Good spell that is the good speak or say the good tidings the word of good news Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born Behold saith the Angel I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2. 10 11. I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ for so much the name of Saviour implies And saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Neither is there saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12. Salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The next words I used shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men and the means whereby it is attained through him namely by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father that we through him might turn unto God and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life All which was foretold by Daniel chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming he said Seventy weeks were determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin I shall not need No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God and liable to eternal wrath Christ by taking our sins upon him abolished this enmity and set us at peace with God his Father according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good-will towards men that is Glory be ascribed to God forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth and Good-will towards men All this is plain But that which the greatest part of men as may be guessed by their practice seem to make question of is that last parcel of my Description That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father that we might through him whose righteousness is imputed to us perform works of piety and obedience which God should accept and crown with eternal life But that this is also a part of the Gospel as well as the former is plain and evident First by that of S. Peter 1 Ep. ch 2. ver 24. where he tells us That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness Secondly by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men Wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Is not this plain Thirdly by that of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works that is not according to the Covenant of works wherein the exact performance was required lest any man should boast namely that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them As if he should say Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in yet now God hath as it were new created us in Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us or them Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father that is that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father For and is here to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that Kings to subdue the world the flesh and the Devil Priests to offer Sacrifices of prayer thanksgiving works of mercy and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father Moreover and besides these express Scriptures this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul Or to use a similitude from weaving Repentance is the warp of the Gospel and the Gospel the woof of Repentance Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel by the shuttle of Faith runs through as the woof whence proceeds the web of Regeneration Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repent and believe the Gospel Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins which is the Gospel should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel which argues that the Gospel of Christ and consequently our Faith in the same supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon So S. Peter in his first Sermon Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them Repent saith he and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins as if he had said Repent and that thy Repentance may be available betake
is and nothing more true That no works of ours in this life can abide the Touch-stone of God's Law and therefore not able to justifie us in the presence of God but to condemn us But it is true also That we are therefore justified through Faith in the bloud and righteousness of Christ that in him we might do works pleasing and acceptable to Almighty God which out of him we could not do For as the bloud and sufferings of Iesus Christ imputed to us through Faith cleanseth and acquitteth us of all the sins whereof we stood guilty afore we believed so the imputation of his righteousness when we believe makes our works though of themselves far short of what they should be yet to be acceptable and just in the eyes of the Almighty Christ supplying out of his Riches our poverty and by communication of his obedience continually perfecting ours where we fail that so we might receive the reward of the righteous of him that shall reward every man according to his works Being therefore in Christ we are so much the more bound to frame our lives in holy obedience unto God's Commandments in that before we were justified we could not but now henceforth we are enabled to do that which for Christ's sake will be acceptable and pleasing to Almighty God our Father This is that which S. Peter tells us 1 Epist. 2. 24. That Christ his own self bare our â—â—s in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness So S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ ver 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Here you may see that Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newness of life so to obtain a crown of righteousness in the world to come But if this be not enough to perswade us to take on this yoke of Christ yet I hope this consideration will do it when I shall shew you that That Faith can never be true which is not attended with these fruits Nor is there any other mean to assure us we are truly come to Christ and ingraffed in him but this If we have taken up this yoke of Christ we may know then we have put on him If we have never put our necks to his yoke we never put on him It is S. Iohn's express assertion 1 Epist. