God had themselves no settled Habitation yet a movable Tabernacle they were commanded of God to make The like Charge was given them against the time they should come to settle themselves in the Land which had been promised unto their Fathers Te shall seek that Place which the Lord your God shall chuse When God had chosen Ierusalem and in Ierusalem Mount Moriah there to have his standing Habitation made it was in the chiefest of Davids desires to have performed so good a work His grief was no less that he could not have the honour to builde God a Temple than their anger is at this day who bite asunder their own tongues with very wrath that they have not as yet the Power to pull down the Temples which they never built and to level them with the ground It was no mean thing which he purposed To perform a work so majestical and stately was no small Charge Therefore he incited all men unto bountiful Contribution and procured towards it with all his Power Gold Silver Brass Iron Wood Precious Stones in great abundance Yea moreover Because I have saith David a joy in the House of my God I have of my own Gold and Silver besides all that I have prepared for the House of the Sanctuary given to the House of my God three thousand Talents of Gold even the Gold of Ophir seven thousand Talents of fined Silver After the overthrow of this first House of God a second was instead thereof erected but with so great odds that they went which had seen the former and beheld how much this later came behinde it the beauty whereof notwithstanding was such that even This was also the wonder of the whole World Besides which Temple there were both in other parts of the Land and even in Ierusalem by process of time no small number of Synagogues for men to resort unto Our Saviour himself and after him the Apostles frequented both the one and the other The Church of Christ which was in Ierusalem and held that Profession which had not the Publick allowance and countenance of Authority could not so long use the exercise of Christian Religion but in private only So that as Jews they had access to the Temple and Synagogues where God was served after the Custom of the Law but for that which they did as Christians they were of necessity forced other where to assemble themselves And as God gave increase to his Church they sought out both there and abroad for that purpose not the fittest for so the times would not suffer them to do but the safest places they could In process of time some whileâ— by sufferance some whiles by special leave and favour they began to erect to themselves Oratories not in any sumptuous or stately manner which neither was possible by reason of the poor estate of the Church and had been perilous in regard of the World's envy towards them At length when it pleased God to raise up Kings and Emperours favouring sincerely the Christian Truth that which the Church before either could not or durst not do was with all alacrity performed Temples were in all Places erected No cost was spared nothing judged too dear which that way should be spent The whole World did seem to exult that it had occasion of pouring out Gifts to so blessed a purpose That chearful Devotion which David this way did exceedingly delight to behold and wish that the same in the Jewish People might be perpetual was then in Christian People every where to be seen Their Actions till this day always accustomed to be spoken of with great honour are now called openly into question They and as many as have been followers of their Example in That thing we especially that worship God either in Temples which their hands made or which other men sithence have framed by the like pattern are in that respect charged no less then with the sin of Idolatry Our Churches in the foam of that good spirit which directeth such fiery tongues they term spitefully the Temples of Baal idle Synagogues abominable Styes 12. Wherein the first thing which moveth them thus to cast up their poysons are certain Solemnities usual at the first erection of Churches Now although the same should be blame-worthy yet this Age thanks be to God hath reasonably well for-born to incurr the danger of any such blame It cannot be laid unto many mens charge at this day living either that they have been so curious as to trouble the Bishops with placing the first Stone in the Churches they built or so scrupulous as after the erection of them to make any great ado for their Dedication In which kind notwithstanding as we do neither allow unmeet nor purpose the stiff defence of any unnecessary Custom heretofore received so we know no reason wherefore Churches should be the worse if at the first erecting of them at the making of them publick at the time when they are delivered as it were into God's own possession and when the use whereunto they shall ever serve is established Ceremonies sit to betoken such intents and to accompany such Actions be usual as in the purest times they have been When Constantine had finished an House for the Service of God at Ierusalem the Dedication he judged a matter not unworthy about the solemn performance whereof the greatest part of the Bishops in Christendom should meet together Which thing they did at the Emperors motion each most willingly setting forth that Action to their power some with Orations some with Sermons some with the sacrifice of Prayers unto God for the peace of the World for the Churches safety for the Emperour 's and his Childrens good By Athanasius the like is recorded concerning a Bishop of Alexandria in a work of the like devout magnificence So that whether Emperours or Bishops in those days were Church-founders the solemn Dedication of Churches they thought not to be a work in it self either vain or superstitious Can we judge it a thing seemly for any man to go about the building of an House to the God of Heaven with no other appearance than if his end were to rear up a Kitchen or Parlour for his own use Or when a work of such nature is finished remaineth there nothing but presently to use it and so an
