Ebdomas embolimaios a supplement to the eniautos, or course of sermons for the whole year : being seven sermons explaining the nature of faith and obedience in relation to God and the ecclesiastical and secular powers respectively / all that have been preached and published (since the restauration) by the Right Reverend Father in God Jeremy, Lord Bishop of Down and Connor ; to which is adjoyned, his Advice to the clergy of his diocese. Eniautos. Supplement Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. 1663 Approx. 533 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 226 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A63878 Wing T328 ESTC R14098 17150563 ocm 17150563 105896 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A63878) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 105896) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1160:7) Ebdomas embolimaios a supplement to the eniautos, or course of sermons for the whole year : being seven sermons explaining the nature of faith and obedience in relation to God and the ecclesiastical and secular powers respectively / all that have been preached and published (since the restauration) by the Right Reverend Father in God Jeremy, Lord Bishop of Down and Connor ; to which is adjoyned, his Advice to the clergy of his diocese. Eniautos. Supplement Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. 1 v. in various pagings, [1] leaf of plates : coat of arms. Printed for Richard Royston ..., London : 1663. First two words of title in Greek characters. Advices to the clergy ... has special t.p. and separate paging. Reproduction of original in the Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. The righteousness evangelical described ; The Christians conquest over the body of sin ; Fides formata, or, Faith working by love -- A sermon preached at the consecration of two archbishops and ten bishops, in the cathedral Church of S. Patrick in Dublin, January 27. 1660 -- A sermon preached at the opening of the Parliament of Ireland, May 8, 1661 -- Via intelligentiæ -- A sermon preached in Christs-Church Dublin, July 16. 1663. at the funeral of the most Reverend Father in God, John, late Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland -- Rules and advices to the clergy of the diocesse of Down and Conner. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2005-02 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-08 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2005-08 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion DIEV ET MON DROIT . HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE royal blazon or coat of arms ἙΒΔΟΜᾺΣ ἘΜΒΟΛΙΜΙΟΣ , A Supplement TO THE ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ , Or Course of Sermons for the whole year : BEING SEVEN SERMONS Explaining the Nature of Faith , and Obedience ; in relation to God , and the Ecclesiastical and Secular Powers respectively . All that have been Preached and Published ( since the Restauration ) By the Right Reverend Father in God , JEREMY , Lord Bishop of Down and Connor . To which is adjoyned , His Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese . LONDON : Printed for Richard Royston , Bookseller to the Kings most Sacred Majesty , 1663. THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D . THE CHRISTIANS CONQUEST Over the Body of Sin. FIDES FORMATA , OR FAITH working by LOVE . IN THREE SERMONS PREACHED AT CHRIST — CHURCH , DVBLIN . By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMIAH , Lord Bishop of Down and Connor . The second Edition . London , Printed for R. Royston , Book-seller to the Kings , most Excellent Majesty , 1663. Imprimatur . M. Franck. S. T. P. R. in Christ. Pat. ac D. D. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. TO THE Most Noble and Vertuous Princess , The Lady Dutchess OF ORMONDE HER GRACE . Madam , I Present your Grace here with a Testimony of my Obedience , and of your own Zeal for the good of Souls . You were in your great Charity , not only pleased to pardon the weakness of this discourse , but to hope it might serve as a memorial to th●se that need it , of the great necessity of living vertuously , and by the measures of Christianity . Madam , you are too G●eat and too good to have any ambition for the things of this World ; but I cannot but observe that in your designs for the other World , you , by your Charity and Zeal , adopt your self into the portion of those Ecclesiasticks , who humbly hope and truly labour for the reward that is promised to those wise persons who convert souls . If our prayers and your desires that every one should be profited in their eternal concerns cast in a Symbol towards this great work , and will give you a title to that great reward ; But , Madam , when I received your commands for dispersing some Copies of this Sermon , I perceived it was too little to be presented to your Eminence ; and if it were accompanied with something else of the like nature , it might with more profit advance that end which your Grace so piously designed ; and therefore I have taken this opportunity to satisfie the desire of some very Honourable and very Reverend Personages , who required that the two following Sermons should also be made fit for the use of those who hop'd to receive profit by them . I humbly lay them all at your Graces Feet , begging of God , that even as many may receive advantages by the perusing of them as either your Grace will desire , or He that preached them did intend . And if your Grace will accept of this first Testimony of my concurrence with all the World that know you , in paying those great regards , which your piety so highly merits , I will endeavour hereafter in some greater instance to pursue the intentions of Your zeal of souls , and by such a service endeavour to do more benefit to others , and by it , as by that which is most acceptable to your Grace , endear the Obedience and Services , of Madam , Your Graces most humble and Obedient Servant . J. D. The Titles and Texts of the several Sermons . SERM. I. The Righteousness Evangelical . Matth. 5.20 . For I say unto you , that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven . SERM. II. The Christians Conquest over the Body of Sin. Rom. 7.19 . For the good that I would , I doe not ; but the evil which I would not , that I doe . SERM. III. Faith working by Love. James 2.4 . You see then how that by works a man is justified , and not by faith alone . SERM. IV. Preached at an Episcopal Consecration . Luke 12.42 . And the Lord said , Who then is that faithful and wise steward , whom his Lord shall make ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season ? 43. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing . SERM. V. Preached at the Opening the Parliament of Ireland . 1 Sam. 15.22 . Behold , to obey is better then sacrifice , and to hearken then the fat of rams : 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry . SERM. VI. Via Intelligentiae . John 7.17 . If any man will do his will , he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God , or whether I speak of my self . SERM. VII . Preached at the Funeral of the L. Primate of Ireland . 1 Cor. 15.23 . But every man in his own order ; Christ the first fruits , and after they that are Christ's at his coming . Rules and Advices to the Clergy of the Diocese of Down and Connor . THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D . MATTH . V. 20. For I say unto you , that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven . REwards and Punishments are the best Sanction of Laws ; and although the Guardians of Laws strike sometimes with the softest part of the hand in their Executions of sad Sentences , yet in the Sanction they make no abatements , but so proportion the Duty to the Reward , and the Punishment to the Crime , that by these we can best tell what Value the Law-giver puts upon the Obedience . Joshuah put a great rate upon the taking of Kiriath-Sepher , when the Reward of the Service was his Daughter and a Dower . But when the Young men ventured to fetch David the waters of Bethlehem , they had nothing but the praise of their Boldness , because their Service was no more than the satisfaction of a Curiosity . But as Law-givers by their Rewards declare the value of the Obedience , so do Subjects also by the grandeur of what they expect set a value on the Law and the Law-giver , and do their Services accordingly . And therefore the Law of Moses , whose endearment was nothing but temporal goods and transient evils , could never make the comers thereunto perfect : but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Superinduction of a better Hope hath endeared a more perfect Obedience . When Christ brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel , and hath promised to us things greater than all our explicit Desires , bigger than the thoughts of our heart , then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith the Apostle , then we draw near to God ; and by these we are enabled to do all that God requires , and then he requires all that we can do ; more Love , and more Obedi●nce than he did of those who for want of these Helps , and these Revelations , and these Promises , which we have , but they had not , were but imperfect persons , and could do but little more than humane