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the the truth Ch. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his commandments The Reason is plain Because the one follows the other as the heat doth the Fire or the light the Sun Which I thus demonstrate both on Christ's part and ours On ours thus He that sincerely sues to and seriously relies upon another for a Favour which nearly concerneth him and no other can do for him will by all means endeavour to avoid whatsoever he knows may distaste his Patron and do his best to approve himself in whatsoever he can learn is most pleasing unto him If you should see a man having a Suit to some great Courtier for a pardon of his life and yet shewing no care of doing in his presence what he knew would deeply offend him and wilfully neglecting that he knew would give him the best content would you think such a man in earnest and sufficiently perplext with fear of death and seriously relying upon that man to save it I know you would not If therefore out of a true affrightment and sense of the wrath of God for sin with a sincere and serious Faith thou suest unto and reliest upon Christ for mercy and redemption as the only name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved how canst thou but love him with all the Powers of thy Soul and therefore do thy best to please him upon whom thou dependest for so great and unvaluable a benefit If thou dost not surely thou hast not yet weighed thy misery sufficiently thy Faith is insufficient and counterfeit it never yet came home to Christ that he might ease thee The same appears on Christ's part For unto whomsoever Christ is given for Iustification through the imputation of his merits and righteousness in him God creates a new heart and reneweth a right spirit as the Psalmist speaketh Psal. 51. 10. that is by virtue of this union he conferreth upon him the grace of his Spirit for the abolishing of the body of sin and enabling the Soul in some measure against the assaults thereof to abandon at least the more eminent notorious enormous and mortal sins though sins of ordinary infirmity shall not be quite subdued in this life If therefore I see a man run still without restraint into gross and open sins and walk not blameless in the eyes of men I conclude he hath not this Spirit of grace within him and therefore was never ingraffed into Christ by a true and lively Faith Wheresoever therefore is a true faith and unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. there follows a new life He that cometh to Christ sincerely takes his yoke upon him too Labour therefore as S. Iames saith to shew your Faith by your works For not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father saith Christ shall inherit the kingdom of heaven DISCOURSE XXXII S. MATTHEW 11. 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls THese Words are a continuing of the former Exhortation to take upon us the yoke of Christ First in general That we follow his Example Learn of me Then in particular wherein we should follow him In Meekness and Lowliness For I am saith he Meek and Lowly in heart Then the Profit we shall reap thereby Do this And ye shall find rest unto your souls For the first Learn of me Observe That Christ is given unto us not only for a Sacrifice for sin but for an Example of life They are the words of one of our Collects For he is our Lord and King and Subjects we know will naturally conform and fashion themselves unto the manners of their Princes Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis And those which do so are accounted the most devoted to them and are the best accepted of them If Christ then be our Lord and King we must acknowledg him to be such by conforming to his Example
unto Christ is I will farther make plain thus He that believeth that Christ is an atonement to God for the sins of all repentant sinners and surely he is an atonement for none else must repent and turn from all his sins that so Christ may be an atonement for him else he embraceth not what he believeth He that believes that God in Christ will accept and reward our obedience and works of Piety though short of perfection and of no worth in themselves must apply himself accordingly to do works of Religion and Charity that God in Christ may accept and reward them For our Belief is not that saving Belief until we apply our selves to what we believe To believe to attain Salvation through Christ without works of obedience to be accepted in him is as I have already said a false Faith whereof there is no Gospel no Promise To believe the contrary That Christ is given of God to such only as shall receive him to perform acceptable obedience to God through him and yet not to apply and buckle our selves thereto were indeed to believe what is true but yet no saving Faith because we embraced not the thing we believed as we believed it Thou sayest then thou hast Faith and believest that Christ is the atonement to God for the sins of all such as leave and forsake their sins by Repentance why then repent thee of thy sins that Christ may be an atonement for thee Thou sayest thou hast this Faith That God in Iesus Christ will accept thy undeserving works and services unto eternal life why then embrace thou Christ and rely upon him for this end that thou mayest do works of Piety towards God and Charity towards men that so God in Christ may accept thee and them unto eternal life Now if this be the Faith which is Saving and unites us unto Christ and no other then it is plain That a saving Faith cannot be severed from good works because no man can embrace Christ as he is promised but he must apply himself to do them For out of that which hath been spoken three Reasons may be gathered for the necessity of them First It is the end of our Faith and Iustification by Christ yea the end why he shed his bloud for us that we being reconciled to God in him might bring forth fruits of righteousness which else we could never have done This is no Speculation but plain Scripture S. Peter 1 Ep. 2. 