to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the People For in that he himself hath suffred being tempted he is able to succour them which are tempted Which of you my Beloved friends when he does seriously meditate on this place will not be forc'd to sit down even ravish'd and astonish'd at the excessive superabundant Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ That he which was the God that created us in whom we live move and have our being and being more intrinsecal to us then our own Natures as the Schools do boldly express doth know our most hidden thoughts long before they are that he notwithstanding should descend to submit himself to the same infirmities and temptations with us to this end that by bettering and adding to that knowledg which he had before of our wants and miseries to wit by perfecting and increasing-his former speculative knowledg by a new acquired experimental knowledg he might be better acquainted with what we want and thereby more inclin'd to Mercy and Commiseration and more powerful to succour us being tempted 47. See Behold beloved Christians how for our sakes he hath enlarg'd as it were three of his glorious incomprehensible Attributes 1. His Omniscience by knowing that personally and experimentally which he did before only know contemplatively 2. His Mercy in that this his Knowledg doth more incite his Goodness And 3. his Omnipotent Power for saith the Text in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is thereby able to succour them which are tempted There seems likewise to be an access to his Glory by this his great Humility For saith the Text in Heb. 5.5 Christ glorified not himself to be an High Priest Heb. 5.5 48. Wo unto us my beloved friends if such mercies as these be neglected and sleightned by us Wo unto us if a Commandement proceeding from such a Law-giver have not greater force upon us then any Obligation whatsoever 49. And if these things be so Use 1 then in the first place How miserably are those deceived that think they have sufficiently observ'd this Commandement when they deny to themselves some one delightful insinuating affection some one enormous crying sin to which they see others wilfully and scandalously devoted yet in the mean time reserve to themselves many a bosome private beloved lust 50. You that know the story of Ananias and Saphira may remember with what a fearful name the Holy Spirit hath branded their sin it is called no less then Lying to the Holy Ghost it comes near both in name and condition to that fearful sin for which Christ did not dye and for which God could yet never find mercy enough to forgive 51. Yet consider what this sin was They voluntarily sold all the means they had that the money being equally divided might supply the necessity of those that wanted Notwithstanding to make sure work for some certain estate whereupon they might relie they subducted some part of the money and laid the rest at the Apostles feet 52. S. Peter told them that their land was in their own power neither did any constraint lye upon them to enforce them to sell all But since they had profess'd themselves among the number of them which were willing to cloathe and cherish and feed Christ in the persons of their new-converted brethren It was horrible theft and desperate sying against God to diminish one penny of the sum 53. Now that you may know how much this concerns you Which of you Beloved Christians hath not solemnly and publickly sworn and vowed to Almighty God at your Baptism not to prefer the vain pomp and vanities of this world much less the abominable crimes thereof above your Saviour into whose name you were baptized 54. Are not you then most shamefully perjur'd when you are so far from renouncing the vanities of this world for Christ his sake that you will not be withdrawn from the crimes of it When the base lust of an Harlot or the furious excess of Wine or that untempting undelightful and therefore more unpardonable sin of Swearing and Blasphemy shall be of sufficient force with you every hour not only to withdraw all manner of respect and obedience from Christ but even to make you crucifie him again and to put him to open shame 55. And do not please your selves in this conceit that because God does not exact of you now the forfeiture of your vow and promise as he did of Ananias and his Wife that therefore your case is much better than theirs For let me tell you as our Saviour on such an occasion told the Jews Think you that you are less sinners than they whose bloud Pilate mingled with the sacrifices or those upon whom the Tower of Siloe fell So let me say unto you Think you that because God shewed so terrible an example upon Ananias and Saphira for their lying to the Holy Ghost by taking them away suddenly by a fearful death and hath not yet shewed the like upon you that your sin comes much short of theirs and that you may notwithstanding escape I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall likewise perish Alas what a trifle was that judgement which befell them to those plagues which are reserved for wilful obstinate sinners 56. I beseech you therefore Brethren even by the bowels of Jesus Christ that you would consider what it is you do when you allow your selves in the practise of any one habitual sin it is no less then a wilful wiping off the water wherewith you were Baptized it is no less than an abjuring of Christ nay it is no less than a devoting and sacrificing your selves to Devils 57. In the second place Use 2 Where will those appear that are so far from denying all for Christ that for his sake they will not leave one delightful profitable sin they will rather deny Christ himself than the least troublesome pleasure running into all excess of riot nay they will sell Christ cheaper than Judas did they will sell him and take no money for him What else do those that spend their time in idle vain Lying in fruitless Oaths in unnecessary Blasphemy They can be content to see Christ himself almost every day naked and do not cloathe him hungry and do not feed him in prison and do not visit him for in as much as they perform not these works of charity to his beloved little ones they deny them to Him Will they be found worthy of Christ that for his sake will not do so much as a Heathen hath done in an humour or for the unprofitable reward of fame that for his sake will not forgive their brother some small injury received nay perhaps some great kindness offered as a seasonable correction or loving disswasion from sin that for his sake will not take the least pains in furthering their own salvation 58. Lastly Use 3 What will become of me and you beloved Fathers and brethren of the Clergy We to whom God