Services . Christ hath taught us more , and given us more , and promis'd to us more than ever was in the world known or believ'd before him ; and by the strengths and confidence of these , thrusts us forward in a holy and wise Oeconomy , and plainly declares that we must serve him by the measures of a new Love , do him Honour by wise and material Glorifications , be united to God by a new Nature , and made alive by a new Birth , and fulfil all Righteousness ; to be humble and meek as Christ , to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is , to be pure as God is pure , to be partakers of the Divine Nature , to be wholly renewed in the frame and temper of our mind , to become people of a new heart , a direct new Creation , new Principles and a new Being , to do better than all the world before us ever did , to love God more perfectly , to despise the world more generously , to contend for the Faith more earnestly ; for all this is but a proper and a just consequent of the great Promises which our Blessed Law-giver came to publish and effect for all the world of Believers and Disciples . The matter which is here required is certainly very great ; for it is to be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees ; more holy than the Doctors of the Law , than the Leaders of the Synagogue , than the wise Princes of the Sanhedrim : more righteous than some that were Prophets and High Priests , than some that kept the Ordinances of the Law without blame : men that lay in Sackcloth , and fasted much , and prayed more , and made Religion and the Study of the Law the work of their lives . This was very much ; but Christians must do more . Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus ; at tu , Si foetura gregem suppleverit , aureus esto . They did well , and we must do better ; their houses were Marble , but our roofs must be gilded and fuller of Glory . * But as the matter is very great , so the necessity of it is the greatest in the world . It must be so , or it will be much worse : unless it be thus , we shall never see the glorious Face of God. Here it concerns us to be wise and fearful ; for the matter is not a question of an Oaken Garland , or a Circle of Bayes , and a Yellow Ribband : it is not a question of Money or Land , nor of the vainer rewards of popular noises , and the undiscerning Suffrages of the people , who are contingent Judges of good and evil : but it is the great stake of Life Eternal . We cannot be Christians , unless we be righteous by the new measures : the Righteousness of the Kingdom is now the only way to enter into it , for the Sentence is fixt , and the Judgement is decretory , and the Judge infallible , and the Decree irreversible : For I say unto you , said Christ , unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven . Here then we have two things to consider . 1. What was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees . 2. How far that is to be exceeded by the Righteousness of Christians . 1. Concerning the First . I will not be so nice in the Observation of these words , as to take notice that Christ does not name the Sadduces , but the Scribes and Pharisees , though there may be something in it : the Sadduces were called Caraim from Cara , to read ; for they thought it Religion to spend one third part of their day in reading their Scriptures , whose fulness they so admired they would admit of no suppletory Traditions . But the Pharisees were called Thannaim , that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they added to the Word of God words of their own , as the Church of Rome does at this day , they and these fell into an equal fate ; while they taught far Doctrines the Commandments of men , they prevaricated the righteousness of God. What the Church of Rome to evil purposes hath done in this particular , may be demonstrated in due time and place ; but what false and corrupt glosses under the specious title of the Tradition of their Fathers the Pharisees had introducedour , Blessed Saviour reproves , and are now to be represented as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that you may see that Righteousness beyond which all they must go that intend that Heaven should be their Journeys end . 1. The Pharisees obeyed the Commandments in the Letter , not in the Spirit . They minded what God spake , but not what he intended : they were busie in the outward work of the hand , but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said Justin Martyr to Tryphon the Jew , Ye understand all things carnally ; that is , they rested 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Nazianzen calls it , in the outward work of Piety , which not only Justin Martyr , but St. Paul calls Carnality , not meaning a carnal Appetite , but a carnal Service . Their error was plainly this ; they never distinguished Duties natural from Duties relative ; that is , whether it were commanded for it self , or in order to something that was better ; whether it were a principal Grace , or an instrumental Action . So God was served in the Letter , they did not much inquire into his Purpose . And therefore they were curious to wash their hands , but cared not so much to purifie the hearts ; They would give Alms , but hate him that received it ; they would go to the Temple , but did not revere the Glory of God that dwelt there between the Cherubins : they would fast , but not mortify their Lusts ; they would say good Prayers , but not labour for the Grace they prayed for . This was just as if a man should run on his Masters errand , and do no business when he came there . They might easily have thought that by the Soul only a man approaches to God , and draws the Body after it , but that no washings or corporal Services could unite them and the Shechinah together , no such thing could make them like to God , who is the Prince of Spirits . * They did as the Dunces in Pythagoras School , who when their Master had said , Fabis abstineto , by which he intended they should not ambitiously seek for Magistracy , they thought themselves good Pythagoreans if they did not eat Beans ; and they would be sure to put their Right foot first into the shooe , and their Left foot into the water , and supposed they had done enough , though if they had not been Fools they would have understood their Masters meaning to have been , that they should put more affections to labour and travel , and less to their pleasure and recreation ; and so it was with the Pharisee . For as the Chaldees taught their Morality by mystick words , and the Aegyptians by Hieroglyphicks , and the Greeks by Fables ; so did God by Rites and Ceremonies external ; leading them by the Hand to the Purities of the Heart ; and by the Services of the Body to the Obedience of the Spirit ; which because they would not understand , they thought they had done enough in the observation of the Letter . 2. In moral Duties , where God express'd Himselfe more plainly , they made no Commentary of kindness ; but regarded the Prohibition so nakedly , and divested of all Antecedents , Consequents , Similitudes and Proportions , that if they stood clear of that hated name which was set down in Moses Tables , they gave themselves liberty in many instances of the same kindred & alliance . If they abstained from murder , they thought it very well , though they made no scruple of murdering their Brothers fame ; they would not cut his throat , but they would call him Fool , or invent lyes in secret , and publish his disgrace openly ; they would not dash out his brains , but they would be extremely and unreasonably angry with him ; they would not steal their brothers money , but they would oppress him in crafty and cruel bargains . The Commandment forbade them to commit Adultery , but because Fornication was not named , they made no scruple of that ; and being commanded to Honour their Father and their Mother , they would give them good words and fair observances , but because it was not named that they should maintain them in their need , they thought they did well enough to pretend Corban and let their Father starve . 3. The Scribes and Pharisees placed their Righteousness in Negatives ; they would not commit what was forbidden ; but they cared but little for the included positive , and the omissions of good Actions did not much trouble them ; they would not hurt their Brother in a forbidden instance , but neither would they do him good according to the intention of the Commandment ; It was a great Innocence if they did not rob the Poor , then they were righteous men ; but thought themselves not much concerned to acquire that god-like excellency , a Philanthropy and love to all mankind . Whosoever blasphem'd God was to be put to death ; but he that did not glorifie God as he ought , they were unconcerned for him , and let him alone ; he that spake against Moses was to dy without mercy ; but against the ambitious and the covetous , against the proud man and the unmerciful they made no provisions . Virtus est vitium fugere , & sapientia prima Stultitiâ caruisse . They accounted themselves good , not for doing good , but for doing no evil ; that was the sum of their Theology . 