may be in things that rest and are never moved Besides we may also consider in Rest both that which is past and that which is present and that which is future yea farther even length and shortness in every of these although we never had conceit of Motion But to define without Motion how long or how short such Continuance is were impossible So that herein we must of necessity use the benefit of Years Days Hours Minutes which all grow from Celestial Motion Again for as much as that Motion is Circular whereby we make our Divisions of Time and the Compass of that Circuit such that the Heavens which are therein continually moved and keep in their Motions uniform Celerity must needs touch often the same points they cannot chuse but bring unto us by equal distances frequent returns of the same times Furthermore whereas Time is nothing but the meer quantity of that Continuance which all things have that are not as God is without beginning that which is proper unto all quantities agreeth also to this kinde so that Time doth but measure other things and neither worketh in them any real effect nor is it self ever capable of any And therefore when commonly we use to say That Time doth eat or fret out all things that Time is the wisest thing in the World because it bringeth forth all Knowledge and that nothing is more foolish then Time which never holdeth any thing long but whatsoever one day learneth the same another day forgetteth again that some men see prosperous and happy days and that some mens days are miserable In all these and the like speeches that which is uttered of the Time is not verified of Time it self but agreeth unto those things which are in Time and do by means of so near conjunction either lay their burden upon the back or set their Crown upon the Head of Time Yea the very opportunities which we ascribe to Time do in truth cleave to the things themselves wherewith Time is joyned As for Time it neither causeth things nor opportunities of things although it comprize and contain both All things whatsoever having their time the Works of God have always that time which is seasonablest and fittest for them His Works are some ordinary some more rare all worthy of observation but not all of like necessity to be often remembred they all have their times but they all do not adde the same estimation and glory to the times wherein they are For as God by being every where yet doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness so neither one and the same dignity to all times by working in all For it all either places or times were in respect of God alike wherefore was it said unto Moses by particular designation That very place wherein thou standest is holy ground Why doth the Prophet David chuse out of all the days of the year but one whereof he speaketh by way of principal admiration This is the day the Lord hath made No doubt as Gods extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places so they are his extraordinary works that have truly and worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought to be with all men that honor God more holy then other days The Wise man therefore compareth herein not unfitly the times of God with the persons of men If any should ask how it cometh to pass that one day doth excel another seeing the light of all the days in the year proceedeth from one Sun to this he answereth That the knowledge of the Lord hath parted them asunder he hath by them disposed the times and solemn Feasts some he hath chosen out and sanctified some he hath put among the days to number Even as Adam and all other men are of one substance all created of the Earth But the Lord hath divided them by great knowledge and made their ways divers some he hath blessed and exalted some he hath sanctified and appropriated unto himself some he hath cursed humbled and put them out of their dignity So that the cause being natural and necessary for which there should be a difference in days the solemn observation whereof declareth Religious thankfulness towards him whose works of principal reckoning we thereby admire and honor it cometh next to be considered what kindes of duties and services they are wherewith such times should be kept holy 70. The Sanctification of Days and Times is a token of that Thankfulness and a part of that publick honor which we ow to God for admirable benefits whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret Kalender taking thereby our private occasions as we lift our selves to think how much God hath done for all men but the days which are chosen out to serve as publick Memorials of such his Mercies ought to cloathed with those outward Robes of Holiness whereby their difference from other days may be made sensible But because Time in it self as hath been already proved can receive no alteration the hallowing of Festival days must consist in the shape or countenance which we put upon the affairs that are incident into those days This is the day which the Lord hath made saith the Prophet David Let us rejoyce and be glad in it So that generally Offices and Duties of Religious Joy are that wherein the hallowing of Festival times consisteth The most Natural Testimonies of our rejoycing in God are first his Praises set forth with cheerful alacrity of minde Secondly Our comfort and delight expressed