to make them as heaven-like as they can with earthly ornaments Is this a sign that they are warping towards Popery Is this devotion in the Church of England an argument that she is coming over to the Church of Rome Sir Edwin Sands I presume every man will grant had no inclination that way yet he forty years since highly commended this part of devotion in Papists and makes no scruple of proposing it to the imitation of Protestants Little thinking that they who would follow his counsel and endeavour to take away this disparagement of Protestants and this glorying of Papists should have been censured for it as making way and inclining to Popery His words to this purpose are excellent words and because they shew plainly that what is now practised was approved by zealous Protestants so long ago I will here set them down 23. This one thing I cannot but highly commend in that sort and order They spare nothing which either cast can perform in enriching or skill in adorning the Temple of God or to set out his Service with the greatest pompe and magnificence that can be devised And although for the most part much basenesse and childishnesse is predominant in the Masters and Contrivers of their Ceremonies yet this outward state and glory being well disposed doth ingender quicken increase and nourish the inward reverence respect and devotion which is due unto Soveraign Majesty and Power And although I am not ignorant that many men well reputed have embraced the thrifty opinion of that Disciple who thought all to be wasted that was bestowed upon Christ in that sort and that it were much better bestowed upon him or the poor yet with an eye perhaps that themselves would be his quarter-Almoners notwithstanding I must confesse it will never sink into my heart that in proportion of reason the allowance for furnishing out of the service of God should be measured by the scant and strict rule of meer necessity a proportion so low that nature to other most bountiful in matter of necessity hath not failed no not the most ignoble creatures of the world and that for our selves no measure of heaping but the most we can get no rule of expence but to the utmost pompe we list Or that God himself had so enriched the lower parts of the world with such wonderfull varieties of beauty and glory that they might serve only to the pampering of mortall man in his pride and that in the Service of the high Creator Lord and Giver the outward glory of whose higher pallace may appear by the very lamps that we see so far off burning gloriously in it only the simpler baser cheaper lesse noble lesse beautiful lesse glorious things should be imployed Especially seeing as in Princes Courts so in the Service of God also this outward state and glory being well disposed doth as I have said ingender quicken increase and nourish thâ—â—ward reverence respect and devotion which is due to so Soveraign Majesty and Power Which those whom the use thereof cannot perswade unto would easily by the want of it be brought to confesse for which cause I crave leave to be excused by them herein if in Zeal to the common Lord of all I choose rather to commend the vertue of an enemy than to flatter the vice and imbecillity of a friend And so much for this matter 24. Again what if the names of Priests and Altars so frequent in the ancient Fathers though not in the now Popish sense be now resumed and more commonly used in England than of late times they were that so the colourable argument of their conformity which is but nominal with the ancient Church and our inconformity which the Governours of the Church would not have so much as nominal may be taken away from them and the Church of England may be put in a state in this regard more justifiable against the Romane than formerly it was being hereby enabled to say to Papists whensoever these names are objected we also use the names of Priests and Altars and yet believe neither the corporal Presence nor any Proper and propitiatory Sacrifice 25. What if Protestants be now put in minde that for exposition of Scripture they are bound by a Canon to follow the ancient Fathers which whosoever doth with sincerity it is utterly impossible he should be a Papist And it is most falsly said by you that you know that to some Protestants I clearly demonstrated or ever so much as undertook or went about to demonstrate the contrary What if the Centurists be censured somewhat roundly by a Protestant Divine for aâ—â—ming that the keeping of the Lord's day was a thing indifferent for two hundred years Is there in all this or any part of it any kind of proof of this scandalous Calumny 26. As for the points of Doctrine wherein you pretend that these Divines begin of late to falter and to comply with the Church of Rome upon a due examination of particulars it will presently appear First that part of them always have been and now are held constantly one way by them as the Authority of the Church in determining Controversies of faith though not the infallibility of it That there is Inherent Justice though so imperfect that it cannot justifie That there are Traditions though none necessary That charity is to be preferred before knowledge That good Works are not properly meritorious And lastly that Faith alone justifies though that faith justifies not which is alone And secondly for the remainder that they every one of them have been anciently without breach of charity disputed among Protestants such for example were the Questions about the Pope's being the Antichrist The lawfulness of some kind of prayers for the dead The Estate of the Fathers Souls before Christ's Ascension Freewill Predestination Universal grace The possibility of keeping God's Commandments The use of Pictures in the Church Wherein that there hath been anciently diversity of opinion amongst Protestants it is justified to my hand by a Witness with you beyond exception even your great friend M. Breerly whose care exactness and fidelity you say in your Preface is so extraordinary great Consult him therefore Tract 3. Sect. 7. of his Apology And in the 9 10 11 14 24 26 27 37. Subdivisions of that Section you shall see as in a mirror your self proved an egregious Calumniator for charging Protestants with innovation and inclining to Popery under pretence forsooth that their Doctrine begins of late to be altered in these points Whereas M. Breerly will inform you They have been anciently and even from the beginning of the Reformation controverted amongst them though perhaps the stream and current of their Doctors run one way and only some brook or rivulet of them the other 27. And thus my Friends I suppose are clearly vindicated from your scandals and calumnies It remains now that in the last place I bring my self fairly off from your foul aspersions that so my Person may