4. They had one thing more as bad as all this . They broke Moses Tables into pieces , and gathering up the fragments took to themselves what part of Duty they pleased , and let the rest alone . For it was a Proverb amongst the Jews , Qui operam dat praecepto , liber est à praecepto ; that is , If he chuses one positive Commandment for his business , he may be less careful in any of the rest . Indeed they said also , Qui multiplicat legem , multiplicat vitam ; he that multiplies the Law , increases Life ; that is , if he did attend to more good things , it was so much the better ; but the other was well enough : but as for Universal Obedience , that was not the measure of their Righteousness ; for they taught that God would put our good works and bad into the balance , and according to the heavier scale give a portion in the world to come : so that some evil they would allow to themselves and their Disciples ; alwayes provided it was less than the good they did . They would devour Widows houses , and make it up by long Prayers ; they would love their Nation and hate their Prince , offer Sacrifice and curse Caesar in their heart , advance Judaism and destroy Humanity . Lastly , St. Austin summ'd up the difference between the Pharisaical and Evangelical righteousness , in two words ; Brevis differentia inter Legem & Evangelium ; timor & amor . They serv'd the God of their Fathers in the spirit of Fear , and we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus in the spirit of Love , and by the spirit of Adoption ; and as this Slavish principle of theirs was the cause of all their former Imperfections , so it finally and chiefly express'd it self in these two particulars . 1. They would do all that they thought they lawfully could do . 2. They would do nothing but what was expresly commanded . This was the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , and their Disciples the Jews , which because our B. Saviour reproves , not only as imperfect then , but as criminal now , calling us on to a new Righteousness , the Righteousness of God , to the Law of the Spirit of Life , to the Kingdom of God and the proper Righteousness thereof , it concerns us in the next place to look after the measures of this , ever remembring that it is infinitely necessary that we should do so ; and men do not generally know , or not consider what it is to be a Christian ; they understand not what the Christian Law forbiddeth or commandeth . But as for this in my Text , it is indeed our great measure : but it is not a question of good and better , but of Good and Evil , Life and Death , Salvation and Damnation ; for unless our Righteousness be weighed by new weights , we shall be found too light , when God comes to weigh the actions of all the world : and unless we be more righteous than they , we shall in no wise , that is , upon no other terms in the world enter into the Kingdom of Heaven . Now concerning this , we shall do very much amiss , if we take our measures by the manners and practises of the many who call themselves Christians ; for there are , as Nazianzen expresses it , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the old and the new Pharisees . I wish it were no worse amongst us ; and that all Christians were indeed Righteous as they were ; est aliquid prodire tenus ; it would not be just nothing . But I am sure that to bid defiance to the Laws of Christ , to laugh at Religion , to make a merriment at the debauchery and damnation of our Brother , is a state of evil worse than that of the Scribes and Pharisees : and yet even among such men how impatient would they be , and how unreasonable would they think you to be , if you should tell them , that there is no present hopes or possibility that in this state they are in they can be saved . Omnes videmur nobis esse belluli Et festivi , Saperdae cum simus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the world is too full of Christians whose Righteousness is very little , and their Iniquities very great ; and now adays , a Christian is a man that comes to Church on Sundays , and on the week following will do shameful things ; Passim corvos sequitur , testâque lutoque Securus quo pes ferat , at que ex tempore vivit , being according to the Jewish proverbial reproof , as so many Mephibosheths : discipuli sapientum qui incessu pudefaciunt praeceptorem suum ; their Master teaches them to go uprightly ; but they still show their lame leg , and shame their Master ; as if a man might be a Christian , and yet be the vilest person in the world , doing such things for which the Laws of men have provided smart and shame , and the Laws of God have threatned the intolerable pains of an unsufferable and never ending damnation . Example here cannot be our rule unless men were much better , and as long as men live at the rate they do , it will be to little purpose to talk of exceeding the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees : but because it must be much better with us all , or it will be very much worse with us at the latter end , I shall leave complaining and go to the Rule , and describe the necessary and unavoidable measures of the righteousness Evangelical , without which we can never be saved . 1. Therefore when it is said our Righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees , let us first take notice by way of praecognition , that it must at least be so much : we must keep the Letter of the whole Moral Law ; we must do all that lies before us , all that is in our hand : and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifies to be religious , the Grammarians derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from reaching forth the hand : the outward work must be done ; and it is not enough to say , My heart is right , but my hand went aside . Prudentius saith , that St. Peter wept so bitterly , because he did not confess Christ openly , whom he lov'd secretly . Flevit negator denique Ex ore prolapsum nefas , Cum mens maneret innocens , Animusque servârit fidem . A right heart alone will not do it ; or rather the heart is not right when the hand is wrong . If a man strikes his Neighbor , and says , Am not I in jest ? It is folly and shame to him , said Solomon . For , once for all ; Let us remember this , that Christianity is the most profitable , the most useful , and the most bountiful institution in the whole world , and the best definition I can give of it is this ; It is the Wisdom of God brought down among us to do good to men ; and therefore we must not do less than the Pharisees , who did the outward work ; at least let us be sure to do all the work that is laid before us in the Commandments . And it is strange that this should be needful to be press'd amongst Christians whose Religion requires so very much more . But so it is , upon a pretence that we must serve God with the mind . Some are such fools as to think that it is enough to have a good meaning . Iniquum perpol verbum est , bene vult , nisi qui bene facit . And because we must serve God in the Spirit , therefore they will not serve God with their Bodies ; and because they are called upon to have the power and the life of Godliness , they abominate all external works as mere forms ; and because the true fast is to abstain from Sin , therefore they will not abstain from meat and drink , even when they are commanded ; which is just as if a Pharisee being taught the Circumcision of the heart should refuse to Circumcise his Flesh ; and as if a Christian , being instructed in the Excellencies of Spiritual Communion , should wholly neglect the Sacramental ; that is , because the Soul is the life of man , therefore it is fitting to die in a humour , and lay aside the Body . * This is a taking away the Subject of the Question ; for our iniquiry is , How we should keep the Commandments ; how we are to do the work that lyes before us , by what Principles , with what Intention , in what Degrees , after what manner , ut bonum bene fiat , that the good thing be done well . This therefore must be presupposed ; we must take care that even our Bodies bear a part in our Spiritual Services . Our voice and tongue , our hands and our Feet , and our very bowels must be servants of God , and do the work of the Commandments . This being ever supposed , our Question is , how much more we must do ; and the first measure is this ; Whatsoever can be signified and ministred to by the Body , the Heart and the Spirit of a man must be the principal Actor . We must not give Alms without a charitable Soul , nor suffer Martyrdom but in Love and in Obedience ; and when we say our Prayers , we do but mispend our time unless our mind ascend up to God upon the wings of desire . Desire is the life of prayer ; and if you indeed desire what you pray for , you will also labour for what you desire ; and if you find it otherwise with your selves , your coming to Church is but like the Pharisees going up to the Temple to pray . If your heart be not present , neither will God ; and then there is a found of men and women between a pair of dead walls , from whence because neither God nor your Souls are present , you must needs go home without a Blessing . But this measure of Evangelical righteousness is of principal remark in all the rites and solemnities of Religion ; and intends to say this , that Christian Religion is something that is not seen , it is the hidden man of the heart ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is God that