by a charitable largeness of somewhat more then common bounty Thirdly Sequestration from ordinary labors the toyls and cares whereof are not meet to be companions of such gladness Festival solemnity therefore is nothing but the due mixture as it were of these three Elements Praise Bounty and Rest. Touching Praise for as much as the Jews who alone knew the way how to magnifie God aright did commonly as appeared by their wicked lives more of custom and for fashion sake execute the services of their Religion then with hearty and true devotion which God especially requireth he therefore protesteth against their Sabbaths and Solemn Days as being therewith much offended Plentiful and liberal expence is required in them that abound party as a sign of their own joy in the goodness of God towards them and partly as a mean whereby to refresh those poor and needy who being especially at these times made partakers of relaxation and joy with others do the more religiously bless God whose great Mercies were a cause thereof and the more contentedly endure the burthen of that hard estate wherein they continue Rest is the end of all Motion and the last perfection of all things that labor Labors in us are journeys and even in them which feel no weariness by any work yet they are but ways whereby to come unto that which bringeth not happiness till it do bring Rest.
For as long as any thing which we desire is unattained we rest not Let us not here take Rest for Idleness They are Idle whom the painfulness of action causeth to avoid those Labors whereunto both God and Nature bindeth them they Rest which either cease from their work when they have brought it unto perfection of else give over a meaner labor because a worthier and better is to be undertaken God hath created nothing to be idle or ill employed As therefore Man doth consist of different and distinct parts every part endued with manifold abilities which all have their several ends and actions thereunto referred so there is in this great variety of duties which belong to men that dependency and other by means whereof the lower sustaining always the more excellent and the higher perfecting the more base they are in their times and seasons continued with most exquisite correspondence Labors of bodily and daily toyl purchase freedom for actions of Religious Joy which benefit these actions requite with the gift of desired Rest A thing most natural and fit to accompany the solemn Festival duties of honor which are done to God For if those principal works of God the memory whereof we use to celebrate at such times be but certain tastes and â—â—says as it were of that final benefit wherein our perfect felicity and bliss lieth folded up seeing that the presence of the one doth direct our cogitations thoughts and desires towards the other it giveth surely a kinde of life and addeth inwardly no small delight to those so comfortable expectations when the very outward countenance of that we presently do representeth after a sort that also whereunto we tend as Festival Rest doth that Celestial estate whereof the very Heathens themselves which had not the means whereby to apprehend much did notwithstanding imagine that it needs must consist in Rest and have therefore taught that above the highest moveable sphere there is nothing which feeleth alteration motion or change but all things immutable unsubject to passion blest with eternal continuance in a life of the highest perfection and of that compleat abundant sufficiency within it self which no possibility of want maim or defect can touch Besides whereas ordinary labors are both in themselves painful and base in comparison of Festival Services done to God doth not the natural difference between them shew that the one as it were by way of submission and homage should surrender themselves to the other wherewith they can neither easily concur because painfulness and joy are opposite nor decently because while the minde hath just occasion to make her abode in the House of Gladness the Weed of ordinary toyl and travel becometh her not Wherefore even Nature hath taught the Heathens and God the Jews and Christ us first that Festival Solemnities are a part of the publick exercise of Religion secondly that Praise Liberality and Rest are as Natural Elements whereof Solemnities consist But these things the Heathens converted to the honor of their false gods And as they failed in the end it self so neither could they discern rightly what form and measure Religion therein should observe Whereupon when the Israelites impiously followed so corrupt example they are in every degree noted to have done amiss their Hymns of Songs of Praise were Idolatry their Bounty Excess and their Rest wantonness Therefore the Law of God which appointed them days of Solemnity taught them likewise in what manner the same should be celebrated According to the pattern of which Institution David establishing the state of Religion ordained Praise to be given unto God in the Sabbaths Moneths and appointed Times as their custom had been always before the Lord. Now besides the times which God himself in the Law of Moses particularly specified there were through the Wisdom of the Church certain other devised by occasion of like occurents to those whereupon the former had risen as namely that which Mordecai and Esther did first celebrate in memory of the Lords most wonderful protection when Haman had laid his inevitable Plot to mans thinking for the utter extirpation of the Jews even in one day This they call the Feast of Lots because Haman had cast their life and their death as it were upon the hazard of a Lot To this may be added that other also of Dedication