no wonder that no one can be excused from deadly and damnable sin for if voluntary Blasphemy and Perjury which are opposed only to the infused Moral Vertue of Religion can never be excused from mortal sin much less can Heresie be excused which opposeth the Theological Vertue of Faith 11 If any object that Schism may seem to be a greater sin than Heresie because the Vertue of Charity to which Schism is opposite is greater than Faith according to the Apostle saying Now there remain (o) 1 Cor. 13.13 Faith Hope Charity but the greater of these is Charity S. Thomas answers in these words Charity hath two Objects one principal to wit the Divine (p) 2.2 q. 39. ar 2. in corp ad 3. Goodness and another secondary namely the good of our Neighbour But Schism and other sins which are committed against our Neighbour are opposite to Charity in respect of this secondary good which is less than the object of Faith which is God as he is the Prime Verity on which Faith doth relie and therefore these sins are less than Infidelity He takes Infidelity after a general manner as it comprehends Heresie and other vices against Faith 12 Having therefore sufficiently declared wherein Heresie consists Let us come to prove that which we proposed in this Chapter Where I desire it be still remembred That the visible Catholique Church cannot err damnably as D. Potter confesseth And that when Luther appeared there was no other visible true Church of Christ disagreeing from the Roman as we have demonstrated in the next precedent Chapter 13 Now that Luther and his followers cannot be excused from formal Heresie I prove by these reasons To oppose any truth propounded by the visible true Church as revealed by God is formal Heresie as we have shewed out of the desinition of Heresie But Luther Calvin and the rest did oppose divers truths propounded by the visible Church as revealed by God yea they did therefore oppose her because she propounded as divine revealed truths things which they judged either to be false or humane inventions Therefore they committed formal Heresie 14 Moreover every Errour against any doctrin revealed by God is a damnable Heresie whether the matter in it self be great or small as I proved before and therefore either the Protestants or the Roman Church must be guilty of formal Heresie because one of them must err against the word and testimony of God but you grant perforce that the Roman Church doth not err damnably and I add that she cannot err damnably because she is the truly Catholique Church which you confess cannot err damnably Therefore Protestants must be guilty of formal Heresie 15 Besides we have shewed that the visible Church is Judge of Controversies and therefore must be infallible in all her Proposals which being once supposed it manifestly followeth that to oppose what she delivereth as revealed by God is not so much to oppose her as God himself and therefore cannot be excused from grievous Heresie 16 Again if Luther were an Heretique for those points wherein he disagreed from the Roman Church All they who agree with him in those very points must likewise be Heretiques Now that Luther was a formal Heretique I demonstrate in this manner To say that God's visible true Church is not universal but confined to one only place or corner of the world is according to your own express words (q) Pag. 126. properly Heresie against that Article of the Creed wherein we profess to believe the holy Catholique Church And you brand Donatus with heresie because he limited the universal Church to Africa But it is manifest and acknowledged by Luther himself and other chief Protestants that Luther's Reformation when it first began and much more for divers ages before was not Universal nor spread over the world but was confined to that compass of ground which did contain Luther's body Therefore his Reformation cannot be excused from formal Heresie If S. Augustine in those times said to the Donatists There are innumerable testimonies (r) Epist 50. of holy Scripture in which it appeareth that the Church of Christ is not only in Africa as these men with most impudent vanity do rave but that she is spread over the whole earth much more may it be said It appeareth by innumerable testimonies of holy Scripture that the Church of Christ cannot be confined to the City of Wittemberg or to the place where Luther's feet stood but must be spread over the whole world It is therefore most impudent vanity and dotage to limit her to Luthers Reformation In another place also this holy Father writes no less effectually against Luther than against the Donatists For having out of those words In thy seed all Nations shall be blessed proved that God's Church must be universal he saith Why (Å¿) De Unit. Eccles cap. 6. do you superadd by saying that Christ remains heir in no part of the earth except where he may have Donatus for his Coheir Give me this Universal Church if it be among you shew your selves to all Nations which we already shew to be blessed in this Seed Give us this Church or else laying aside all fury receive her from us But it is evident that Luther could not When he said At the beginning I was alone give us an universal Church Therefore happy had he been if he had then and his followers would now receive her from us And therefore we must conclude with the same holy Father saying in another place of the universal Church She hath this (t) Cont. lit Petil. lib. 1. cap. 104. most certain mark that she cannot be hidden She is then known to all Nations The Sect of Donatus is unknown to many Nations therefore that cannot be she The Sect of Luther at least when he began and much more before his beginning was unknown to many Nations therefore that cannot be she 17 And that it may yet further appear how perfectly Luther agreed with the Donatists It is to be noted that they never taught that the Catholique Church ought not to extend it self further than that part of Africa where their faction raigned but only that in fact it was so confined because all the rest of the Church was prophaned by communicating with Caecilianus whom they falsly affirmed to have been ordained Bishop by those who were Traditors or givers up of the Bible to the Persecutors to be burned yea at that very time they had some of their Sect residing in Rome and sent thither one Victor a Bishop under colour to take care of the Brethren in that City but indeed as Baronius (u) Anno 321. nu 2. Spond observeth that the world might account them Catholiques by communicating with the Bishop of Rome to communicate with whom was ever taken by the Ancient Fathers as an assured sign of being a true Catholique They had also as S. Augustin witnesseth a pretended (w) De Uâ—i Eccles c