24. telleth us that Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works These words contain the Summe of all I have hitherto told you That Christ is therefore given us to be a Propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newness of life so to obtain a Crown of righteousness in the world to come Answerable is that place Ephes. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. we are saved by grace through saith and not of works lest any man should boast he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken as it is of too many That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them as if he should say Those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in which we could not perform of our selves now God hath as it were new moulded us in Iesus Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by Grace and Favour and not by the Merit of works because the Foundation whereby our selves and our services are approved in the eyes of God and acquitted of guilt which the Scripture calleth to be justified is the mere Favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us And this way of Salvation excludes all boasting for what have we to boast of when all the righteousness of our works is none of ours but Christ's imputed to us whereby only and not for any merit in themselves they become acceptable and have promise of Reward But that men should be saved by Christ though they be idle and do nothing I know no such Grace of God revealed in Scripture Now that in Christ we may perform works of righteousness which God will accept and crown is plain by the tenour of Scripture S. Paul Phil. 1. 11. desires that the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Iesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And the same Apostle tells the Romans Rom. 6. 22. That being made free from sin and become servants to God they have their fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life that is as the Syriack turns it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have holy fruits whose end is life eternal And if we would seriously consider it we should find That the more we believe this righteousness of Faith in Christ the more reason we have to perform works of service and obedience unto God than if we believed it not For if our works would not be acceptable with God unless they were compleat in every point as the Law required if there were no reward to be looked for at the hands of God unless we could merit it by the worthiness of our deeds who that considers his own weakness and insufficiency would not sooner despair than go about to please God by works He would think it better to do nothing at all than to endeavour what he could never hope to attain and so lose his labour But we who believe that those who serve God in Christ have their failings and wants covered with his righteousness and so their works accepted as if they were in every point as they should be why should not we of all men fall to work being sure by Christ's means and merit we shall not lose our labour A second Motive why we should do good works is Because they are the Way and Means ordained by God to obtain the Reward of eternal life without which we shall never attain it Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Look to your selves saith S. Iohn Ep. 2. ver 8. that ye lose not those things ye have wrought but that ye may receive a full reward The
probably would have given light to some hard places of Scripture which now may remain dark and unassoiled till the last Day of Iudgment 24. As these various Perfections and useful Accomplishments made his company very desirable to Scholars so the goodness of his Disposition made him equally Communicative and free to impart his Knowledge to those who came to him either out of the same University or from abroad To these he used to impart himself with that willingness that it seem'd questionable whether had the greater desire they to hear or he to communicate his Studies to them Which made a familiar Friend of his once merrily to say to one that having been partaker of his discourse gave him thanks That he might spare his thanks for that they were not so much beholding to him for delivering himself to them as he was to them for hearing him For this great advantage he made himself of the Civility which he shew'd to others that by the communication of his Notions to his Friends they became so fixed in his memory that he was afterward able readily to deliver them in a well-form'd discourse and was wont as often as he had occasion to express himself in publick especially in those Colledge-exercises which they call Common-places to make use of the fore-mentioned Discourses which with a little labour he could put into an apt form Some of which are those excellent Diatribae which with the rest of his Works are published for the common Benefit of the Church Which though but few in comparison of that great store wherewith so rich a magazine was furnished yet even in those few he hath discovered more rare pieces of recondite Learning than are to be found in some vast Volumes of many much-admired Authors 25. Concerning which Diatribae this is fit to be advertis'd That though there are in some of them several things of a strain that transcends the capacities of common Readers yet it would be a great mistake for that reason to suspect this worthy person as guilty of Ostentation or Affectedness For as they were Academical Exercises and not fitted for a vulgar Audience so he himself was of all knowing men the greatest Hater of that vanity He always disapprov'd the unnecessary quotations of Authors and the use of Forein Languages and Terms of Art in popular Sermons and expressing his dislike of such practices too much in use among some not only young Fellows of Colledges and other young Preachers but even those of more age