mentioned in the Tenth of St. Iohns Gospel the institution whereof is declared in the History of the Maccabees But for as much as their Law by the coming of Christ is changed and we thereunto no way bound St. Paul although it were not his purpose to favor invectives against the special Sanctification of days and times to the Service of God and to the honor of Jesus Christ doth notwithstanding bend his forces against that opinion which imposed on the Gentiles the Yoke of Jewish Legal observations as if the whole World ought for ever and that upon pain of condemnation to keep and observe the same Such as in this perswasion hallowed those Jewish Sabbaths the Apostle sharply reproveth saying Ye observe days and moneths and times and years I am in fear of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain Howbeit so far off was Tertullian from imagining how any man could possibly hereupon call in question such days as the Church of Christ doth observe that the observation of these days he useth for an Argument whereby to prove it could not be the Apostles intent and meaning to condemn simply all observing of such times Generally therefore touching Feasts in the Church of Christ they have that profitable use whereof Saint Augustine speaketh By Festival Solemnities and Set-days we dedicate and sanctifie to God the memory of his benefits lest unthankful forgetfulness thereof should creep upon us in course of time And concerning particulars their Sabbath the Church hath changed into our Lords day that is as the one did continually bring to minde the former World finished by Creation so the other might keep us in perpetual remembrance of a far better World begun by him which came to restore all things to make both Heaven and Earth new For which cause they honored the last day we the first in every seven throughout the year The rest of the days and times which we celebrate have relation all unto one head We begin therefore our Ecclesiastical year with the glorious Annuntiation of his Birth by Angelical Embassage There being hereunto added his Blessed Nativity it self the Mystery of his Legal Circumcision the Testification of his true Incarnation by the Purification of her which brought him in the World his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven the admirable sending down of his Spirit upon his chosen and which consequently ensued the notice of that incomprehensible Trinity thereby given to the Church of God Again for as much as we know that Christ hath not onely been manifested great in himself but great in other his Saints also
Repentance alone sufficeth unless some special thing in the quality of Sin committed or in the Party that hath done amiss require more For besides our submission in Gods sight Repentance must not only proceed to the private contentation of Men if the Sin be a crime injurious but also farther where the wholsome Discipline of Gods Church exacteth a more exemplary and open satisfaction Now the Church being satisfied with outward Repentance as God is with inward it shall not be amiss for more perspicuity to term this latter alwayes the Vertue that former the Discipline of Repentance which Discipline hath two sorts of Penitents to work upon in as much as it hath been accustomed to lay the Offices of Repentance on some seeking others shunning them on some at their own voluntary request on others altogether against their Wills as shall hereafter appear by store of ancient examples Repentance being therefore either in the sight of God alone or else with the notice also of Men Without the one sometime throughly performed by alwayes practised more or less in our daily devotions and Prayers we have no remedy for any fault Whereas the other is only required in Sins of a certain degree and quality the one necessary for ever the other so far forth as the Laws and Orders of Gods Church shall make it requisite The nature parts and effects of the one alwaies the same The other limitted extended and varied by infinite occasions The vertue of Repentance in the heart of Man is Gods handy-work a fruit or effect of Divine Grace which Grace continually offereth it self even unto them that have forsaken it as may appear by the words of Christ in St Iohns Revelation I stand at the door and knock Nor doth he only knock without but also within assist to open whereby access and entrance is given to the heavenly presence of that saving power which maketh man a repaired Temple for Gods good Spirit again to inhabit And albeit the whole train of vertues which are implied in the name of Grace be infused at one instant yet because when they meet and concurr unto any effect in man they have their distinct operations rising orderly one from another It is no unnecessary thing that we note the way or method of the Holy Ghost in framing mans sinful heart to Repentance A work the first foundation whereof is laid by opening and illuminating the eye of Faith because by Faith are discovered the Principles of this action whereunto unless the understanding do first assent there can follow in the Will towards Penitency no inclination at all Contrariwise the Resurrection of the dead the Judgement of the World to come and the endless misery of sinners being apprehended this worketh fear such as theirs was who feeling their own distress and perplexity in that passion besought our Lords Apostles earnestly to give them counsel what they should do For fear is impotent and unable to advise it self yet this good it hath that men are thereby made desirous to prevent if possibly they may whatsoever evil they dread The first thing that wrought the Ninivites Repentance was fear of destruction within fourty daies signes