as in the use of which he requires and expects to be glorified Farewell The First Sermon 2 TIM III. 1 2 3 4 5. This know also that in the last dayes perilous times shall come For men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy Without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good Traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof TO a discourse upon these words I cannot think of any fitter Introduction then that wherewith our Saviour sometime began a Sermon of his This day is this Scriture fulfilled And I would to God there were not great occasion to fear that a great part of it may be fulfilled in this place Two things are contained in it First the reall wickedness of the generality of the men of the Latter-times in the four first verses For by men shall be lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud c. I conceive is ment men generally shall be so otherwise this were nothing peculiar to the last but common to all times for in all times some nay many have been lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud c. Secondly we have here the formal and hypocritical godliness of the same times in the last verse Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof which latter ordinarily and naturally accompanies the former For as the shadows are longest when the Sun is lowest and as vines and other fruit-trees bear the less fruit when they are suffered to luxuriate and spend their sap upon superfluous suckers and aboundance of leaves So commonly we may observe both in Civil conversation where there is great store of formality there is little sincerity and in Religion where there is a decay of true and cordial piety there men entertain and please themselves and vainly hope to please God with external formalities and performances and great store of that righteousness for which Christ shall judge the world It were no difficult matter to shew that the truth of St. Paul's prediction is by experience justified in both parts of it but my purpose is to restrain my self to the latter and to endeavour to clear unto you that that in our times is generally accomplished That almost in all places the power of Godliness is decayed and vanished the form and profession of it only remaining That the spirit and soul and life of Religion is for the most part gone only the outward body or carcass or rather the picture or shadow of it being left behind This is the Doctrin which at this time I shall deliver to you and the Use which I desire most heartily you should make of it is this To take care that you confute so far as it concerns your particulars what I fear I shall prove too true in the general To come then to our business without further complement let us examine our wayes and consider impartially What the Religion of most men is We are baptized in our infancy that is as I conceive dedicated and devoted to God's service by our Parents and the Church as young Samuel was by his Mother Anna and there we take a Solemn Vow To forsake the Devil and all his works the vain pomp and glory of the world with all the covetous desires of it to forsake also all the carnal desires of the flesh and not to follow nor be led by them This vow we take when we be children and understand it not and How many are there who know and consider and regard what they have vowed when they are become men almost as little as they did being children Consider the lives and publique actions of most men of all conditions in Court City and Country and then deny it if you can that those three things which we have renounced in our Baptism the profits honours and pleasures of the World are not the very Gods which divide the world amongst them are not served more devoutly confided in more heartily loved more affectionately then the Father Son and holâ— Ghost in whose name we are baptized deny if you can the dayly and constant imployment of all men to be either a violent prosecution of the vain pomp and glory of the world or of the power riches and contemptible profits of it or of the momentary or unsatisfying pleasures of the flesh or else of the more diabolical humours of pride malice revenge and such like and yet with this empty form we please and satisfie our selves as well as if we were lively born again by the Spirit of God not knowing or not regarding what St. Peter hath taught us That the Baptism which must save us is Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21 but the answer of a good conscience unto God When we are come to years capable of instruction many which is lamentable to consider are so little regarded by themselves or others that they continue little better then Pagans in a Common-wealth of Christians and know little more of God or of Christ then if they had been bred in the Indies A lamentable case and which will one day lye heavy upon their account which might have amended it and did not But many I confess are taught to act over this play of Religion and learned to say Our Father which art in Heaven and I believe in God the Father Almighty but Where are the men that live so as if they did believe in earnest that God is their Almighty Father Where are they that fear him and trust him and depend upon him only for their whole happiness and love him and obey him as in reason we ought to do to an Almighty Father Who if he be our Father and we be indeed his children will do for us all the good he can and if he be Almighty can do for us all the good he will and yet how few are there who love him with half that affection as children usually do their Parents or believe him with half that simplicity or serve him with half that diligence And then for the Lords Prayer the plain truth is we lye unto God for the most part clean through it and for want of desiring indeed what in word we pray for tell him to his face as many false tales as we make Petitions For who shews by his endeavours that he desires heartily that God's name should be hallowed that is holily and religiously worshipped and adored by all men That his Kingdom should be advanced and inlarged That his blessed will should be universally obeyed Who shews by his forsaking sin that he desires so much as he should do the forgiveness of it Nay who doth not revenge upon all occasions the affronts contempts and injuries put upon him and so upon the matter curse himself as oft as he sayes Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them