dwels within ; and true Christians are men , who , as the Chaldee Oracle said , are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , clothed with a great deal of mind . And therefore those words of the Prophet Hosea , Et loquar ad cor ejus , I will speak unto their heart ; is a proverbial expression , signifying to speak spiritual comforts , and in the mystical sense signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to preach the Gospel ; where the Spirit is the Preacher , and the Heart is the Disciple , and the Sermon is of Righteousness and Peace , and Joy in the Holy Ghost . Our Service to God must not be in outward works and Scenes of Religion , it must be something by which we become like to God ; the Divine Prerogative must extend beyond the outward man ; nay , even beyond the mortification of Corporal vices ; the Spirit of God must go in trabis crassitudinem , and mollify all our secret pride , and ingenerate in us a true humility , and a Christian meekness of Spirit , and a Divine Charity . For in the Gospel , when God enjoyns any external Rite or Ceremony , the outward work is alwayes the less principal . For there is a bodily and a carnal part , an outside and a Cabinet of Religion in Christianity it self . When we are baptized , the purpose of God is that we cleanse our selves from all pollution of the Flesh and Spirit , and then we are indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , clean all over . And when we communicate , the Commandment means that we should be made one Spirit with Christ , and should live on him , believing his Word , praying for his Spirit , supported with his Hope , refreshed by his promises , recreated by his Comforts , and wholly and in all things conformable to his Life ; that is the true Communion . The Sacraments are not made for Sinners until they do repent ; they are the food of our Souls , but our Souls must be alive unto God , or else they cannot eat ; It is good to confess our sins , as St. James sayes , and to open our wounds to the Ministers of Religion , but they absolve none but such as are truly penitent . Solemn Prayers , and the Sacraments , and the Assemblies of the Faithful , and fasting dayes , and acts of external worship , are the solemnities and rites of Religion ; but the Religion of a Christian is in the Heart and Spirit . And this is that by which Clemens Alexand●inus defined the Righteousness of a Christian , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : all the parts & faculties that make up a man , must make up our Religion ; but the heart is Domus principalis , it is the Court of the great King ; and he is properly served with interior graces and moral Vertues , with a humble and a good mind , with a bountiful heart , and a willing Soul , and these will command the eye , and give laws to the hand , and make the shoulders stoop , but anima cujusque est quisque ; a mans soul is the man , and so is his Religion ; and so you are bound to understand it . True it is , God works in us his Graces by the Sacrament ; but we must dispose our selves to a reception of the Divine blessing by Moral instruments . The Soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it must work together with God , and the body works together with the soul : But no external action can purifie the soul , because its Nature and Operations being Spiritual , it can no more be changed by a Ceremony or an external Solemnity , than an Angel can be caressed with sweet Meats , or a Mans belly can be filled with Musick or long Orations . The sum is this : No Christian does his Duty to God but he that serves him with all his heart : And although it becomes comes us to fulfil all righteousnes , even the external also ; yet that which makes us gracious in his Eyes is not the external , it is the love of the heart and the real change of the mind and obedience of the spirit ; that 's the first great measure of the Righteousness Evangelical . 2. The Righteousness Evangelical must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees by extension of our Obedience to things of the same signification ; Leges non ex verbis , sed ex mente intelligendas , sayes the Law. There must be a Commentary of kindness in the understanding the Laws of Christ. We must understand all Gods meaning ; we must secure his service , we must be far removed from the dangers of his displeasure . And therefore our Rigteousness must be the purification and the perfection of the Spirit . So that it will be nothing for us not to commit Adultery , unless our Eyes and Hands be chast , and the desires be clean . A Christian must not look upon a woman to lust after her . He must hate Sin in all dimensions , and in all distance , and in every angle of its reception . A Christian must not sin , and he must not be willing to sin if he durst . He must not be lustful , and therefore he must not feed high , nor drink deep , for these make provisions for lust : and amongst Christians , great eatings and drinkings are acts of uncleanness as well as of intemperance , and whatever ministers to sin , and is the way of it ; it partakes of its nature and its curse . For it is remarkable that in good and evil the case is greatly different . Mortification ( e. g. ) is a duty of Christianity ; but there is no Law concerning the Instruments of it . We are not commanded to roll our selves on thorns , as St. Benedict did ; or to burn our flesh , like St. Martinian ; or to tumble in Snows with S. Francis ; or in pools of water with S Bernard . A man may chew Aloes , or ly upon the ground , or wear sackcloth if he have a mind to it , and if he finds it good in his circumstances and to his purposes of mortification ; but it may be he may do it alone by the Instrumentalities of Fear and Love ; and so the thing be done , no special Instrument is under a command . * But although the Instruments of vertue are free , yet the Instruments and ministeries of vice are not . Not only the sin is forbidden , but all the wayes that lead to it . The Instruments of vertue are of themselves indifferent , that is , not naturally , but good only for their relation sake , and in order to their end . But the Instruments of vice are of themselves vitious ; they are part of the sin , they have a share in the phantastick pleasure , and they begin to estrange a mans heart from God , and are directly in the prohibition . For we are commanded to fly from temptation , to pray against it , to abstain from all appearances of evil , to make a covenant with our eyes , to pluck them out if there be need . And if Christians do not understand the Commandments to this extension of signification , they will be innocent only by the measures of humane laws , but not by the righteousness of God. 3. Of the same consideration it is also that we understand Christs Commandments to extend our Duty , not only to what is named , and what is not named of the same nature and design ; but that we abstain from all such things as are like to sins . * Of this nature there are many . All violences of Passion , Irregularities in Gaming , Prodigality of our time , Undecency of action , doing things unworthy of our Birth or our Profession , aptness to go to Law , Ambitus , or a fierce prosecution even of honourable employments ; misconstruction of the words and actions of our brother ; easiness to believe evil of others , willingness to report the evil which we hear ; curiosity of Dyet , peevishness toward servants , indiscreet and importune standing for place , and all excess in ornaments ; for even this little instance is directly prohibited by the Christian and royal Law of Charity . For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith St. Paul ; the word is a word hard to be understood ; we render it well enough ; Charity vaunteth not it self ; and upon this Saint Basil says , that an Ecclesiastick person ( and so every Christian in his proportion ) ought not to go in splendid and vain Ornaments ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : Every thing that is not wisely useful or proportioned to the state of the Christian , but ministers only to vanity , is a part of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is a vaunting , which the Charity and the Grace of a Christian , does not well endure . * These things are like to sins , they are of a suspicious nature , and not easily to be reconcil'd to the righteousness Evangelical . It is no wonder if Christianity be nice and curious ; it is the cleanness and the purification of the Soul , and Christ intends to present his Church to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without spot or wrinkle , or any such thing . N. B. or any such thing . If there be any irregularity that is less than a wrinkle , the Evangelical righteousness does not allow it . * These are such things which if men will stand to defend , possibly a modest Reprover will be more ashamed than an impudent Offender . * If I see a person apt to quarrel , to take every thing in an ill sense , to resent an error deeply , to reprove it bitterly , to remember it tenaciously , to repeat it frequently , to upbraid it unhandsomly , I think I have great reason to say , that this person does not do what becomes the sweetness of a Christian Spirit . If it be replied , It is no where forbidden to chide an offending person , and that it cannot be a fault to understand when a thing is said or done amiss . I cannot return an answer , but by saying , That suppose nothing of it were a sin , yet that every thing of it is so like a sin , that it is the worse for it ; and that it were better not to do so ; at least I think so , and so ought you too , if you be curious of your eternal interest : a little more tenderness here would do well , I cannot say that this dress , or this garment , or this standing for place is the direct sin of pride ; but I am sure it looks like it in some persons ; at least the letting it alone is much better , and is very like humility . And certain it is , that he is dull of hearing who understands not the voice of God , unless it be clamorous in an express and a loud Commandment , proclaimed with Trumpets and Clarions upon mount Sinai ; but a willing and an obedient ear understands the still voice of Christ , and is ready to obey his meaning at half a word ; and that is the righteousness Evangelical . It not only abstains from Sins named , and sins implied , but from the beginnings and instruments of sin ; and from whatsoever is like it . The Jews were so great haters of Swine upon pretensions of the Mosaick rites , that they would not so much as name a Swine , but called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daber Acher another thing . And thus the Romans in their Auguries us'd alterum for non bonum . The simile of this St. Paul translates to a Christian duty . Let not fornication be so much as named amongst you , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as is comely amongst Christians , that is , come not near a foul thing ; speak not of it , let it be wholly banished from all your conversation ; for this niceness and curiosity of duty becometh Saints , and is an instance of the righteousness Evangelical . I have now done with the first sort of measures of the Christian righteousness ; these which are the matter of our negative duty ; these are the measures of our caution and our first innocence . But there are greater things behind , which although I must croud up into a narrow room , yet I must not wholly omit them : therefore 4. The fourth thing I shall note to you is , that whereas the righteousness of the Pharisees was but a fragment of the broken Tables of Moses ; the pursuance of some one Grace , lacinia sanctitatis , a piece of the robe of righteousness ; the righteousness Evangelical must be like Christs seamless Coat , all of a piece from the top to the bottom ; it must invest the whole Soul : Misma , Dumah , Massah , said the Proverb of the Rabbins , It is this , and it is the other , & it must be all , it must be an universal righteousness ; not a little knot of holy actions scattered in our lives , and drawn into a sum at the day of Judgement , but it must be a state of holiness . It was said of the Paphlagonian Pigeons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , every one of them had two hearts ; but that in our mystical Theologie signifies a wicked man. So said Solomon , The perverse or wicked man derachaim he is a man of two ways ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so S. James expresses an unbeliever ; a man that will and will not ; something he does for God , and something for the world ; he hath two mindes , and in a good fit , in his well days he is full of Repentance , and overflows in piety ; but the paroxysm will return in the day of temptation , and then he is gone infallibly . But know this , that in the righteousness Evangelical , one duty cannot be exchang'd for another , and three vertues will not make amends for one remaining vice . He that oppresses the poor cannot make amends by giving good counsel ; and if a Priest be Simonaical , he cannot be esteemed righteous before God by preaching well , and taking care of his charge . To be zealous for God and for Religion is good , but that will not legitimate cruelty to our Brother . It is not enough for a man to be a good Citizen , unless he be also a good man. But some men build their houses with half a dozen cross sticks , and turfe is the foundation , and straw is the covering , and they think they dwell securely ; their Religion is made up but of two or three vertues , and they think to commute with God , some good for some bad , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as if one deadly wound were not enough to destroy the most healthful constitution in the world . Deceive not your selves . It is all one on which hand we fall : Vnum operantur Et calor & frigus , sic hoc , sic illud adurit ; Sic tenebrae visum , sic sol contrarius aufert . The Moon may burn us by night as well as the Sun by day : and a man may be made blind by the light of the Sun as well as by the darkness of the evening , and any one great mischief is enough to destroy one man. Some men are very meek and gentle naturally , and that they serve God withal ; they pursue the vertue of their nature : that is , they tye a stone at the bottom of the well , and that 's more than needs ; the stone will stay there without that trouble ; and this good inclination will of it self easily proceed to issue ; and therefore our care and caution should be more carefully imployed in mortification of our natures , and acquist of such vertues to which we are more refractory , and then cherish the other too , even as much as we please : but at the same time we are busie in this , it may be we are secret Adulterers , and that will spoil our confidences in the goodness of the other instance : others are greatly bountiful to the poor , and love all mankind , and hurt no body but themselves ; but it is a thousand pities to see such loving good natured persons to perish infinitely by one crime , and to see such excellent good things thrown away to please an uncontrolled and a stubborn lust ; but so do some escape out of a pit , and are taken in a trap at their going forth ; and stepping aside to avoid the hoar frost , fall into a valley full of Snow . The Righteousness Evangelical is another kind of thing : it is a holy conversation , a God-like life , an universal obedience , a keeping nothing back from God , a Sanctification of the whole man , and keeps not the body only , but the soul and the spirit unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus . 5. And lastly ; The Pharisaical righteousness was the product of fear , and therefore what they must , needs do , that they would do ; but no more . But the righteousness Evangelical is produced by Love , it is managed by Choice , and cherished by Delight and fair Experiences . Christians are a willing people ; homines bonae voluntatis , men of good will ; arbores Domini . So they are mystically represented in Scripture ; the Trees of the Lord are full of Sap : among the Hebrews the trees of the Lord did signify such trees as grew of themselves ; and all that are of Gods planting , are such as have a vital principle within , and grow without constraint , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one said it of Christians : they obey the Laws , and by the goodness of their lives exceed the Laws ; and certain it is , no man hath the righteousness Evangelical if he resolves alwayes to take all his liberty in every thing that is meerly lawful ; or if he purpose to do no more than he must needs , that is , no more than he is just commanded . For the Reasons are plain . 1. The Christian that resolves to do every thing that is lawful , will many times run into danger and inconvenience ; because the utmost extremity of lawful is so near to that which is unlawful , that he will often pass into unlawful undiscernably . Vertues and Vices have not in all their instances a great land-mark set between them , like warlike nations separate by prodigious walls , vast seas and portentous hills ; but they are oftentimes like the bounds of a Parish ; men are fain to cut a cross upon the turf , and make little marks and annual perambulations for memorials : so it is in lawful and unlawful , by a little mistake a man may be greatly ruined . He that drinks till his tongue is full as a spunge , and his speech a little stammering and tripping , hasty and disorderly , though he be not gone as far as drunkenness , yet he is gone beyond the severity of a Christian ; and when he is just past into unlawful , if he disputes too curiously , he will certainly deceive himself for want of a wiser curiosity . But 2. He that will do all that he thinks he may lawfully , had need have an infallible guide alwayes by him , who should without error be able to answer all cases of Conscience , which will happen every day in a life so careless and insecure ; for if he should be mistaken , his error is his crime , and not his excuse . A man in this case had need be very sure of his Proportion ; which because he cannot be , in charity to himself , he will quickly find that he is bound to abstain from all things that are uncertainly good , and from all disputable evils , from things which although they may be in themselves lawful , yet accidentally , and that from a thousand cause may become unlawful , Pavidus quippe & formidolosus est Ch●istianus , saith Salvian , — atque in tantum peccare metuens , ut interdum & non timenda formidet . A Christian is afraid of every little thing : and he sometimes greatly fears that he hath sinned , even then when he hath no other reason to be afraid , but because he would not do so for all the world . 