was alwaies thus from the beginning and must be to the end so that the Apostles did many things by way of Condescention to the Iews which they would not have drawn to the countenancing of Iudaisine for that they intended no Galemofry of Religion no mixture of Iudaisme and Christianity but an utter abolition of Iudaisme and an absolute establishment of Christianity though the abolition of Iudaisme was to be brought to pass not in an instant but by degrees Ut cum honore mater Synagoga sepeliretur as S. Augustine speaks that their mother Synagogue might be laid in her grave with honour and without offence And thus was the Christian Religion justified against the mixture of Judaisme which afforded the third Controversie The state of the fourth Controversie which che Apostles had with the Christians converted but withal partly perverted consisted of as many questions as there were present errours against the truth or abuses against the purity of Christian Religion the errous were confuted by the Apostles and the abuses were rectified And thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heresie and against Profaneness First it was justified against all other false professsions and afterwards against its own false professours For it had been absurd to perswade men to a Religion that was not able to justifie it self against all Religions and men whatsoever because a Religion that cannot justifie it self is much less able to justifie those that profess it a Religion that cannot justifie cannot save a Religion that cannot save is a Religion but in word onely not in power for what man would ever torment his body were it not to save his soul Who would ever forsake the pleasures of the flesh were it not to enjoy the comforts of the Spirit therefore must the Christian Religion be looked on as the way to salvation that men may be carefull to walk in it and as the onely way that men may be fearfull to walk out of it For what they have of Religion that they have of salvation whether really or phantastically and what they do want of the one that they do also want of the other Accordingly S. Peter adviseth us all to make our calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. For though our Election be firm in it self we may bless God it is so especially since we are fallen under such strong delusions as might deceive if it were possible even the very Elect I say though our Election be firm in it self as being grounded on Gods immutable purpose yet is it daily more and more to be confirmed in us by making more and more sure of our calling that is to say of our calling to righteousness or of our Religion in daily bringing forth more and more the fruits of righteousness for we cannot make sure of Glory but by making sure of Grace nor can we be sure of Grace but from the fruits and effects of Grace which are the remission of sins and the purgation from sin according to that excellent gloss of Oecumenius upon the Apostles benediction to the Hebrews in his last words of that Epistle Grace be with you all Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace be with you that is The Remission of sins and the purgation from sin be with you or to speak more to our present custome and capacity the blessings of Justification and of Sanctification be with you for Justification is the Remission of sins and Sanctification is the purgation from sin and the work of Grace is to expel sin by justification and by sanctification to expel sin in its guiltiness or obligation to punishment by justification and to expel sin in its pollution or obligation to more sinfulness by sanctification for sin hath a two fold obligation upon the sinner it obligeth him to punishment by its guiltiness it obligeth him to more sins by its pollution and the work of Grace is to oppose sin in both these respects and the means whereby Grace effecteth this great work is the Christian Religion which is truly and properly our calling as we are Christians and callethus to the forgiveness of our sins by faith in Christ there is the justification and calleth us to the amendment of our sinfull lives by repentance from dead works there is thesanctification Wherefore to make sure of our Calling is to make sure of Grace and to make sure of Grace is to to make sure of our Christian Religion which alone produceth the works of Grace and how we may do this the same Authour teacheth us in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we do not wrong Gods goodness by sinning or by neglecting that is by Commission or by Omission by sinning against the light of Grace or by neglecting the power and means of Grace which two have without doubt occasioned all the grand mistakes and miscarriages of several Christian Churches in point of Religion They either sin by Commission against the light of Grace or by Omission against the power and means of Grace and at last come to make a new Religion by turning their old sins into new Tenents This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To sin against God and to neglect him to sin against him by Commissions and to neglect him by Omissions to do either is to wrong his grace and goodness much more to do both which as it may serve for a good caveat to all Christian Churches in general so also to every Christian man in particular for our Commissions are the great impediments of our justification because though the sons of men will yet the Son of God will not justifie a sinner that continueth in his sins our Omissions are the great impediments of our sanctification because though the spirit of errour may call him a Saint yet the Spirit of Grace will not sanctifie him or make a Saint of that sinner who neglects and contemns the means of Grace and these Commissions and those Omissions commonly go both together in the loss of Religion but the Omissions go generally before the Commissions As S. Paul saith of the Apostate Christians in his time Rom. 1. 21. and the same doctrine will hold true of all Apostates to the worlds end That when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankfull there 's their Omissions But became vain in their imaginations and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image c. There 's their Commissions And upon these follows the loss of their Religion ver 28. As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate minde 't is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did not approve then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were given over to such a minde as could not approve that which came from God this is a reprobate minde a minde void of judgement an undiscerning understanding which is sure to have sin with it and damnation after it for so saith the prophet Wo unto them