and experience would sometimes say That they savoured of as much Inconsiderateness as if Shooe-makers should bring Shooes to be drawn on with their Lasts in them judging it a scarce pardonable folly for men going about the instruction of the ignorant to propound things in such Terms as themselves understood not till they had spent many years at the School or University and which how significant soever in themselves and to the Learned yet were but as so many Stumbling-blocks to common Auditors or at the best but as Stiles which though some might possibly leap over yet they interrupted the progress of their attention 26. Nay to give this Excellent person his just right he was so far from the vanity of Ostentation that it is hard to say whether he was more eminent for his rare Knowledge or for his singular Humility and Modesty in valuing his own Abilities insomuch as he could not without trouble hear of that great Opinion and Esteem which some deservedly enough had conceived of his great Learning he owning only some diligence freedom from prejudice and studium partium as his best abilities as himself hath excellently express'd it in a Letter of his to his friend Mr. Samuel Hartlib To which may be added That having received some notices of the great value which some Learned men both at home and in a forein University put upon his Apocalyptick Labours he made only this modest return to a Friend who perhaps thought he might highly please him with that news That he saw no great cause for all that why he should think much better of himself adding withal That he had frequently observ'd it to be the hap of many a Book that had little or no worth in it to find applause in the world when in the mean while a well-deserving Book is scarce taken notice of So far was this Good man from all proud self-reflections from glorying in his wisdom and strength of Parts or in any performance of his own Of this rare Temper of Spirit this also may be remembred as another pregnant Instance That when he was earnestly importun'd by some to write in difficiliora loca S. Scripturae for which task he was incomparably furnished he answered with a sigh No and being pressed to give a reason besides many things which he offered as That it required â— more time than he could reckon upon he had to live and 2 more and better Books than he had at present or could command and 3 that such a work must be done in an Age when mens thoughts are not imprison'd or circumscrib'd within the pale of over-ruling parties he added this also 4 That it would require more Learning than he had or was capable of 27. To omit many other Instances of his Humility for his life was full of them we shall add The little desire which he had either to Academical Honours or to great Preferments and worldly Advantages For the former this may not unfitly be here remembred That he was studiously regardless of Academical Degrees as being unwilling to make any great noise and report in the world And but that he was over-power'd to do it by the then Master of the Colledge he had never so far proceeded as to have been Bachelour in Divinity Thus he express'd himself to some in private A Master of Arts he was and a great Master of them too before he was so call'd but more than so to be he affected not An argument that that Grace was eminent in him wherein others most commonly are too short and defective And for the latter how far he was from any ambitious and eager pursuing the advantages and great things of this world appear'd as by his refusing the offer made him by his Unkle and that also by the then Bishop of Ely which we intimated before so likewise by his modest denial of the Provostship of Trinity Colledge near Dublin in Ireland to which he was elected upon the recommendation of another great Prelate the L. Primate of Armagh and by his unwillingness the second time to accept of it when he was in danger to be put into that Preferment The height of his Ambition was only to have had some small Donative sine cura made additional to his Fellowship or to have been placed in some Collegiate Church or Rural Colledge Some such place of quiet retirement from the noise and tumults of the world with a Competency moderated by Agur's wish Neither Poverty
when there is no benefit by it but if it chance to be once beneficial to our selves then we love it Here is the trial of a Loyal heart to God to prefer vertue before vice then when in humane reason vertue shall be the loser vice the gainer This note discovered Iehu who destroyed the worship of Baal with a great shew of zeal but when it came to Ieroboam's Calves he dispensed with them lest it might prove dangerous to his Kingdom if the Israelites should go worship at Ierusalem 4. To conclude A Loyal heart is that which the Scripture calls in the old Testament A perfect heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not perfect in respect of degrees for such a perfection is not attainable in this life but perfect in respect of parts Cor integrum a heart wherein no part is wholly wanting howsoever weak and a great deal short of due proportion 1 Kings 11. 4. when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with his God as was the Heart of David his Father not because he served not the Lord at all but that he served him not only and intirely Ioshua 24. 14. Now therefore saith he fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in perfectness and truth and put away the Gods which your Fathers served which was as much as to say Serve the Lord wholly and quite renounce all service to others 2 Kings 20. 3. Hezekiah prayes in his sickness Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He saith not he had done perfect Actions or performed perfect service for who can do such but yet that he walked with a perfect heart that is with a loyal heart before God So 1 Kings 15. 