3. He that resolves to use all his liberty cannot be innocent , so long as there are in the world so many bold temptations , and presumptuous actions , so many scandals , and so much ignorance in the things of God , so many things that are suspitious , and so many things that are of evil report ; so many ill customs and disguises in the world , with which if we resolve to comply in all that is supposed lawful , a man may be in the regions of death , before he perceive his head to ake ; and instead of a staff in his hand , may have a splinter in his Elbow . 4. Besides all this ; he that thus stands on his terms with God , and so carefully husbands his duty , and thinks to make so good a market of obedience , that he will quit nothing which he thinks he may lawfully keep , shall never be exemplar in his life , and shall never grow in grace , and therefore shall never enter into glory . He therefore that will be righteous by the measures Evangelical , must consider not only what is lawful , but what is expedient ; not only what is barely safe , but what is worthy , that which may secure , and that which may do advantage to that concern that is the greatest in the world . And 2. The case is very like with them that resolve to do no more good than is commanded them . For 1. it is infinitely unprofitable as to our eternal interest , because no man does do all that is commanded at all times ; and therefore he that will not sometimes do more , besides that he hath no love , no zeal of duty , no holy fires in his soul ; besides this , I say , he can never make any amends towards the reparation of his Conscience . Let him that stole steal no more ; that 's well ; but that 's not well enough , for he must , if he can , make restitution of what he stole , or he shall never be pardoned ; and so it is in all our entercourse with God. To do what is commanded is the duty of the present ; we are tyed to this in every present , in every period of our lives ; but therefore if we never do any more than just the present duty , who shall supply the deficiences , and fill up the gaps , and redeem what is past ? This is a material consideration in the righteousness Evangelical . But then 2. we must know that in keeping of Gods Commandments every degree or internal duty is under the Commandments ; and therefore whatever we do , we must do it as well as we can . Now he that does his Duty with the biggest affection he can , will also do all that he can ; and he can never know that he hath done what is commanded , unless he does all that is in his power . For God hath put no limit but love and possibility , and therefore whoever says , Hither will I go and no further , This I will do and no more , Thus much will I serve God , but that shall be all , he hath the affections of a Slave , and the religion of a Pharisee , the craft of a Merchant , and the falseness of a Broker ; but he hath not the proper measures of the righteousness Evangelical . But so it happens in the mud and slime of the River Borborus , when the eye of the Sun hath long dwelt upon it , and produces Frogs and Mice which begin to move a little under a thin cover of its own parental matter , and if they can get loose to live half a life , that is all ; but the hinder parts , which are not formed before the setting of the Sun , stick fast in their beds of mud , and the little moyety of a creature dies before it could be well said to live ; so it is with those Christians , who will do all that they think lawful , and will do no more than what they suppose necessary ; they do but peep into the light of the Sun of righteousness ; they have the beginnings of life ; but their hinder parts , their passions and affections , and the desires of the lower man are still unformed ; and he that dwells in this state is just so much of a Christian as a Spunge is of a plant , and a mushrom of a shrub : they may be as sensible as an oyster , and discourse at the rate of a child , but are greatly short of the righteousness Evangelical . I have now done with those parts of the Christian righteousness , which were not only an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or excess , but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Pharisaical : but because I ought not to conceal any thing from you that must integrate our duty , and secure our title to the kingdom of Heaven ; there is this to be added , that this precept of our blessed Saviour is to be extended to the direct degrees of our duty . We must do more duties , and we must do them better . And in this , although we can have no positive measures , because they are potentially infinite , yet therefore we ought to take the best , because we are sure the greatest is not too big ; and we are not sure that God will accept a worse , when we can do a better . Now although this is to be understood of the internal affection only ; because that must never be abated , but God is at all times to be loved and served with all our heart , yet concerning the degrees of external duty , as Prayers , and Alms , and the like , we are certainly tyed to a greater excellency in the degree , than was that of the Scribes and Pharisees . I am obliged to speak one word for the determination of this inquiry , viz. to how much more of external duty Christians are obliged , than was in the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees . In order to this , briefly thus . I remember that Salvian speaking of old men summing up their Repentances , and making amends for the sins of their whole life , exhorts them to Alms and works of Piety . But inquiring how much they should do towards the redeeming of their Souls , answers with a little Sarcasm , but plainly enough to give a wise man an answer . A man , says he , is not bound to give away all his goods , unless peradventure he ows all to God ; but in that case I cannot tell what to say ; for then the case is altered . A man is not bound to part with all his estate ; that is , unless his sins be greater than his estate ; but if they be , then he may consider of it again , and consider better . And he need not part with it all , unless pardon be more precious to him than his money , and unless heaven be worth it all , and unless he knows justly how much less will do it . If he does , let him try his skill , and pay just so much and no more than he owes to God : but if he does not know , let him be sure to do enough . His meaning is this . Not that a man is bound to give all he hath , and leave his children beggars ; he is bound from that by another obligation . But as when we are tyed to pray continually , the meaning is , we should consecrate all our time by taking good portions out of all our time for that duty ; the devoutest person being like the waters of Siloam , a perpetual spring , but not a perpetual current ; that is alwayes in readiness , but actually thrusting forth his waters at certain periods every day . So out of all our estate we must take for Religion and Repentance such portions as the whole estate can allow ; so much as will consecrate the rest ; so much as is fit to bring when we pray for a great pardon , and deprecate a mighty anger , and turn aside an intolerable fear , and will purchase an excellent peace , and will reconcile a sinner : Now in this case a Christian is to take his measures according to the rate of his contrition and his love , his Religion and his fear , his danger and his expectation , and let him measure his amends wisely ; his sorrow pouring in , and his fear thrusting it down , and it were very well , if his love also would make it run over . For deceive not your selves , there is no other measure but this . So much good as a man does , or so much as he would do , if he could , so much of Religion and so much of repentance he hath , and no more : and a Man cannot ordinarily know that he is in a saveable condition , but by the Testimony which a Divine Philanthropy and a good mind alwayes gives , which is to omit no opportunity of doing good in our several proportions and possibilities . There was an Alms which the Scribes and Pharisees were obliged by the Law to give the tenth of every third years increase ; this they alwayes paid , and this sort of Alms is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Righteousness or Justice , but the Alms which Christians ought to give is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is grace , and it is love , and it is abundance , and so the old Rabbins told : Justitia propriè dicitur in iis quae jure facimus ; benignitas in iis quae praeter jus . It is more than righteousness , it is bounty and benignity , for that 's the Christian measure . And so it is in the other parts and instances of the righteousness Evangelical . And therefore it is remarkable , that the Saints in the Old Testament were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , right men , and the book of Genesis , as we find it twice attested by S. Hierome , was called by the Ancient Hellenists , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the book of right or just men , the book of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. But the word for Christians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , good men , harmless and profitable . Men that are good , and men that do good . In pursuance of which it is further observed by learned men , that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or vertue , is not in the four Gospels ; for the actions of Christs Disciples should not be in gradu virtutis only , vertuous and laudable , such as these Aristotle presses in his Magna Moralia ; they must pass on to a further excellency than so : the same which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; they must be sometimes , and as often as we can in gradu heroico , or , that I may use the Christian style , they must be actions of perfection . Righteousness was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for alms in the Old Testament , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or perfection was the word for Alms in the New ; as appears by comparing the fifth of S. Matthew , and the sixth of S. Luke together ; and that is the full state of this difference in the inquiries of the righteousness Pharisaical and Evangelical . I have many more things to say , but ye cannot hear them now , because the time is past . One thing indeed were fit to be spoken of , if I had any time left ; but I can only name it , and desire your consideration to make it up . This great Rule that Christ gives us , does also , and that principally too , concern Churches and Common-wealths , as well as every single Christian. Christian Parliaments must exceed the Religion and Government of the Sanhedrim . Your Laws must be more holy , the condition of the Subjects be made more tolerable , the Laws of Christ must be strictly enforced , you must not suffer your great Master to be dishonoured , nor his Religion dismembred by Sects , or disgraced by impiety : you must give no impunity to vitious persons , and you must take care that no great example be greatly corrupted ; you must make better provisions for your poor than they did , and take more care even of the external advantages of Christs Religion and his Ministers , than they did of the Priests and Levites ; that is , in all things you must be more zealous to promote the kingdom of Christ , than they were for the Ministeries of Moses . The sum of all is this ; The righteousness Evangelical is the same with that which the Ancients called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to live an Apostolical life , that was the measure of Christians , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , men that desired to please God ; that is , as Apostolius most admirably describes it , men who are curious of their very eyes , temperate in their tongue , of a mortified body , and a humble spirit , pure in their intentions , masters of their passions . Men who when they are injured return honourable words ; when they are lessened in their estates , increase in their charity ; when they are abused , they yet are courteous and give intreaties ; when they are hated , they pay love ; men that are dull in contentions , and quick in loving kindnesses , swift as the feet of Asahel , and ready as the chariots of Amminadib . True Christians are such as are crucified with Christ , and dead unto all sin ; and finally place their whole love on God , and for his sake upon all mankind : this is the description of a Christian , and the true state of the righteousness Evangelical ; so that it was well said of Athenagoras , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , no Christian is a wicked man , unless his life be a continual lie , unless he be false to God and his Religion . For the righteousness of the Gospel is in short , nothing else but a transcript of the life of Christ ; de matthana nahaliel ; de nahaliel Bamoth , said R. Joshua ; Christ is the image of God , and every Christian is the image of Christ , whose example is imitable , but it is the best , and his laws are the most perfect , but the most easie , and the promises by which he invites our greater services are most excellent , but most true ; and the rewards shall be hereafter , but they shall abide for ever , and ( that I may take notice of the last words of my Text ) the threatnings to them that fall short of this righteousness are most terrible , but most certainly shall come to pass ; they shall never enter into the kingdom of heaven ; that is , their portion shall be shame and an eternal prison , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a flood of brimstone , and a cohabitation with Devils to eternal ages : and if this consideration will not prevail , there is no place left for perswasion , and there is no use of reason ; and the greatest hopes and the greatest fears can be no argument or sanction of laws ; and the greatest good in the world is not considerable , and the greatest evil is not formidable ; but if they be , there is no more to be said ; if you would have your portion with Christ , you must be righteous by his measures ; and these are they that I have told you . THE CHRISTIANS CONQUEST Over the Body of Sin. Rom. VII . 19. For the good that I would , I do not : but the evil which I would not , that I do . WHat the Eunuch said to Philip , when he read the book of the Prophet Isaiah ; Of whom speaketh the Prophet this , of himself , or some other man ? The same question I am to ask concerning the words of my Text : Does S. Paul mean this of himself , or of some other ? It is hoped that he speaks it of himself ; and means that though his understanding is convinced that he ou●ht to serve God ; and ●hat he hath some imperfect desires to do so ; yet the Law of God without is opposed by a law of Sin wit●in . We have a corrupted nature , and a body of infirmity , and our reason dwells in the dark , and we must go out of the world before we leave our sin . For besides that some sins are esteemed brave and honourable , and he is a baffled person that dares not kill his brother like a Gentleman ; our very Tables are made a snare , and our civilities are direct treasons to the soul. You cannot entertain your friend but excess is the measure ; and that you may be very kind to your Guest , you step aside and lay away the Christian ; your love cannot be expressed unless you do him an ill turn , and civilly invite him to a Feaver . Justice is too often taught to bow to great interests , and men cannot live without flattery ; and there are some Trades that minister to sin , so that without a sin we cannot maintain our Families ; and if you mean to live , you must do as others do . Now so long as men see they are like to be undone by innocence , and that they can no way live but by compliance with the evil customs of the world , men conclude practically , because they must live they must sin ; they must live handsomely , and therefore must do some things unhandsomely , and so upon the whole matter sin is unavoidable . Fain they would but cannot tell how to help it . But since it is no better , it is well it is no worse . For it is S. Pauls case , no worse man ; he would and he would not , he did and he did not ; he was willing , but he was not able ; and therefore the case is clear , that if a man strives against sin , and falls unwillingly , it shall not be imputed to him ; he may be a regenerate man for all that . A man must indeed wrangle against sin when it comes , and like a peevish lover resist and consent at the same time , and then all is well ; for this not only consists with , but is a sign of the state of regeneration . If this be true , God will be very ill served . If it be not true , most men will have but small hopes of being saved , because this is the condition of most men . What then is to be done ? Truth can do us no hurt , and therefore be willing to let this matter pass under examination ; for if it trouble us now , it will bring comfort hereafter . And therefore before I enter into the main inquiry , I shall by describing the state of the man , of whom S. Paul speaks here , tell you plainly , who it is that is in this state of sad things , and then do ye make your resolutions according as you shall find it necessary for the saving of your souls ; which I am sure ought to be the end of all preaching . 