betwixt God and man by sin we cannot possibly be re-united unto him but by a Mediatour therefore the Apostle sets this down as the ground of our Religion There is one God and one Mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. To allow of more Mediatours then of this one whether Mediatours of Intercession or of Redemption if the distinction were it self allowable we dare not because the word allows but of one we need not because that one is all-sufficient in himself without more company and because he is all-sufficient in himself he cannot he will not admit of any other companion And sure we are that no other Mediatour but he that hath united God to man is able to unite man to God and therefore no other Mediatour but onely he can be intrinsecally necessary to Religion whose work it is to unite man to God and if no other be intrinsecally necessary we must look upon all others as meerly additional that is to say as mediatours of mans not of Gods making for so saith the Apostle There is one God and one Mediatour between God and man It is the property of Religion to unite created spirits to this one God and so the good Angels may be said to be religious who are united to God though they were never separated from him but it is the property of our Christian Religion so to unite our spirits to this one God as to beleeve and confess this one Mediatour between God and man the onely authour of our union because our sins had indeed made an actual separation betwixt us and our God This Mediatour took our nature upon him that he might take our sin upon him and he took our sin upon him that he might discharge us who were beleeving sinners from the guilt of sin by imputative righteousness in our justification and deliver us who were repenting sinners for we cannot be true beleevers unless we be true penitents from the dominion of sin by inherent righteousness in our sanctification so that the onely way for us to make sure of our salvation is to make sure of our Religion and the onely way to make sure of our Religion is to make sure of Christ and the onely way to make sure of Christ is to make sure of a Christian conversation For as Antioch was in after ages called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the city of God because therein men were first called Christians and was accounted one of the Patriarchal Sees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as saith Theophylact not because it had been the seat of S. Peter but because it had been the seat of Christ wherein he first was as it were enthronized and established in his kingdom For the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch Act. 11. 26. so is it with thy soul nothing but the profession and exercise of Christianity can make it the City of God the Spouse of Christ or the Temple of the Holy Ghost Do as Cornelius did Act. 10. 2. Be devout and charitable give much alms to the people and pray to God alway be continually exercising thy Charity and thy Piety two such virtues as this age may be afraid to name because 't is not ashamed to banish And thy memorial shall be with God thy comfort with thy self and thy communication with an Angel But because in many things we offend all and they in most who do least acknowledge their offences in any thing therefore Divines commonly reduce all Christian conversation to these two heads of Faith and Repentance a lively Faith in our Saviours righteousness and a hearty Repentance because of our own unrighteousness Faith and Repentance are called Foundations Heb. 6. 1. Surely because they bring us to him who is the onely foundation both of our Religion and our souls our blessed Saviour into whose life we are engaffed by Faith and into whose death we are inserted by Repentance for we must be planted together in the likeness of his death no less then in the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. Coalitio cum Christo in vitâ in morte nunquam possit divelli saith Beza Our Union with Christ is no less in regard of his death then of his life wherefore he that is truly in Christ is in him to his death by repentance as well as to his life by Faith for there is no being ingraffed into Christ without being planted into his death as well as into his life Thus Faith and Repentance are foundations and yet the Apostles words remain undoubtedly true other foundation can no man lay then that is layed which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 2. 11. Other foundation then Christ can no man lay no nor angel neither nay if either seek to lay any other Let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. Other foundation can no man lay therefore must every man lay himself his soul upon this foundation which that he may do he must have repentance from dead works and faith towards God he must first repent that is he must see and confess all his own works to be dead works and himself also to be a dead man dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. his own conscience being the witness and Gods law the judge and yet this is but one part of true repentance the other is still behinde he must also renounce his works and he must forsake himself because both are dead that is the second part of repentance And when this foundation of repentance is well laid then next comes faith which follows repentance in mans going to God though it be before it in his knowing him Fides sequitur poenitentiam quantum ad tendentiam licèt antecedat quantum ad cognitionem saith Bonaventure Faith follows repentance in the motion though she go before it in the instruction or direction of the soul. For when once we see our works all dead and our selves under the power and dominion of death what can we do but fall into despair and consequently into perdition unless we fix the eye of our soul upon the eternal Son of God made man for our redemption looking unto Jesus the authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. 2. and as looking unto him so also resting in him and relying on him for if we do not so we shew that we have a false opinion concerning our Saviour Christ as if he had not come into the world to save sinners as is averred 1 Tim. 1. 15. and what is false in the understanding must needs be sinfull in the affection which is the demonstration by which Aquinas proves desperation to be a most grievous sin Quia est falsa opinio de Deo quod est falsum in intellectu est malum in appetitu Because it is a false opinion of God and what is errour in the understanding is sin in the will Thus is Christ the onely foundation of our Religion and faith and repentance and in them other virtues are called
foundations because they joyn the soul to him which cannot be properly said of any man whatsoever nor of all the congregations of men in the world not of S. Peter himself and much less of his successours and if it be said cannot be justified by any good Logick or good Divinity much less by that distinction of Fundamentum primarium and secundarium of a primary and a secondary foundation which distinguisheth a numerical identity from it self with too much subtilty and too little truth calling that a secondary foundation which is indeed a piece of the building and therefore they that teach Post Christum fundamentum est Petrus nisi per Petrum non pervenitur ad Christum Bellarm. in praefat in libros de summo Pontifice do mistake a pillar for the foundation to be a pillar in Gods house is a more glorious title then is given to any angel and carries with it a burden too heavy for any man who hath not the extraordinary assistance of the Spirit of God and therefore the Holy Ghost thinks it enough to call S. Peter a pillar leaves it for Christ alone to be the foundation James Cephas that is Peter and John who seemed to be pillars Gal. 2. 