he had liv'd but only to maintain him in meat and drink out of danger of starving or which was more fearful because more full of trouble or dishonour hard labour or begging 2. Surely it had been no hard matter for our Saviour who knew all whatsoever was in man to have discover'd more subtil projects plots of a finer and more curious contrivance than this fellow 's But this it seems would serve his turn well enough for the purpose for which he made use of it And to say the truth there cannot be imagined an example more exactly suiting more closely applicable to his entent which was not to discredit and dishearten his followers by comparing I and preferring the cunning of an ordinary fellow a meer Bayliffe or Steward before that spiritual heavenly wisdom to which they pretend Nor Secondly to instruct them by indirect and unwarrantable courses to provide for themselves hereafter But chiefly this 3. To teach us by objecting to our view a man who by his own negligence and carelesness being brought to an extremity for there was no necessity he should be brought to these plunges a little timely care and providence even ordinary honesty would casily have warranted and preserved him had upon the sudden found out a trick of his Office namely by proceeding in his old courses of wasting his Master's substance to the enriching of his Fellow-servants thereby gained their good wills that for the time following they might preserve him from perishing 4. Our Saviour I say by this example would teach us That since God has plac'd us here in this world as his Stewards has put into our hands his Goods his Riches to be dispensed for his use and advantage And such Stewards we are who have advantages infinitely more urgent and pressing us to an honest faithful discharge of our Office than this man in the Parable ever had As first We must of necessity fail and be cashier'd of our Office All the power of Heaven and Earth cannot procure us a perpetuity in it The case did not stand so with this man for it was meerly his own fault to deserve discarding and besides having deserv'd that censure it was his misfortune too that his Lord should come to the knowledge of it for it is no impossible thing that a Steward should thrive by his Lords loss and yet nere be call'd to an account for it And secondly upon our behaviour in this our Office depends the everlasting welfare of our souls and bodies we shall for ever be dispos'd of according to the honest or unfaithful discharge of our place If ill Lord what shall become of us where shall we appear in that great day of account I dare not almost tell you the issue of it But if we have carryed our selves as faithful Servants propose to your selves your own conditions give your thoughts license and scope to be excessive and over-flowing in their desires if the whole extension and capacity of your thoughts be not satisfied and fill'd to the brim with measure pressed down and running over God himself which is impossible to imagin will prove a deceiving unfaithful Master 5. These things therefore considered without question it doth infinitely concern us to consult and project what we mean to do with our riches to what employment we intend to put those honours and that power which God hath conferr'd on us in this life Whether to receive them as our good things to go away contented with them as our Rewards our final rewards expecting no other good things from God after them Or which is our Saviours advice use them as means helps of attaining blessings above all conceivable proportion exceeding them so dispensing providently scattering them abroad that against our time of need which sooner or later will undoubtedly come we may oblige to our selves such friends so gracious and prevailing with our Master who either by their Prayers and Intercession or some other way which we know not may procure for us admission into our Master's joys to be no longer Stewards and Servants but Friends and Sons Thus by the help and benefit of this Mammon of unrighteousness in my Text these little things even the least blessings that God has to bestow upon us so called in the verse following and in the next but one to that these things of other men as if they were trifles not worthy the owning if compar'd with what rewards may be had in exchange for them purchasing to our selves everlasting and glorious rewards By the assistance of our Riches in the expression of St. Paul laying up for our selves a foundation of good works against the time to come that we may lay hold on eternal life 6. And this I suppose to be the force and meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or moral of the Parable which Christ hath closely contriv'd and press'd into these few words Make to your selves friends of the c. In which words I shall observe unto you these three general parts 1. What we must expect at last notwithstanding all the Riches and Pomps of this world i. e. To fail Christ you see makes no question at all of it he takes it for granted where he says That when ye fail as implying that certainly fail we must 2. This being suppos'd that fail we must the counsel of Christ comes in very seasonably namely to provide for the main to take order that though we our selves sink yet we may procure us friends to support us in our necessities and that is by making to our selves friends of the Mammon c. 3. The comfortable issue and convenience which shall accrew unto us by those friends thus purchased i.e. by them to be received into everlasting c. Of these in the order proposed 7. You do not expect I am sure Part. I. that I should go about seriously to perswade you that you shall not live here for ever For whom should I seek to perswade God forbid I should be so uncharitable as to think or but suspect that ever I should find occasion to make use of any perswasions for such a purpose Indeed a very good man it was the Prophet David once said In his prosperity I shall never be removed Psal 30.6 Thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my hill so strong But was this well said of him think you It seems not For presently to confute this his confidence Vers 7. The Lord did but turn his face away from him and he was troubled Yet surely such a speech as this could never be spoken upon better grounds for this his assurance it seems proceeded not out of any presumptuous confidence of his own strength or policy But only out of consideration of God's especial Providence show'd in his wonderful preservation from many great and imminent dangers and in preferring him from a low contemptible fortune to the Rule and Dominion over his People 8. There is another fellow in a Parable