14. it is said That though Asa failed in his Reformation and the high places were not removed nevertheless his heart was perfect that is loyal with the Lord all his dayes THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of the Act Keep and of the Heart the Object of our keeping which are the two first things I considered in this Admonition The Third remains which is the Manner or Means how our heart is to be kept viz. with all diligence or above all keeping saith the Text that is with the best the surest the chiefest kind of keeping which is not only now and then to look unto it but to set a continual guard about it Nature hath placed the Heart in the most fenced part of the body having the Breast as a natural Corslet to defend it If the Heart be in fear or danger all the bloud and spirits in the body will forsake the outward parts and run to preserve and succour it If Nature be so provident for that which is but the Fountain of a natural life what care should the spiritual man have to keep his heart and soul guarded and fortified against all annoiances spiritual The life we lose if this be wounded or poisoned is inestimable the other of Nature is of no great value Yea but perhaps a natural man's heart is liable to more natural dangers than the heart of a man that lives to God-ward is to spiritual annoiances I answer The contrary is true For the Heart we speak of whence the Issues of the life of grace proceed is like a City every moment liable both to inward commotion and outward assault Within the fountain of original Impurity is continually more or less bubbling with rebellion Without the World and the Devil continually either assault it or lye in Ambuscado to surprise it The world batters it with three great and dangerous Engines of Pleasures Riches and Honours wherewith she endeavoureth to lay it waste and rob it of all heavenly treasure The Devil watcheth every opportunity to hurl in his fiery darts to cast all into a combustion and thereby farther to invenome and enrage the already-too-much impoisoned vitiousness and impetuousness of our corrupt nature How needful a thing is it therefore to follow this precept of Solomon to keep our hearts with all diligence or above all keeping to keep them with a continual guard to keep a continual watch and ward left the enemies surprise them Watch and pray saith our Saviour Matt. 26. 41. that ye enter not into temptation Watch in all things saith S. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. Be sober be vigilant saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 5. 8. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour If the heart be to be kept with all diligence or above the keeping of any thing else then is this Watch we hear commanded and this Guard of Prayer and this is a strong Guard to be chiefly and above all applied unto it But for a more particular direction of this guarding of the Heart we must be careful to observe this order following 1. As those who keep a City attempted or besieged by an Enemy have special care of the Gates and Posterns whereat the Enemie may get in So must we in this Guard of the Heart watch especially over the Gates and Windows of the Soul the Senses and above all the Eye and the Ear whereat the Devil is wont to convey the most of those pollutions wherewith the Heart is wasted First concerning the Eye David's example may warn the holiest men to the world's end to keep a watchful jealousie over it What a number of Cut-throats did one idle glance upon Bathsheba let in who made that Royal Heart whose uprightness God so much approved to become a sty of uncleanness and robbed it of those heavenly ornaments wherewith it was so plentifully adorned For the Ear take heed of obscene and wanton talk which by those Doors or Windows entring like Balls of Wild-fire inflame the Heart with lust We must beware also of the slanderer's mouth and backbiters tongue whose lying reports and malicious tales if they get in would sow in thine heart the seeds of heart-burning spight and mental murther which in that sinful soil will fructifie very rankly And think them no small sins which make thee guilty of innocent bloud for thine heart and tongue may kill thy brother as well as thy hand 2. As those who keep and defend a City make much of such as are faithful trusty and serviceable and if any such come will entertain and welcom them with much kindness but a Traitor or one of the enemie's party they presently cut short as soon as they discover him So must we make exceedingly much of all good motions put into our hearts by God's Spirit howsoever occasioned whether by the Word of God mindfulness of death good Admonition some special cross or extraordinary mercy any way at any time These are our Hearts friends we must cherish encrease and improve them to the
world until now to be honourable before God both in Soul and body or shall not intreat their prayers Let him be Anathema which when the Definition came to be read in the Council the prevailing part of the Fathers caused to be blotted out whereupon that slander fastned on them by their enemies may seem to have taken the first hint as if forsooth by their rejecting these two foisted Canons they had therefore denied whatsoever was contained in them as That the Virgin Mary was Deipara the Mother of God or That the Saints were to be honoured so much as with that honourable title of Saints For Cedrenus would make us believe That this Emperor Constantine published a general law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that none of the Servants of God should in any wise be called Saints yea that such of their Reliques as were found should be despised and their Intercession not to be prayed for because said he they can avail nothing The prophane wretch added saith the same Author Let no man pray for the Intercession no not of Mary for she can do him no good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moreover that she should not be called Deipara that is the Mother of God Then he tells us that he compared the Blessed Virgin after she was delivered of Christ to a purse emptied of the gold that