9. Cephas was a pillar and Iames and Iohn were no less pillars then Cephas or Peter and consequently their successours no less pillars then his successours but neither of them was a foundation properly so called vide Field pag. 478 479. that is too high an attribute for any man since he cannot work upon the soul by his own power and virtue to unite that immediately unto Christ for he is the onely foundation that sustains the whole building and faith and repentance are called foundations by S. Paul onely as settling and establishing us in Christ which is not possible for any man or angel to do who can work onely instrumentally towards these by instructing the understanding and exciting the will but cannot do the work of them and therefore cannot so much as reductively or instrumentally be called foundations And this is agreeable with Bonaventure's distinction in lib. 4. sent dist 22. qu. 1. Fundamentum dicitur dupliciter uno modo locus in quo aedificium stabilitur alio modo dicitur fundamentum illud secundùm quod res locatur in suo sustentaculo A thing may be called a foundation in two respects either that it self sustains the building so Christ is the onely foundation or that it causeth us to be sustained by the foundation and that is done three ways either by removing the impediments that keep us from it or by placing and settling us on it or by confirming and strengthening us in it In the first consideration Repentance is a foundation because it removes away our sins that keep us from Christ in the second consideration Faith is a foundation because it placeth fixeth our souls on Christ that is to say A faith working by love whence the Apostle saith That we are rooted and grounded in Christ through love as well as through faith Eph. 3. 17. for a faith that is without love is a faith of devils which will nor invite Christ to come to us much less to dwell with us and least of all to dwell in us The Solifidian as he will have his faith to dwell without love so he must be contented himself to dwell without Christ. And lastly in the third consideration the Word and sacraments may be called foundations because they are the means to confirm and strengthen us in Christ All these may in several respects be called Foundations for all these have an immediate influence upon the soul of man by reason of the grace which accompanies them which influence no man possibly can have and therefore no man justly can claim But all these which are called Foundations have as I said an immediate influence upon our souls to make us rise with Christ our Foundation and seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Col. 3. 1 2. for as all the material building tendeth downwards because the foundation is below so all the spiritual building tendeth upwards saith the same Seraphical Doctour because the Foundation thereof is above even on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1. 3. Wherefore we have need of a strong repentance to raise us up from earth that we may detest and forsake our own unrighteousness and we have need of a strong faith to raise us up to heaven that we may lay hold on our Saviours righteousness not onely in our confidences but also in our consciences not onely in our applications but also in our affections not onely by our persuasion but also by our imitation A thing that is easily said but not so easily done for he that will make sure of a true faith must make sure of beleeving at least in the preparation of his minde all the truths that God hath revealed as well as all the mercies that God hath promised or Christ hath purchased And he that will make sure of a true repentance must make sure of bewailing at least in the preparation of his minde and the desire of his soul all those sins which he hath committed and of so bewailing the sins he hath committed as not wilfully to commit the sins he hath bewailed he that hath made sure of this faith and of this repentance hath taken the right way to make sure of his religion to serve God not our of custom but out of conscience not of hypocrisie but out of integrity not onely in the communion of men but also in the communion of saints and this man alone can come to make sure of his salvation We take now a contrary course every man makes sure of his salvation but no man makes sure of his Religion is not Christ Jesus the same yesterday and to day and for ever as it is said Heb. 13. 8. how is it then that we are not the same Christians yesterday and to day and for ever and yet we talk of nothing more then of going to Christ whiles we do nothing less then draw neer him Had we looked after Christ in Christs own Church we should certainly have found him and had we once found him we should not so willingly have left him Had we seen Christ in the exercise of our Christian Religion we would certainly have communicated with him and had we once communicated with him we would not for the advantages or disadvantages of this world have so easily forsaken his communion It is to be feared that either we professed our Christianity as hypocrites and so were not sure of our Religion or that we are fallen from our profession as apostates and cannot make sure of our salvation I speak this out of the love of truth and their souls who are my brethren and therefore hope it will offend none that either love the truth or the brotherhood and must not be affrighted if it do
Testament which they acknowledged the rule of their Religion one out of the Prophet Ioel the other out of the Prophet David The same Doctrine he proves again Act. 3. by a miracle restoring a lame man to his feet in the name of Jesus Christ but because the Jews were so wedded to Moses that no miracle was like to divorce them from his doctrine but such as himself allowed therefore S. Peter doth likewise alledge Moses his own testimony v. 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes As if he had said I teach you no new doctrine concerning the Messias but such as Moses and all the Prophets have taught you before Moses himself bid you hearken to him no longer then till God should raise up that new Prophet unto you in his stead and I hope you will hearken to Moses if you will not hearken to me here is a miracle done in the name of Iesus of Nazareth which shews he came from God here is the testimony of your own Moses that he should come and that you should hearken unto him you must deny your own senses if you deny the miracle you must deny your own faith which you so zealously profess if you deny Moses so that you cannot deny Christ Jesus to be the Messias if you will but stick to your own senses and to your own Faith And this manner of arguing was very necessary to convince the Jews who were wholly addicted and devoted unto Moses and therefore not to be drawn from him to Christ but by the cords of his own testimony For we see S. Iohn 9. 