and miraculous works of God being extraordinary representations of Divine Power are commonly wont to stir any the most wicked with terrour lest the same Power should bend it self against them And because tractable minds though guilty of much Sin are hereby moved to forsake those evil waies which make his power in such sort their astonishment and fear therefore our Saviour denounced his curse against Corazin and Bethsaida saying that if Tyre and Sidon had seen that which they did those signes which prevailed little with the one would have brought the others to Repentance As the like thereunto did in the men given to curious Arts of whom the Apostolick History saith that Fear came upon them and many which had followed vain sciences burnt openly the very books out of which they had learned the same As fear of contumely and disgrace amongst men together with other civil punishments are a bridle to restrain from any hainous Acts whereinto mens outrage would otherwise break So the fear of Divine Revenge and punishment where it takes place doth make men desirous to be rid likewise from that inward guiltiness of Sin wherein they would else securely continue Howbeit when Faith hath wrought a fear of the event of Sin yet Repentance hereupon ensueth not unless our belief conceive both the possibility and means to avert evil The possibility in as much as God is merciful and most willing to have Sin cured The means because he hath plainly taught what is requisite and shall suffice unto that purpose The nature of all wicked men is for fear of revenge to hate whom they most wrong The nature of hatred to wish that destroyed which it cannot brook And from hence ariseth the furious endeavours of godless and obdurate sinners to extinguish in themselves the opinion of God because they would not have him to Be whom execution of endless wo doth not suffer them to Love Every Sin against God abateth and continuance in Sin extinguisheth our love towards him It was therefore said to the Angel of Ephesus having sinned Thou art fallen away from thy first love so that as we never decay in love till we Sin in like sort neither can we possibly forsake Sin unless we first begin again to love What is love towards God but a desire of union with God And shall we imagine a Sinner converting himself to God in whom there is no desire of union with God presupposed I therefore conclude that fear worketh no mans inclination to Repentance till somewhat else have wrought in us love also Our love and desire of union with God ariseth from the strong conceipt which we have of his admirable goodness The goodness of God which particularly moveth unto Repentance is his mercy towards mankind notwithstanding Sin For let it once sink deeply into the mind of man that howsoever we have injuried God his very nature is averse from revenge except unto Sin we add obstinacy otherwise alwaies ready to accept our submission as a full discharge or recompence for all wrongs and Can we chuse but begin to Love him whom we have offended or can we but begin to grieve that we have offended him whom we love Repentance considereth Sin as a breach of the Law of God an act obnoxious to that revenge which notwithstanding may be prevented if we pacifie God in time The root and beginning of Penitency therefore is the consideration of our own Sin as a cause which hath procured the wrath and a subject which doth need the mercy of God For unto mans understanding there being presented on the one side tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil On the other eternal life unto them which by continuance in well doing seek Glory and Honour and Immortality On the one hand a curse to
Successors of such Goods and to convey the same unto men of secular callings now extream Sacrilegious Injustice I. I Have heard that a famous Kingdom in the world being sollicited to reform such disorders as all men saw the Church exceedingly burthened with when of each degree great multitudes thereunto inclined and the number of them did every day so encrease that this intended work was likely to take no other effect then all good men did wish and labour for A Principal actor herein for zeal and boldness of Spirit thought it good to shew them betimes what it was which must be effected or else that there could be no work of perfect Reformation accomplished To this purpose in a solemn Sermon and in a great Assembly he described unto them the present quality of their publick Estate by the parable of a tree huge and goodly to look upon but without that fruit which it should and might bring forth affirming that the only way of redress was a full and perfect establishment of Christs Discipline for so their manner is to entitle a thing hammered out upon the forge of their own invention and that to make way of entrance for it there must be three great limbs cut off from the body of that stately tree of the Kingdom Those three limbs were three sorts of men Nobles whose high Estate would make them otherwise disdain to put their necks under that yoke Lawyers whose Courts being not pulled down the new Church Consistories were not like to flourish Finally Prelates whose ancient Dignity and the simplicity of their intended Church-Discipline could not possibly stand together The proposition of which device being plausible to active spirits restless through desire of innovation whom commonly nothing doth more offend then a change which goeth fearfully on by slow and suspicious paces the heavier and more experienced sort began presently thereat to pull back their feet again and exceedingly to fear the stratagem of Reformation for ever after Whereupon ensued those extream conflicts of the one part with