was once in it The same with Cedrenus almost word for word hath Suidas so that the one may seem to have been transcribed out of the other But Theosterictus one who lived at the same time whereas Cedrenus was more than 240 years after seems much more ingenuous For in his funeral Oration upon Nicetus a Confessor of those times whose Disciple he was relating otherwise the same things which Cedrenus and Suidas do yet when he comes to the story of the purse he brings in the Emperor expresly calling the Virgin Mary Deipara but finds fault that he would not vouchsafe her the name Saint Ita Deiparens Maria saith he neque enim Sanctam dignabatur nominare illam saith Theosterictus indignus ille quo tempore Christum in se habebat valde honoranda illa erat ex quo autem tempore illum peperit nihil differebat à reliquis Indeed it seems that at the wiping out of those fore-mentioned Canons there passed something in the Council as is wont in such disputes concerning an indifference or lawfulness in ordinary speech to mention such places as were dedicated to the memory of Saints without the addition of the name Saint For I find that Stephen the Monk afterward forsooth a Martyr at what time the Emperor sent some of the Bishops and others unto him to require his subscription to the Decree of the Council thus expostulates with them Did ye not saith he discard this adjective Saint from all the Iust from all the Apostles from the Prophets Martyrs and other godly men For it was bravely decreed by you That when any one were going to any of these and were asked whither he went he should answer To the Apostles To the forty Martyrs or being asked whence he came he should in like manner say From the Temple of the Martyr Theodore From the Temple of the Martyr George But Theosterictus tells the same thing of the Emperor Constantine himself Sanctos Martyres saith he quantum in ipsoerat honore privavit cùm praeceperit non esse illos Sanctos appellandos sed simpliciter nominari Apostolos quadraginta Martyres Theodorum Georgium alios similiter He deprived as much as in him lay the holy Martyrs of honour in that he commanded they should not be styled Saints but simply named The Apostles The forty Martyrs Theodore George c. Whereby it appears that this Law whatsoever it was which these Authors charge the Emperor with was something that proceeded from the Council it self as Monk Stephen even now charged them Besides that it was something only about the calling of Places dedicated to Saints though our Authors as Calumniators use tell it of Saints at large Lastly that it seems to have grown upon some question how far and in what kind Saints were to be honoured which was occasioned by the wiping out of those Canons afore-mentioned Ioannes Curopalata and Cedrenus relate That Michael Balbus the last save one of the Emperors that opposed Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained that the word Saint should not be set upon any Images wheresoever they were painted For this was and as some say is yet the fashion of the Greeks to add the names of the Saints to the Images which are to represent them Now if any such thing as this were done or discoursed of in the days of Constantinus whom they call Copronymus you may easily guess what fuel it might add to the fire of that slander we speak of But why should we trouble our selves any longer to find out the Original of that which we are certain was a notorious lie For it is apparent in the Definition of the Council it self which is thus calumniously charged that they both give the Title of Saints often to the Apostles Fathers and others and of Deipara to the Blessed Virgin I shall not need to recount every place where they give the Title of Saint to particulars hear but what they say in general Sancti qui Deo placuerunt ab ipso sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dignitate Sanctitatis honorati vivunt semper Deo licèt hinc migraverunt The Saints which pleased God and are by him honoured with the dignity of Saintship though they be departed hence yet to God they always live Again Nefas est Christianis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemonum cultricum Gentium moribus uti Sanctos qui tali tantâ gratiâ resplendebunt sc. conregnare cum Christo judicare orbem terrarum conformes fieri gloriae ipsius in ingloria mortua materia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contumeliâ afficere It is unlawful for Christians to use the fashions of the Gentiles which worshipped Daemons or Devils and in a base and liveless matter they mean Images to dishonour the Saints which shall one day shine in such and so great grace and glory viz. to reign with Christ and to judge the world and to be made like to his glory as they said a little before Concil Nicen. 2. Act. 6. Tom. 4. As for the other part of the Calumny about styling the Virgin Mary Deipara hear not only what they practised but what they expresly decreed ibid. Tom. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ◠If any shall not confess God to be truly Emmanuel and therefore the holy Virgin to be Deipara the Mother of God Let him be Anathema Here the Blessed Virgin hath both the name of Saint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mother of God given her All this you shall find in the sixth Act of the Idolatrous Council of Nice where the Enemies whilest they would confute