29 30. That the Pharisees excommunicated the blinde man for alledging a single miracle to advance the authority of Christ they pleade for Moses v. 29. We know that God spake unto Moses and against Christ As for this fellow we know not whence he is the blinde man answers their plea for Moses in answering their plea against Christ vers 30. Why herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine eyes and again vers 32. Since the world began it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blinde If this man were not of God he could do nothing As if he had said you prove that Moses was from God by the miracles he wrought and I say here is a greater Miracle then any of his working therefore I am as sure of Gods speaking to this man and being with him as you can be that God spake to Moses and was with him yet we see that this miracle being alledged without Moses did not convert them and that makes S. Peter here alledge Moses himself for their conversion and the allegation is so clear that no eye but may see it so undeniable that no mouth but must confess it nor can any Jew now beleeve Moses against Christ but he must first beleeve Moses against himself The like doctrine is again preached by the same Apostle in his next Sermon Act. 4. 10 11 12. where he confidently avoucheth the lame man to have been healed by the name of Jesus and that by the same Jesus onely they must expect to be eternally saved and this he proves unto them by the testimony of the prophet David The like is also the doctrine of S. Stephen's Sermon Act. 7. the sum whereof is briefly this that Abraham and the Patriarchs worshipped God rightly before Moses was born or the Tabernacle and Temple were built and therefore the foundation of the true Religion is not to be sought for from Moses nor the exercise of it from the Temple Moses himself confessing that his Rites and Ceremonies were to last but for a time even till Christ should come who was that Prophet whom the Lord would have them so to hear as never to expect any other after him The like is also the doctrine of S. Paul's Sermon Act. 13. where he proveth That Jesus is the Christ and that all the Prophesies of the Old Testament lead to his death and resurrection For that by him alone all that beleeve are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Therefore the Iews must embrace the Christian Religion or be still under an imperfect and insufficient Religion In a word this is not onely the doctrine of S. Paul but also of all the other Apostles in their several Epistles of which this is the Argument That man is not justified by the works of the Law but onely by Faith in Iesus Christ or which is all one that neither justification nor salvation may be hoped for by the observation of the Iewish but onely of the Christian Religion Accordingly the subject matter of all their Epistles consists of these two Heads First of Promises that concern eternal life Secondly of Precepts as the necessary conditions to obtain those Promises which Promises and Precepts are as it were the two integral parts of the whole Gospel And thus was the Christian Religion justified against Iudaisme which afforded the second Controversie and was the more largely to be discussed and the more fully to be decided that we seeing the undoubted grounds of our Christian Religion may the more earnestly endeavour to be good Christians and by that means help to convert the Iews The state of the third Controversie which the Apostles had with the Iews not fully converted consisted of this one Question Whether the Christian Religion alone without any mixture of Iudaisme was the true way to Salvation And they all agreed that it it was and that the Law of Moses was but as a School-master to bring us unto Christ. And therefore though the Apostles did at first permit and ordain some practices of Iudaisme yet was it onely for that time by way of Condescention to gain the Iew not to last for ever by way of Constitution to oblige the Christian Therefore that decree of the Apostles Act. 15. 29. is looked upon by some Divines as meerly local binding onely the Church of Antioch for S. Paul shews it did not binde the Church of Corinth in the meats offered unto Idols and therefore not in bloud nor in things strangled by the same analogy 1 Cor. 8. 4. But it is looked upon by all Divines as meerly temporal binding no Church any longer then was necessary for the gaining of the Iews Thus excellently Aquinas 1. 2 ae qu 103. art 4. ad 3. Ad literam ista sunt prohibita non ad observandum ceremonias legis sed ad hoc quod possit
Eliah saith he was delivered after Eliah was ascended but the meaning is that the thing had been revealed by Eliah to one of the prophets who commanded him to write it in a book and give it to Iehoram tell him that it was a writing sent to him from Eliah that so Iehoram thinking the writing sent to him from heaven might humble his heart So will I here present our back-sliding age with a reproof from S. Paul that hath been so many years dead because I see that back-sliders do not regard the reproofs of their ministers who are now living and I cannot but hope if I have not willingly mistaken the Apostle that no cōsciencious godly man such as we all pretend to be will willingly mistake me We must then look on S. Pauls profession in this place as a true Christians profession because it is a profession of his Christian Religion consisting of two parts of his worship of his faith which are the two essential or substantial parts of Religion sides cultus faith in God and the worship of God though the faith be put last in the order of the words yet is it first in the order of nature for because S. Paul beleeved all things which were written in the law and in the prophets therefore did he worship the God of his fathers But before our Apostle shews the substance of his profession what it is he doth shew the necessity of it why it is for the necessity of his Christian profession is imported in these words But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie as well as the substance of it in these words so worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets And indeed as it is the great duty so it should be the great labour of every Christian to keep his heart true unto his Saviour to keep his tongue true unto his heart to keep his heart true to Christ that he may be unmoveable in the love of his Religion and to keep his tongue true unto his heart that he may be unmoveable in the profession of that love and for both these we have here an excellent president So worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets There his heart is true to his Saviour in the substance of Religion and before that but this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie so worship I There his tongue is true to his heart in the profession of it for he looks upon the profession of his Religion as a necessary duty not to be omitted for fear not to be dissembled for shame I unto thee hints both these I a prisoner at the bar to thee a iudge upon the bench for Saint Paul was here arraigned as a felon for his Religion which hath been allways the portion of the godly for the wicked presidents and princes could not but say we shall not finde any occasion against this Daniel except we finde it against him concerning the law of his God Dan. 6. 