this is only a Rhetorical forced streining of a Point The Holy Ghost will tell you as much in express terms Prov. 14.31 17 5. Prov 14.31 and again Prov. 17.5 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker He sets his mark and brand of infamy almost upon all Gods glorious Attributes as if God had not power enough to maintain the poor-man against his Adversary as if he had not wisely enough dispensed his blessings as if he would not suffer God to extend his mercies but upon whom himself shall please and so of the rest 33. But I will now for your sakes transgress something the limits of my Text and whereas I should only meddle with the unlawfulness of deteining Goods gotten by oppression and sycophancy I will make the subject more General in this Proposition which I beseech you heedfully to attend and hereafter seriously to consider of This therefore I say and testifie Doct. That whosoever he be whose Conscience shall convince him that he hath gain'd any thing by an unlawful course If he resolve not to restore it and dye in that resolution it is impossible he should be saved For the confirming of which Proposition instead of many almost infinite unanswerable reasons I will only make use of two each of them drawn from the impossibility in such a man of performing two duties most necessarily required at every mans hands that professeth Christianity the one whereof is Prayer the second Repentance 34. Concerning Prayer I will demonstrate That he can neither seriously give God thanks for bestowing upon him those Riches which he calls Blessings nor secondly desire Gods blessing upon those Riches For the first Without question if such a one shall dare to open his mouth to give God thanks for his Riches it will prove to him a greater sin than the unjust unlawful gathering of them as the Psalmist saith His very Prayers shall be turned into sin For thereby he will entitle the just Righteous God unto his abominable sin Dares such a man with any confidence give thanks to Almighty God for suffering him to be his Enemy in oppressing and persecuting it may be Gods faithful beloved servants for suffering him to be an instrument of the Devils Therefore if there be any such that hear me this day yet I hope nay I am almost confident there is not but and if there be let me beseech him that of all things in the world he will take heed of giving thanks let him rather proceed on blindly in his sin and put out of his mind all thought and consideration of God for never any Heathen could offer him such an indignity as this no not Epicurus nor Diagoras himself 35. In the second place How can such a one desire God to bless unto him and encrease those Riches so unjustly gotten Will he say Lord make it appear unto the world by blessing me in these my ungodly courses that thou likest well of them and that thou hast been of conspiracy with me in all mine ungracious projects so shall the godly quickly be rooted out of the earth for every one will take advantage to wrong another if thou wilt bless me every one will be ready to tread in my steps We see a man in such a state cannot seriously pray no kind of Prayer unless he purpose to mock God to his face so that he has defrauded himself of one necessary means of Salvation But that which follows is of greater importance yet 36. There is nothing wherein a man that is resolv'd not to part with Goods unlawfully gathered can dead with more despiteful petulancy and uncivility with God then by offering to pretend to an unfeigned Repentance It is much like the behaviour of Charles the fifth unto God who caused publick Prayers and Processions to be made unto God for the delivery of the Pope in Spain whom himself at the same time detein'd Prisoner in his own Castle St. Angelo with a resolution that howsoever those Prayers wrought with God to pitty his Vicar yet till he had concluded Conditions for his own advantage with him he should never be released Just such another Enterlude and phantastical Pageant must this mans Repentance be 37. He will say perhaps Lord I confess I cannot justifie those ways and courses whereby I procur'd my wealth it may be to make way for my excess and superfluity many a poor soul yet richer in thy grace and favour than my self has been forc'd almost to starve for penury and want It may be there are store of Orphans and Widows that are importunate upon thee for vengeance against my unchristian profession and I acknowledg that for my demerits I am liable to be forc'd to drink the very dregs of thy fierce wrath and indignation for ever I will therefore rely and cast my self upon thy mercy and pitty which yet if I cannot purchase without the loss and restitution of my ill gotten wealth I will rather adventure upon thy fury And though I know it to be a fearful thing and insupportable misery to fall into thy hands as into the hands of an Enemy and pursuer yet upon no manner of conditions will I part with my Riches No not though I were now upon my death-bed being out of all hopes of ever enjoying any comfort and pleasure my self from them and within few hours expecting to be convey'd into my everlasting Prison yet rather then my Son or my Kinsman who even after restitution made of what is unlawfully got might perhaps have remaining to him sufficient to maintain him plentifully in this world yet rather then he shall abate any thing of that vanity and superfluity which my excess of wealth will be able to bear I will endanger the forfeiture of my inheritance in the Land of the living 38. But it may be you will say That it is an impossible thing for any man that pretends to Christianity to have such thoughts in him as these Object 1 I confess it is a hard thing for a man to make such a formal distinct Discourse with himself as this was But consider Sol. whether such a mans thoughts which at an exigence like this are confus'd and tumultuous yet if they were reduc'd into order and method consider I say whether they would not be digested into a sense and meaning equivalent unto that which before I express'd So that God who knows the bent and inclination of his Heart much better than himself he will display and discover them distinctly and legibly before his eyes and will proceed against him as if he had behav'd himself towards him after such an unworthy more then Atheistical fashion 39. But again it is possible I may be reply'd upon Object 2 and have the case put that a man who hath unrighteously oppressed or defrauded his neighbour has not means enough left to make satisfaction by restoring And that is no extraordinary example that Goods ill got should have by the Justice of God wings given