Haud temerè suspicatus sum de argumento nam eandem planè tuetur de Die suo Novissimo sententiam quam ego de Die Iudicii conceperam Ut Libro prelecto non mediocriter in sententia mea confirmatus sim tum propter hoc ipsum tum quòd multa Scripturae loca in eo reperi adeò ad meam mentem interpretata ut consensionem in talibus à communi sententia abeuntibus oppidò mirarer Vides Reverende Praesul quò me rapit Contemplatiunculae meae nimium fortaâ—se studium ut etiam tibi hisce narrandis importunus sim. Sed ultrà Paternitatem tuam à gravioribus tuis meditationibus non distinebo Deus te Reverendissime ac Illustrissime Domine quà m diutissimè incolumem superstitem velit Ecclesiae Patriae tuae bono E. Collegio Christi 24 Aprilis An. 1628. Reverendissimae Paternitatis tuae studiosissimus Iosephus Medus EPISTLE IV. Mr. Mede's Second Letter to Archbishop Usher touching the Millennium and the Chronology of the Samaritan Pentateuch c. My Reverend Lord HAving understood by Mr. Lowe's Letter to Mr. Chappel that my Books were lost between Dublin and Droghedah as they were coming to your Lordship I presumed a second time to obtrude upon your Grace three or four more of them howsoever the worth were not such that the first loss was much material I sent with them a Letter and a Speculation or two with it which yet through some defect in sending I fear will come after them I beseech your Lordship pardon me if I have offended as I am afraid I have either against discrâ—tion or good manners For I confess I have been since somewhat jealous that the Books I first sent were not so lost but that they were found again which if they were how can I but blush to think that I have with such either shew of self-love or unmannerly importunity again troubled your Lordship with them who should noâ— have presumed at the first to have offered any more than one But my confidence is in your Grace's experienced humanity to accept any thing in good part from a Scholar's hand though perhaps accompanied with some melancholick vanity My Lord I sent in the Letter I mention the last Paragraph or piece of some Specimina Interpretationum Apocalypticarum namely that which concerned the Millennium Whereto I added for further probability of my Conceit somewhat more out of my Adversaria and in special that one of Carpentarius's Com. in Alcinoum Platonis p. 322. Septimum Millenarium ab universa Cabbalistarum Schola vocari MAGNVM DIEM IVDICII Wherein I had no intent or thought not yet have to avow that old conceit of the Chiliasts That the World should as it were labour 6000 years and in the Seventh thousand should be that glorious Sabbath of the Reign of Christ I inclined to think it much nearer But only to shew how fitly in the Hebrew notion not only a long time of some Years and Ages but even this very time of a Thousand years might be styled a Day Howbeit I desire your Lordship to give me leave if but for your recreation to relate the event of a piece of my Curiosity since that time the rather because the means thereof is beholding to your Grace I chanced to light upon Mr. Selden's Marmora Arundelliana and found therein together with an honorable and deserved mention of your Grace's name the Chronology of your Samaritan Pentateuch published to the view of the whole world I had thereby opportunity to take more curious notice thereof than I had done when your Lordship was in England and observed that it much more exceeded the Iewish in the Genealogy of the Patriarchs after the floud then it came short in those before it It came therefore into my mind to try how near the 6000 years of the world would be by that computation I found it would be Anno AErae Christianae 1736 which is just the very year when the 1260 years of the Beast's reign will expire if it be reckoned from the Deposition of Augustulus the last Roman Emperor Depositio Angustuli Anno AErae Christ. 476 Anni Regni Bestiae 1260 Sum. 1736 A Condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. juxta Scaligerum 3949 Adde quadriennium quo idem anticipat initium Nebuchadnezzaris nam in caeteris nihil muto 4 Excessus Chronologiae Samaritanae supra Iudaicam 311 Ità à condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. erunt Ann. 4264 Adde annos AErae Christ. quando exibunt Tempora Bestiae seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si ducantur à depositione Angustuli 1736 Sum. 6000 I began here to consider whether this difference of the Account of the years of the world were not ordered by a special disposition of Providence to frustrate our Curiosity in searching the time of the Day of Iudgment My Lord I would trouble your Lordship with a Conceit or two more if I had time As that I conceive Nebuchadnezzar's dream Dan 2. to have been some years before he sought for the interpretation which was the reason he had forgotten it the words in ver 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken for the dream and may be well so construed viz. That his dream came upon him or came into his mind Also that the 40 years Ezek. 4. 6. should be the time of Manasses Idolatry for which God threatens so often that he would destroy that Kingdom But Mr. Provost will not stay for me I beseech the Almighty long to bless your Grace and grant you life and thus I end with my humble Service and am Christ's Coll. 22 May 1628. Your Lordship 's most ready to be commanded Ioseph Mede EPISTLE V. Mr. Hayn his First Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation SALUTEM in CHRISTO Worthy and Learned Sir SOme kind friend have lately imparted to me your Synchronisms of the Apocalyps printed and some other written passages on Daniel's times and other parts of Scripture The world must needs give good entertainment to your painful and learned labours who have undertaken paths troden by few with much care of sure footing especially in your Synchronisms Yet see how it falls out as in this kind it cannot be avoided in all things you shall not find assent For my part I know well quà m sit mihi curta supellex yet partly that I may be better instructed my self partly to give you occasion of further clearing the Truth I have sent here included some Positions with Arguments confirming them contrary to some of your Tenets desiring your favourable interpretation of my meaning and your Answer at your best leisure and assuring you that I do this not contradicendi studio sed amore veritatis indagandae and minding if you encourage me thereto to shew hereafter my Reasons of some dissent in other matters I commend you and your studies to God's blessing and rest From Christs-parish in London Iune 5. 1629.