5. I say Saint Paul had been indicted and was here arraigned as a felon or a delinquent that in the midst of a general refusal or denial of Christ he durst own to be a Christian and would be constant in the profession of his Christianity and he shews that notwithstanding all the affronts offered him and the aspersions cast upon him yet his profession being truly Christian was such as he might not be afraid would not be ashamed of I unto thee is enough against the fear which they call heresie is enough against the shame Let us put on the armour of proof against the fear and we shall need of no mask or vizard against the shame And surely this Ego in the Text Saint Pauls example is warrant enough not to be afraid for so saith the holy Ghost by his mouth Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Every man is bound to follow his Church where that follows his Saviour but because this refractory age thinks it the nearest cut to go to Christ to run away from his Church it will not be amiss to shew how our blessed Saviours example did move Saint Paul that so both examples together may the more forcibly move us not to be afraid to make profession of our Religion For so it is recorded of our blessed Saviour that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession or a good profession 1 Tim. 6. 13. can we be called before worse tyrants then Felix and Pilate Can we look for better examples then Saint Paul and our blessed Saviour the one the teacher the other the King of Saints lo Saint Paul professed his Religion before Felix our blessed Saviour before Pilate and both them professed it when there was the greatest danger of that profession when they were in danger of their lives not onely of their livelyhoods for professing it if the tyranny cannot be greater why should the profession be less for so Saint Chrysostome sets down the profession of Christ before Pontius Pilate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I came to be a witness to the truth or a martyr for it a witness to the truth in times of peace and prosperity a martyr for the truth in times of opposition and apostasie so should every Christian think and say that he was not born as a man much less new-born as a Christian for himself but for his Saviour to be a witness to he truth For if this principle of Religion were doctrinal in our hearts to beleeve it it would also be practical in our lives to perform it but we beleeve not the doctrine and therefore regard not the practise the faith is first dead then the work so saith the prophet He that beleeveth in him shall not make haste Isa. 28. 16. id est ex impatientiâ infidelitate ad res praesentes non confugiet saith Junius He that beleeveth in him shall not make such haste as out of impatience and infidelity to comply with the present occasions or opportunities more to keep his estate then to keep his conscience as those miscreants did v. 15. who said we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Iunius thus rightly explaineth their wicked meaning we are as secure as if we had made a covenant with death we have done as much as wise men can do and more then honest men will do to preserve our selves to make an agreement with those that are too strong for us we have cast up our banks against the overflowing scourge and though you call it lies and falshood which we have done yet we know it
two sorts of Bibles in their Synagogues and accordingly did they deliver both sorts down to the Christian Church the one in Hebrew the other in Greek but though they delivered down a double text of Scripture yet they delivered not down a double Canon of Scripture as Iosephus himself doth testifie lib. 1. contra Appionem quoted by Eusebius Eccl. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 10. who affirmeth That the Church of the Jews had but twenty two books for the ground of their faith the Masorites say twenty four books counting Ruth apart from Iudges and the Lamentations apart from Ieremy and those that accounted Samuel Kings and Chronicles each two books made the number of the Canonical books of the Old Testament full out twenty seven and these books saith he were all written before the time of Artaxerxes and as for those which were written after that time as all that we call Apocrypha he tells us they had not the same authority with the others because when they were written there was not so undoubted a succession of the prophets as had been ever before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that though those other books came down in the Greek Bibles if at least they were in them at that time which is very questionable yet they came not down as a part of the Canon for that was the peculiar priviledge of those books alone which had been written in Hebrew or Chaldee and deposited in the ark by the prophets And indeed we do not read that the Jews would hazard their lives for any one book of all the Apocrypha but towards the Canon they were so zealously affected that as they embraced it for the Book of God so they would not be divorced from it by any terrours of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb. l. 3. c. 10. It is inbred in all the Jews from their very nativitie to account their Testament the word of God to stick close to it and if need require willingly to dye for it To this Canon of Scripture it is that St. Paul here appeals calling it the Law and the Prophets for so Christ himself had called it before Saint Mat. 11. 13. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until Iohn and again S. Luke 16. 16. The Law and the Prophets were until Iohn that is they were the Canon of the Scripture until John but after that time there was to be another accession to the Canon it is clear that neither under the Law nor under the Prophets did our blessed Saviour comprize any of the Apocryphal books because none of them is quoted in all the New Testament as prophesying of Christ a truth not denied by those who stand most upon the credit of the Apocrypha for even in the Greek Bibles printed at Paris by the authority of Pope Sixtus Quintus at the end of the second volume there is an Index of all the testimonies alledged in the New out of the Old Testament and not one of them is taken out of any part of the Apocrypha But you will say if this division be good of the Old Testament into the Law and the Prophets what is become of the books of the Kings Chronicles Iob the Psalms and all Solomons works even of that whole third part of the Canon called by the Masorites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in Gen. 16. 5. The Masor a divides the whole Testament into three parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law the Prophets and the holy writings I answer They are included in these for it is not imaginable that Saint Paul left them out of his Bible although here he doth not expresly name them and indeed the whole Canon of the Old Testament is sometimes called the Law onely sometimes the Prophets onely sometimes both together the Law and the Prophets 1. The Canon of the Old Testament is sometimes called the Law onely as Neh. 8. 8. so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly where by the Law must be meant the whole Testament unless we will say that the Jews in their captivity had contracted the heresie of the Samaritans whom they so much hated to admit onely of the five books of Moses for their Bible 2. The whole Canon of the Old Testament is sometimes called the Prophets onely as 2 Chron. 20. 20. Believe in the Lord your God so shall ye be established believe his Prophets so shall ye prosper his Prophets that is his word as it is recorded in his Book 3. The whole Canon of the Old Testament is sometimes called both together the Law and the Prophets as Saint Luke 16. 