and then the comfort which your souls may feel in the consideration of what glorious rewards are promised unto your Patience shall make your afflictions even matters of rejoycing unto you in which respect as St. James saith you ought to count it all joy when you fall into divers Temptations Or if those Temptations and Afflictions reach so farr as to the destroying of your Lives yet notwithstanding all this they are so unable to make you miserable unless you will take part with them against your own souls by repining and murmuring under the mighty hand of God that when you shall consider that blessed change which death shall bring unto you when all tears shall be wiped from your eyes all fear and expectation of misery removed nothing but inexpressable and everlasting joys to be expected you shall bless the time that ever you were afflicted and with St. Paul confess That the afflictions of this life are worthy of that joy which shall be revealed This I say is a good Catholique Orthodox sense and which it is very probable that St. Paul might more directly intend in these words of my Text. 8. Notwithstanding I cannot exclude the other sense of the word Temptation from this Text for according to the Analogy of Faith and without any wrong done to the dependance and connexion of these words God will not suffer you to be tempted c. St. Paul's intent in them might be such as if it had been thus spread out more at large though considering the many disadvantages we have in the way of godliness in respect both of our powerful malicions industrious and subtile Enemy the Devil who continually waits upon us to entrap us in respect of our seeming flattering friend the world and vanities thereof alluring us But especially in respect of our own wicked and deceitful Hearts forward and desirous enough to embrace the wicked suggestions and temptations of both nay sufficient to destroy us without the assistance of either I say that though these things considered we may seem to be set in the expression of the Holy Ghost upon slippery places where it is almost impossible for us to keep our footing and to preserve our selves from falling dangerously and dashing our selves in pieces 9. Notwithstanding if our eyes were opened as were the eyes of the Prophet Elisha's servant we should find as well as he that they that be with us are more than they that be against us For God and his Holy Angels who are on our side are both wiser and stronger than the Devil and more willing to do us good than the other can be to hurt us Besides the expectation of those gloriousrewards which are laid up in Heaven for us are sufficient even to any reasonable man to dis-relish unto him the vain unsatisfying pleasures of this world And though our own hearts naturally be never so traiterous and unfaithful yet by the power of that Grace which is plentifully showred down upon every one of us in our Baptism and which is dayly encreased and supplyed unto us they may easily be corrected and renewed So that if the suggestion of any wicked Temptation get the mastery over us let us not impute too much to the valour and strength of our Enemies let us not accuse God of any unwillingness to succour us For never any Temptation hath or ever shall happen unto us but such as is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suitable unto the nature of man such as a reasonable considerate and a circumspect man by the ordinary assistance of God's Grace and careful application of those means wherewith we are abundantly furnished out of Holy Scripture as Prayer Watchfulness Fasting and the like may easily conquer and subdue 10. This sense of these words may with as good reason and probability be suppos'd to be intended by St. Paul in this place as the former And indeed unless we inlarge St. Paul's words to this meaning also we shall receive no extraordinary comfort and encouragement from them For though indeed it is true that it is more than we can deserve at God's hands to obtain a Promise from him to secure us that no Temptations no outward Afflictions of this world shall be so violent and furious upon us as to exceed the strength of Reason and Grace to withstand them Yet since Sin is that only Enemy which is able to withdraw God's favour from us and make him our Enemy unless we can be put in some hope that there is a possible course for us to prevail against sin also and all the dangerous temptations and suggestions thereof we should live but an uncomfortable discontented life we should be continually affrighted with sad melancholick thoughts with disquieting jealousies and fears that however we may now and then please our selves with conceits of Gods favour for the present yet since he has pass'd no promise of securing us for the future it may happen that such a sinful Temptation may come upon us which may be able do what we can to over-whelm us irrecoverably Therefore since this latter sense which I mentioned of these words is more profitable and advantageous to us I will especially at this time insist upon it and labour to demonstrate undeniably to every one of us that God is faithful and will assuredly make good that promise which he hath made unto us all namely not to suffer us to be tempted that is by any sinful temptation above that we are able 11. Now he is said to be tempted above that he is able who do what he can though he strain his natural endowments to the uttermost and though he endeavour heartily to make use of all the outward helps and assistances which he finds prescribed unto him out of Gods Word though he extend that measure of Grace wherewith he is furnished to the extreamest activity thereof to resist such a Temptation yet in the end is forced to yield to the power of it utterly fainting and languishing in the combat So on the contrary that man who being compleatly furnish'd with all requisite weapons both for his own defence and encountring his Adversary and besides having in him both ability of body and courage enough and yet out of a sleepy negligence or obstinate sullenness will not take the pains to lift up his arm or otherways bestir himself to oppose his Enemy such a man if overcome can in no reason be said to be Over-match'd but is a mere Traytour to his own safety and reputation 12. And indeed before I can proceed any further I must either take this for granted That some men though de facto they have been overcome by a Temptation yet might have resisted it by the assistance of that Grace wherewith they were enabled Or truly I know not what to say For if this be a good inference a man is overcome by a Temptation therefore he could not possibly have resisted Adam for all he was seduc'd by the Devil is not so culpable as