the other which continuing and encreasing to this very day have now made the state of that flourishing Kingdom even such as whereunto we may most fitly apply those words of the Prophet Ieremiah Thy breach is great like the Sea who can heal thee Whether this were done in truth according to the constant affirmation of some avouching the same I take not upon me to examine That which I note therein is How with us that policie hath been corrected For to the Authors of pretended Reformation with us it hath not seemed expedient to offer the edge of the axe unto all three boughs at once but rather to single them and strike at the weakest first making show that the lop of that one shall draw the more abundance of sap to the other two that they may thereby the better prosper All prosperity felicity and peace we wish multiplied on each Estate as far as their own hearts desire is But let men know that there is a God whose eye beholdeth them in all their ways a God the usual and ordinary course of whose justice is to return upon the head of malice the same devices which it contriveth against others The foul practices which have been used for the overthrow of Bishops may perhaps wax bold in process of time to give the like assault even there from whence at this present they are most seconded Nor let it over-dismay them who suffer such things at the hands of this most unkind world to see that heavenly estate and dignity thus conculcated in regard whereof so many their Predecessors were no less esteemed then if they had not been men but Angels amongst men With former Bishops it was as with Iob in the days of that prosperity which at large he describeth saying Unto me men gave eaâ— they waited and held their tongue at my counsel after my words they replied not I appointed out their way and did sit as chief I dwelt as it had been a King in an Army At this day the case is otherwise with them and yet no otherwise then with the self same Iob at what time the alteration of his estate wrested these contrary speeches from him But now they that are younger then I mock at me the children of fools and off-spring of slaves creatures more base then the earth they tread on such as if they did show their heads young and old would shout at them and chase them through the streets with a cry their song I am I am a theam for them to talk on An injury less grievous if it were not offered by them whom Satan hath through his fraud and subtilty so far beguiled as to make them imagine herein they do unto God a part of most faithful service Whereas the lord in truth whom they serve herein is as St. Cyprian telleth them like not Christ for he it is that doth appoint and protect bishops but rather Christs adversary and enemy of his Church A thousand five hundred years and upward the Church of Christ hath now continued under the sacred Regiment of Bishops Neither for so long hath Christianity been ever planted in any Kingdom throughout the world but with this kind of government alone which to have been ordained of God I am for mine own part even as resolutely perswaded as that any other kind of Government in the world whatsoever is of God In this Realm of England before Normans yea before Saxons there being Christians the chief Pastors of their souls were Bishops This order from about the first establishment of Christian Religion which was publiquely begun through the vertuous disposition of King Lucius not fully two hundred years after Christ continued till the coming in of the Saxons By whom Paganism being every where else replanted only one part of the Island whereinto the ancient natural inhabitants the Britains were driven retained constantly the faith of Christ together with the same form of spiritual Regiment which their Fathers had before received Wherefore in the Histories of the Church we find very ancient mention made of our own Bishops At the Council of Ariminum about the year 359 Britain had three of her Bishops present At the arrival of Augustine the Monk whom Gregory sent hither to reclaim the Saxons from Gentility about six hundred years after Christ the Britains he found observers still of the self same Government by Bishops over the rest of the Clergy under this form Christianity took root again where it had been exiled Under the self same form it remained till the days of the Norman Conqueror By him and his successors thereunto sworn it hath from that time till now by the space of above five hundred years more been upheld O Nation utterly without knowledge without sense We are not through error of mind deceived but some wicked thing hath undoubtedly bewitched us if we forsake that Government the use whereof universal experience hath
and to morrow condescend to have him beheaded or with the other Herod say they will worship Christ when they purpose a massacre in their hearts kiss Christ with Iudas and betray Christ with Iudas These are Mockers For Ishmael the Son of Hagar laughed at Isaac which was heir of the Promise so shall these men laugh at you as the maddest People under the Sun if ye be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season And why God hath not given them eyes to see nor hearts to conceive that exceeding recompence of your reward The promises of Salvation made to you are matters wherein they can take no pleasure even as Ishmael took no pleasure in that promise wherein God had said unto Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called because the Promise concerned not him but Isaac They are termed for their impiety towards God Mockers and for the impurity of their life and conversation Walkers after-their own ungodly lusts Saint Peter in his second Epistle and third Chapter soundeth