29. They have Moses the pen-man of the Law and the Prophets that is they have the written word of God or Canon of the Text. And those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those other books of the Bible are no less comprised in these two by Saint Paul then they had been by our Saviour Christ before him for indeed this was the most usual way of citing the Old Testament to call it the Law and the Prophets and there is but one place in the New Testament that seems to confirm the Masorites division of the Old Testament into the Law and the Prophets and holy writings and that we finde Saint Luke 24. 44. where our Blessed Saviour saith That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning him where the Psalms are put for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof they were but one though a principal part The sum of all is this there is a difference betwixt the substance and the exercise of Religion that they may be separated in themselves but the difference is not so great that they may prudently and justly be separated by us either in our profession or in our practise for we see plainly that St. Pauls profession and practise contain in them the very substance of Religion so that it is impossible for any man that disesteems the exercise of Religion to have any high regard or esteem of the substance of it and it is observable in the first table of the Decalogue which wholly concerns our duty towards God that as the three first Commandments concern the substance of Religion so the fourth concerns the exercise of it The substance of Religion is nothing else but the knowledge and worship of God for Abraham being strong in faith gave glory to God Rom. 4. 29. whereby we may see and must confess that faith and consequently hope and charity do glorifie God as well as worship though perchance not so publickly yet sure as cordially for they glorifie God in the inner as worship and thanksgiving do glorifie him in the outer man wherefore in these consists the substance of Religion whose work it is to glorifie God either inwardly which is commanded in the first or outwardly which is commanded in the second and third commandments I say that as the three first commandments
concern the substance of Religion so the fourth wholly concerns the exercise of it and as the first Commandment teacheth us the duties of faith hope and charity towards God to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all our heart with all our minde with all our soul and with all our strength and the second and third to worship him to give him thanks to call upon him to honour his holy name and his word so the fourth commandment setteth us a time and other circumstances for the exercise of these duties teaching us to serve him truly in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life for it is a gross mistake of some who make the fourth commandment a limitation or a restriction of the first as if he that required our love with all our heart to shew that we ought sooner to be without our heart then without his love did require the publick profession of that love onely one day in seven no we must know and profess the contrary for it is impossible that the greater should be limited by the lesser and our Saviour himself hath told us that Thou shalt love the Lord is the first and great commandment Saint Mat. 20. 38. Wherefore all the rest which have their greatness from this cannot add any greatness to it much less can they take away any greatness from it and consequently the fourth commandment must needs lose its greatness if it be brought to oppose this that is to say to confine this love of God by restraining the exercise of Religion to the Sabbath as if Religion were made for the Sabbath and not rather the Sabbath made for Religion they who look upon Sunday as the onely Sabbath do in effect say That Religion was made for the Sabbath they who look upon other Festivals as Sabbaths also do in effect say That the Sabbath was made for Religion and without doubt they are of the surer side which is the drift we should aim at in all controverted points who say Days were made for duties and not duties for days for these men do say That the substance of Religion is above the exercise of Religion which God himself hath taught us in the very method of the commandments putting the greatest in the first place and that the exercise of Religion was ordained and appointed to preserve and maintain the substance of Religion but by no means to restrain or hinder the same Therefore it is safest explaining the fourth commandment not by way of limitation or restriction as if it limited and restrained the three former to it self which those men do seem to be guilty of who put down all other Christian Festivals as unlawfull and superstitious but by way of specification or application as shewing the necessity of exercising that Religion which is taught and commanded in the three former and not leaving it in our power to omit or neglect that exercise This being laid for a sure ground that we have Gods absolute command not onely for the substance but also for the exercise of Religion it must needs follow that they who regard not the exercise of Religion cannot regard the substance of it and consequently whosoever is unsetled in the exercise of Religion whether it be in the profession or in the practise thereof cannot be thought well grounded in the knowledge and love of God For Divinity is a science that teacheth man to live to God and therefore he that most lives to God is the best Divine the best scholar may be he that hath best ordered his study but the best Divine is he that best ordereth his life and this Divinity St. Paul requireth alike of all Christians who profess to believe in Christ that they have a life answerable to their faith a conversation answerable to their profession Rom. 6. 9. Knowing this that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more there 's the principle of faith and verse 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord there 's the duty of life He is the best Divine he hath the most Christian Logick that most makes such collections for Divinity treats onely of the spiritual life whereby man lives in to him by whom he lives And as the natural life hath two acts the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby it gives life the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby it gives motion so hath also the spiritual life two acts The first consists in the knowledge and love of God the second in the profession of that knowledge and in the practise of that love Of these two acts consisted Abrahams Religion of these two parts consisted his Divinity even of Faith in God as saith S. Paul and of Works according to that Faith as saith S. Iames and if we hope to get into Abrahams bosome we must first get into his study This was Davids Divinitie Psal. 37. 3. Trust in the Lord there 's the knowledge and love of God for no man will trust him whom he doth not know and much less him whom he doth not love and do good there 's the profession according to that knowledge and practise according to that love and we must be men after Davids heart if we desire to be men after Gods own heart In a word This was the Divinity Christ left unto his Church S. Matth. 