loving and careful to do us good And certainly as God is stronger than the Devil so likewise excessive goodness in the Angels will easily prevail against extream malice in the Devil Now it is the nature of Love to be willing to take any pains for the good of the person beloved whereupon St. Paul in that most divine description of the three Cardinal Christian Vertues 1 Thess 1.3 thus expresseth them Remembring your work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ I confess it is the nature of Malice too to be very laborious and observant of all advantages against the subject Hated But this must needs be granted that Love will conquer Malice in the same degree 18. Thus you see we are reasonably well befriended and back'd by these our Auxiliary Forces of our Guardian Angels so that we need not be disheartned if we had no more But beyond all these we have Almighty God to our friend whose power is so unlimitted that without any straining of Himself without the bending of his Bow and drawing his Sword only with unclasping his hand Substractione Manutenentiae with meer letting hold go all creatures in Heaven and Earth would return to nothing Psal 84.11 He is in the language of the Psalmist a Sun and a Shield that is in the phrase of another Psalm a Light and Defence a Sun to discover unto us the secret ambushes and practises of our Enemies and a Shield to protect us from their open force and violence 19. I will some man say there is no man can make any question of God's Power Obj. But the difficulty is How we should be sure of his good will If that were but once procured the Battel were as good as at an end Why Sol. for that we must have recourse to Gods Word there it is that we must find upon what terms businesses stand between him and us And there certainly we shall find words which at the first sight to any ordinary reasonable man would seem to make much for us There are Invitations to a League with him desires and requests as passionate as I think ever Poet strain'd for There are Promises which look as if they were serious and unfeigned they are confirm'd with Vows and solemn Oaths of sincerity and all these seemingly directed to every one of us What can we desire any more especially from Almighty God who stands in no need of our favour and therefore is not likely to bespeak our good opinions of him with dissembling and lies 20. Oh Obj. but it is the easiest matter in the world for a man with a School-Subtilty by an Almighty distinction to cut off any mans right of Entail to those Promises to appropriate them only to our own friends to some two or three that he is pleased to favour Sol. I would to God that men would but consider what end what project Almighty God should have in making his poor creatures believe he means well to them when there is no such matter Would any of you saith our Saviour when his Son shall ask him bread give him a stone or instead of a fish to nourish him a serpent to destroy him If then you which are evil know how to give good gifts If you would not have the heart to mock poor children after this manner How much rather would not God For Gods sake therefore let there be but as much sincerity as much good nature in Almighty God I will not say as in your selves for it may be that would be too much for you to grant but as our Saviour confesseth that there were in the Jews that crucified him And then we all of us have right enough to his promises we shall have no reason to doubt of his good intention to help and assist us so far that unless we delight in destruction unless we will turn sugitives unless we will fight on our enemies side All the Devils in Hell shall not be able to prevail against us And thus much of the first squadrons Michael and his Angels opposed to the Devil and his Angels 21. The second enemy which we professed hostility against in our Baptism was the vain temptations of this world And so forcible and prevailing are the temptations thereof that the Devil who for his powerful managing of this weapon is called the God of this world in his Encounter with our Saviour set up his rest upon it as supposing if this would not serve his turn there were no more fighting for him All this will I give thee said he And such a value he set upon this stake that no less than the extremest degree of horrible Idolatry could serve his turn to oppose against it All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And when he saw that this proffer would not be accepted he presently quits the field despairing utterly of any success The more dangerous indeed is this enemy I may say more dangerous to us than the Devil himself because we all acknowledge the Devil in person to be our enemy and therefore not one of us will be beholding to him for any thing if he bring us the gift himself a sick man would not be healed by him nor a poor man made rich but scarce one among a thousand has that opinion of the vain pomps and sinful pleasures of the world Our enemy No certainly It is the best and most comforting friend we have in this life all our thoughts are taken up with it it possesseth us at all times we dream of it sleeping and pursue it waking And yet our Saviour saith Ye cannot serve God and Mammon And again How can ye believe who seek honour one of another And again If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him What strength then have we to oppose this enemy 22. Why surely that which would suffice but an ordinary reasonable man and might serve any of us but that we will needs be unreasonable only in things which concern our everlasting welfare And that is the consideration of those unspeakable joyes which shall attend those who can despise the unsatisfying vain pleasures of this life A Philosopher which but reading Plato's Poetical description of the serenity of that life which a vertuous soul delivered from the Prison of the body lives was so far transported with the conceit of it though for ought he knew there was no such thing indeed or if there were perhaps never intended for him that he becomes presently weary of this prison and by a violent death frees himself from it and God only knows what a change he found Whereas we have Gods word for the certainty of that glorious life which his servants shall live yea a great deal of pains he hath taken to make it desirable and amiable unto us by ransacking all the treasures of this world the most costly jewels the most precious metals to embellish