the very depth of their impiety shewing first how they shall not shame at the length to profess themselves prophane and iâ—â—eligious by flat denying the Gospel of Jesus Christ and deâ—ding the sweet and comfortable promises of his appearing Secondly that they shall not be onely deâ—iders of all Religion but also disputers against God using Truth to subvert the Truth yea Scriptures themselves to disprove Scriptures Being in this sort Mockers they must needs be also Followers of their own ungodly lusts Being Atheists in perswasion can they choose but be Beasts in conversation For why remove they quite from them the feat of God Why take they such pains to abandon and put out from their hearts all sense all taste all feeling of Religion but onely to this end and purpose that they may without inward remorse and grudging of Conscience give over themselves to all uncleanness Surely the state of these men is more lamentable than is the condition of Pagans and Turks For at the bare beholding of Heaven and Earth the Infidel's heart by and by doth give him that there is an eternal infinite immortal and ever-living God whose hands have fashioned and framed the World he knoweth that every House is builded of some man though he see not the man which built the House and he considereth that it must be God which hath built and created all things although because the number of his days be few he could not see when God disposed his Works of old when he caused the light of his Clouds first to shine when he laid the Corner-stone of the Earth and swadled it with bands of Water and Darkness when he caused the Morning-star to know his place and made bars and doors to shut up the Sea within his House saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further he hath no eye-witnesse of these things Yet the light of Natural reason hath put this wisdom in his reâ—ns and hath given his Heart thus much understanding Bring a Pagan to the Schools of the Prophets of God prophesie to an Infidel rebuke him lay the judgements of God before him make the secret sinnes of his heart manifest and he shall fall down and worship God They that crucified the Lord of Glory were not so farr past recovery but that the preaching of the Apostles was able to move their hearts and to bring them to this Men and Brethren what shall we doe Agrippa that sate in judgement against Paul for Preaching yielded notwithstanding thus farr unto him Almost thou perswadest me to become a Christian. Although the Jews for want of knowledge have not submitted themselves to the righteousnesse of God yet I bear them record saith the Apostle That they have a zeal The Athenians a people having neither zeal nor knowledge yet of them also the same Apostle beareth witnesse Ye men of Athens I perceive ye are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some way religious but Mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts they have smothered every spark of that heavenly light they have stifled even their very natural understanding O Lord thy Mercy is over all thy works thou savest Man and Beast yet a happy case it had been for these men if they had never been born and so I leave them 10. Saint Iude having his minde exercised in the Doctrine of the Apostles of Jesus Christ concerning things to come in the last time became a man of wise and staid judgement Grieved he was to see the departure of many and their falling away from the Faith which before they did professe grieved but not dismayed With the simpler and weaker sort it was otherwise Their countenance began by and by to change they were half in doubt they had deceived themselves in giving credit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saint Iude to comfort and refresh these silly Babes taketh them up in his armes and sheweth them the men at whom they were offended Look upon them that forsake this blessed Profession wherein you stand they are now before your eyes view them mark them are they not carnal are they not like to noysom carrion cast out upon the Earth is there that Spirit in them which cryeth Abba Father in your bosoms Why should any man be discomforted Have you not heard that there should be Mockers in the last time These verily are they that now do separate themselves 11. For your better understanding what this severing and separating of themselves doth mean we must know that the multitude of them which truly believe howsoever they be dispersed farr and wide each from other is all one Body whereof the Head is Christ one building whereof he is the Corner-stone to whom they as the Members of the Body being knit and as the stones of the Building being coupled grow up to a man of perfect stature and rise to an holy Temple in the Lord. That which linketh Christ to us is his mere mercy and love towards us That which tyeth us to him is our faith in the promised Salvation revealed in the Word of Truth That which uniteth and joyneth us amongst our selves in such sort that we are now as if we had but one Heart and one Soul is our love Who be inwardly in Heart the lively Members of this Body and the polished stones of this Building coupled and joyned to Christ as flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones by the mutual bond of his unspeakable love towards them and their unseigâ—ed faith in him thus linked and fastned each to other by a spiritual sincere and hearty affection of love without any manner of simulation who be Jewes within and what their names be none can tell save he whose eyes do behold the secret disposition of all mens hearts We whose eyes are too dim to behold the inward man must leave the secret judgement of every Servant to his own Lord accounting