28. 19 20. First teaching all nations to know God then teaching them to observe his commands and we cannot be good Christians unless we be members of Christs Church and if we be good Christians our faith will make us live in Christ and our conversation will be according to our faith which was the admirable prayer of the ancient Church upon Ascension-eve and I cannot better conclude this discourse then with a prayer nor have I learned to reject a good prayer because I finde it in the Mass-Book no more then I may learn not to say Eli Eli that is my God my God with my blessed Saviour because some out of ignorance others out of malice will say This man calleth for Elias S. Matth. 27. 46. Praesta quaesumus omnipotens Pater ut nostrae mentis intentio quò Unigenitus Filius tuus Dominus noster ingressus est semper intendat quò side pergit conversatione perveniat Grant Lord we beseech thee that whither our Saviour is ascended we may also with heart and minde thither ascend and whither we ascend by our faith there we mayalso dwell by our conversation even in Heaven Amen CHAP. 5. The assurance we have of the substance of Religion in that it is spiritual and resembles God the authour of it in his incommunicable properties of Simplicitie and Infinitie as also in his Immutabilitie and Eternitie which are the two consectaries of Infinitie also in his Omnipotency All-sufficiencie and Omnisciencie which are the three consectaries of his Eternitie THat Religion is of a divine
which he doth continually defile with with his intemperances and uncleanness And this truth being granted which is not to be denied and scarce to be disputed it must needs follow that 't is impossible there should be an absolute infallibility of Faith in any man till there be in him an absolute impeccabilitie of life for from the corruption in manners will proceed the corruption in doctrine and from corruption in doctrine corruption in manners so that the doctrine cannot be the form and the duty the matter of Religion since the false doctrine corrupts the duty and the defective duty corrupts or depraves the doctrine and we must allow the substance of Religion to be altogether incorruptible and because there can be in it no corruption 't is evident there is in it no Physical composition Secondly There is in Religion no Logical composition ex subjecto accidente for no part of it but is substantial and essential Faith can no more save without good works then good works can be without faith It seems the man had faith who came running to kneel to our blessed Saviour and to ask him What he should do to inherit eternal life sure a better faith then any of our Solifidians have who neither run nor kneel nor ask yet our Saviours answer is Thou knowest the commandments S. Mark 10. He saith not Thou knowest the faith in Christ and yet without doubt he included it but so it is Christ himself teaching us to go to heaven by obedience doth plainly shew there can be no true faith without it and Bona opera sunt perniciosa ad salutem is a most pernicious blasphemous doctrine though Amsdortius broach'd it out of zeal to the doctrine of Justification by faith in Christ and out of opposition to the merit of condignity in good works for 't is not the right way to build up faith by pulling down obedience since the Apostle himself telleth us that the truth of the Gospel was made known to all nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16. 26. and 't is evident that faith it self is an act of obedience and a duty enjoyned in the first commandment so that we cannot take away faith from obedience but we must take away obedience from the first and great commandment that most requires it which will not be so much as good Judaisme and therefore sure cannot be good Christianity for the Jews did of purpose in their doctrine as it were entangle the commandments one with another to shew that one could not be violated alone and that our obedience was alike due to all therefore did they teach that the preface I am the Lord thy God was directly on the other side answered by the sixth commandment Thou shalt do no murder for he that kills a man destroys the image of God The first commandment it self Thou shalt have no other gods but me was directly answered by the seventh Thou shalt not commit adultery for idolatrie is a spiritual fornication The third for it seems they looked on the second as included in the first Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain was answered by the eighth Thou shalt not steal for he that will be a thief will not stick to forswear himself The fourth Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day was answered by the ninth Thou shalt not bear false witness for he that will not keep the sabbath doth bear false witness of God that he did not rest on the seventh day The fifth Honour thy father and thy mother was answered and as it were seconded by the tenth Thou shalt not covet for he that gives the reins to his concupiscence shall beget a son that shall dishonour and disobey him Salomom Iarchi in Cantic cap. 4. v. 5. Thus did they make one commandment not onely as a second to vindicate and avenge but also as a principle champion to fortifie and strengthen another that we should pay the readier obedience to them all for they did not this to confound our dutie towards God and our duty towards our neighbour but to shew that though these several duties might be distinguished yet they might not be divided nor separated for that no one commandment of the Moral Law was accidental but all alike substantial in that obedience which God doth now require and will hereafter reward so that there is no composition of Subject and Accident in Religion Thirdly and lastly There is in Religion no Metaphysical composition ex actu potentia of act and power for though this Metaphysical composition is in the Angels yet 't is not in Religion 'T is in the Angels for they have not all their essence and perfection together but as it were successively some after other so that in this respect Religion hath a prerogative above the Angels and therefore may not stoop down so low as to worship them for that hath its whole perfection altogether the Old the New Testament differing onely in modo not in re for the same Faith Hope and Charity saved Abraham that still saveth us and hence it is evident that all is either superstition of faction which cannot consist and be maintained without addition to the text the onely rule of Religion though it pretend not to be addition but onely exposition or declaration As for example When Christ hath said Drink ye all of this that the Laity or Clergy not administring are not bound to drink of it may pretend to be a declaration of the Church Ecclesia declarat nullo divino praecepto Laicos aut Clericos non conficientes ad bibendum obligari Concil Trid. Sess. 21. cap. 1. but it is indeed a depravation of the truth by way of addition Again when God hath said Thou sh'alt not worship any graven image for any man to say Thou shalt not worship the graven image of Venus or Bacchus or Jupiter but thou mayst worship the image of Christ and of the saints seems to be a declaration but is indeed a down right depravation by way of addition and yet this is the fleight whereby Baronius endeavours to elude the second commandment and why may not we as well say Thou shalt not kill that is Thou shalt not kill a Romane Catholick but thou mayst kill an heretick Thou shalt not steal that is Thou shalt not assault or invade the property of a brother one of the godly party but thou mayst of one that is a malignant or a reprobate and yet not be guilty of stealing In a word to instance in the fifth commandment which hath been alike trampled upon by the two grand factions of Christendome Honour thy father and thy mother saith God that is If he be not an heretick saith the one side for then he may be excommunicated deposed and killed If he be not a reprobate saith the other side for then he may be dishonoured and disobeyed and destroyed for having no share in grace he hath no right to
continency then they did observe but concerning this the world would more willingly leave men to the judgement of their own consciences how to serve God with the most purity and with the least distraction if they did but answer to themselves this Question whether it is better that they which have wives be as though they had none 1 Cor. 7. 29. or that they which have no wives be as though they had them for what is best is doubtless in this as in other cases the determination of Religion for that labours to make men like God both in their bodies and in their souls in their bodies by sobriety temperance and chastity either virginal or vidual or conjugal in their souls by holy meditations and more holy affections and where men do most truly express this holiness in their lives and conversations 't is not to be doubted but there is the best and the purest Religion although it is often seen that where is the best and the purest Religion there men do not alwaies express the same in their lives and conversations which made the same S. Augustine declare this as a dogmatical sanction ex malorum Christianorum moribus non vituperandam esse Ecclesiam Aug. lib. de mor. Eccl. Cath. cap. 34. that the Church is not to be blamed for the misdemeanours of some men that live in her communion since she her self condemns those misdemeanours and labours to correct them The upshot of all may be this that not the practical but the doctrinal miscarriages of men are to be imputed to the Church and where are fewest of such miscarriages there is most of truth and goodness where is most of these there is most of the pure Religion for as manners make the man so Religion makes the manners and it is little other then the doctrine of devils that saith hell is full of moral honest men though it pretend to set up faith for S. Paul plainly shews that faith alone was the cause of all moral honesty in the Jews Heb. 11. so that 't is too much for any man to doubt much more to deny but that faith alone is the cause of all true moral honesty in the Christians whence our blessed Saviour preacheth onely moral duties S. Luk 21. 31. take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life c. he bids them be temperate sober and content watch and pray and what is all this but moral honesty yet if this rightly done and 't is rightly done onely in true beleevers proceed not from faith we must infer that we may stand in judgement without faith for so it follows v. 36. that ye may stand before the Son of man nor would Christ have thus taught daily in the temple v. 37. had this not been the right way of preaching true faith in Christ and what he prescribes in his doctrine he performs in his practise for his nights were spent in praying as his days in preaching and therefore to say that hell is full of moral honest men is to say that hell is full of true beleevers and consequently to blaspheme that precious faith in Christ which could not sanctifie the hand in working did it not first sanctifie the heart in beleeving and we cannot but say that Noahs preparing the Ark and Abrahams offering his son was materially an act of obedience that moral honest vertue which this world cares not to profess much less to practise though it was formally an act of faith and so we may say concerning those other examples there cited by S Paul wherein some vertue that belongs to the catalogue of moral honesty will come in for the material part though faith alone may happily challenge the formal part of the performance and Aquina's distinction of actus virtutis imperatus câ—â—â—tus will reconcile the difference for all vertuous acts truly so called are the acts of faith imperativè as commanded by it whence S. Augustine stiled the best works of unbeleevers but gilded or glittering sins though onely the peculiar acts of beleeving and confessing be the acts of faith elicitive as immediately and directly flowing from it for faith is in the soul as the soul is in the body and as all motion in the body is by redundancy from the soul so all good motion in the soul is by redundancy from faith and hence it is there is so great an influence of our words upon our manners and of our manners upon our doctrine and consequently upon our faith for as evil words corrupt good manners so also evil manners corrupt good words it having been the fate of Religion first to decay in mens lives then in their doctrines first in their works then in their faith so that irreligion first gets into our conversations then into our catechismes and the miscarriages of Churches have first been practical and after that dogmatical men being generally more zealous for their credit in labouring to justifie their errours then for their innocency in confessing that they have erred The third and last Attribute we are now to consider in God is his Mercy whereby he freely forgives what is due unto himself For as the act of grace is most clearly evidenced in freely giving what was not due unto the creature so is the act of mercy most conspicuous in freely forgiving what is due from it Aquinas makes Gods Mercy the foundation of all his works of distributive justice even in rewarding the righteous then much more is it the foundation of his not working according to his vindicative justice in the punishment of our unrighteousness 'T is a heavenly contemplation of his and such heavenly contemplations are very frequent in the angelical doctour opus divinae justitiae semper praesupponit opus misericordiae in eo fundatur 1 Par. qu. 21. ar 4. the work of Gods Justice alwaies presupposeth the work of his Mercy and is founded in it for the creature can have nothing due to it but for some thing that is in it and the creature hath nothing in it which did not flow immediately from the goodness of the Creatour therefore that goodness alone must be looked upon as the ground and foundation of all that the creature is capable of which alone put the same into a capacity of any thing at all Et sic in quolibet opere Dei apparet misericordia quantum ad primam radicem ejus cujus virtus salvator in omnibus consequentibus etiam vehementius in eis operatur sicut causa primaria vehementius influit quam causa secunda words that deserve to be engraven with letters of gold and much more to be engraven in our hearts and this is the meaning of them there is no work of God but mercy is the ground and root of it and this ground is preserved in all the building this root is seen in all the fruits that grow from it nay it hath a great efficacy of working above them