1. The man S. Paul speaks of is one that is dead , v. 9. one that was deceived and slain , v. 11. one in whom sin was exceeding sinful , v. 13. that is , highly imputed , greatly malicious , infinitely destructive : he is one who is carnal , and sold under sin , v. 14. he is one that sins against his conscience and his reason , v. 16. he is one in whom sin dwells but the Spirit of God does not dwell ; for no good thing dwels in him , v. 18. he is one who is brought into captivity to the law of sin , he is a servant of uncleanness , with his flesh and members serving the law of sin , v. 25. Now if this be a state of regeneration , I wonder what is , or can be a state of reprobation ! for though this be the state of Nature , yet it cannot be the state of one redeemed by the Spirit of Christ ; and therefore flatter not your selves any more , that it is enough for you to have good desires , and bad performances : never think that any sin can reign in you , and yet you be servants of God : that sin can dwell in you , and at the same time the Spirit of God can dwell in you too ; or that life and death can abide together . The sum of affairs is this . If ye live after the flesh , ye shall dy ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live , but not else upon any terms whatsoever . My Text is one of the hard places of S. Paul ; which , as S. Peter sayes , the ignorant and the unstable wrest to their own damnation . But because in this case the danger is so imminent , and the deception would be so intolerable , S. Paul immediately after this Chapter ( in which under his own person , as was usual with him to do , he describes the state of a natural man advanced no further than Moses Law , and not redeemed by the blood of Christ , or inlightned by the Spirit of God , and taught by the wiser Lessons and Sermons of the Gospel ) immediately spends the next Chapter in opposing the Evangelical state to the Legal , the Spiritual to the Carnal , the Christian to the Natural ; and tells us plainly , he that is redeemed by the blood of Christ , is redeemed from the power of sin : he that is Christs freed man , is not a slave of sin , not captive to the Devil at his will : he that is in the flesh cannot please God , but that every servant of Christ is freed from sin , and is a servant of righteousness , and redeemed from all his vain conversation : for this is the end of Christs coming , and cannot be in vain unless we make it so . He came to bless us by turning every one of us from our iniquities . Now concerning this , besides the evidence of the thing itself , that S. Paul does not speak these words of himself , but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , under his own borrowed person he describes the state of a carnal , unredeemed , unregenerate person , is expresly affirmed by S. Irenaeus and Origen , by Tertullian and S. Basil , by Theodoret and S. Chrysostom , by S. Jerom , and sometimes by S. Austin , by S. Ambrose , and S. Cyril , by Macarius and Theophylact ; and is indeed that true sense and meaning of these words of S. Paul , which words none can abuse or misunderstand , but to the great prejudice of a holy life , and the Patronage of all iniquity . But for the stating of this great case of conscience , I shall first in short describe to you what are the proper causes which place men , and keep them in this state of a necessity of sinning ; and 2. I shall prove the absolute necessity of coming out of this condition , and quitting all our sin . 3. In what degree this is to be affected . 4. By what Instruments this is to be done ; and all these being practical will of themselves be sufficient use to the Doctrines , and need no other applicatory but a plain exhortation . 1. What are the causes of this evil , by which we are first placed , and so long kept in a necessity of sinning , so that we cannot do what good we would , nor avoid the evil that we hate ? The first is the evil state of our Nature . And indeed he that considers the dayly experiment of his own weak Nature , the ignorance and inconstancy of his soul being like a sick mans legs , or the knees of Infants , reeling and unstable by disease or by infirmity , and the perpetual leaven and germinations , the thrustings forth , and swelling of his senses , running out like new wine into vapours and intoxicating activities , will readily confess , that though even in nature there may be many good inclinations to many instances of the Divine Commandments ; yet it can go no further than this velleity , this desiring to do good , but is not able . And upon this account it is that Lactantius brings in the Pagan or natural man complaining , Volo equidem non peccare , sed vincor , indutus enim sum carne fragili & imbecillà . This is very true ; and I adde only this caution . There is not in the corruption of our nature so much as will save us harmless , or make us excusable if we sin against God. Natural corruption can make us criminal , but not innocent ; for though by him that willingly abides in the state of mere nature , sin cannot be avoided , yet no man is in that state longer than he loves to be so ; for the Grace of God came to rescue us from this evil portion , and is alwayes present to give us a new nature , and create us over again : and therefore though sin is made necessary to the natural man by his impotency and fond loves , that is by his unregenerate nature , yet in the whole constitution of affairs , God hath more then made it up by his Grace , if we will make use of it . In pueris elucet spes plurimorum , quae ubi emoritur aetate , manifestum est non defecisse naturam , sed curam , said Quintilian . We cannot tell what we are , or what we think in our infancy ; and when we can know our thoughts we can easily observe that we have learned evil things by evil examples , and the corrupt manners of an evil conversation : & ubi per socordiam vires , tempus , ingenium defluxêre , naturae infirmitas accusatur ; that indeed is too true ; we grow lazy , and wanton , and we lose our time , and abuse our parts , and do ugly things , and lay the fault wholly upon our natural infirmities ; but we must remember that by this time it is a state of Nature , a state of flesh and blood , which cannot enter into Heaven . The natural man and the natural child are not the same thing in true Divinity . The natural child indeed can do no good ; but the natural man cannot choose but do evil ; but it is because he will do so ; he is not born in the second bir●h , and renewed in the Baptism of the Spirit . 2. We have brought our selves into an accidental necessity of sinning by the evil principles which are sucked in by great parts of mankind . We are taught ways of going to Heaven without forsaking our sins ; of repentance without restitution ; of being in charity without hearty forgiveness , and without love ; of believing our sins to be pardoned before they are mortified ; of trusting in Christs death without conformity to his life ; of being in Gods fav●ur upon the only account of being of such an opinion ; and that when we are once in , we can never be out . We are taught to believe that the events of things do not depend upon our crucifying our evil and corrupt affections , but upon eternal and unalterable Counsels ; that the promises are not the rewards of obedience , but graces pertaining only to a few praedestinates , and yet men are Saints for all that ; and that the Laws of God are of the race of the Giants , not to be observed by any grace or by any industry , this is the Catechism of the ignorant and the prophane : but without all peradventure the contrary propositions are the way to make the world better : but certainly they that believe these things do not believe it necessary that we should eschew all evil : and no wonder then if when men upon these accounts slacken their industry and their care , they find sin still prevailing , still dwelling within them , and still unconquerable by so slight and disheartned labours . For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : every fool and every ignorant person is a child still ; and it is no wonder that he who talks foolishly should do childishly and weakly . 3. To our weak and corrupted nature , and our foolish discourses , men do dayly superinduce evil habits and customs of sinning . Consuetudo mala tanquam hamus infixus animae , said the Father ; an evil custom is a hook in the soul , and draws it whither the Devil pleases . When it comes to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Peter's word is , a heart exercised with covetous practices , then it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is weak and unable to do the good it fain would , or to avoid the evil which in a good fit it pretends to hate . This is so known I shall not insist upon it ; but adde this only , that wherever a habit is contracted , it is all one what the instance be ; it is as easie as delicious , as unalterable in vertue as in vice ; for what helps nature brings to a vitious habit , the same and much more the Spirit of God , by his power and by his comforts can do in a vertuous ; and then we are well again . You see by this who are , and why they are in this evil condition . The evil natures , and the evil principles , and the evil manners of the world , these are the causes of our imperfect willings , and weaker actings in the things of God ; and as long as men stay here , sin will be unavoidable . For even meat it self is loathsom to a sick stomack ; and it is impossible for him that is heart-sick to eat the most wholsom diet ; and yet he that shall say eating is impossible , will be best confuted by seeing all the healthful men in the world eat heartily every day . 2. But what then ? Cannot sin be avoided ? Cannot a Christian mortifie the deeds of the body ? Cannot Christ redeem us , and cleanse us from all our sins ? Cannot the works of the Devil be destroyed ? That 's the next particular to be inquired of . Whether or no it be not necessary , and therefore very possible for a servant of God to pass from this evil state of things , and not only hate evil , but avoid it also ? He that saith he hath not sinned is a lyar ; but what then ? Because a Man hath sinned , it does not follow he must do so always . Hast thou sinned ? do so no more ( said the wise Bensirach ) and so said Christ to the poor Paralytick , Go and sin no more . They were excellent words spoken by a holy Prophet [ Let not the sinner say he hath not sinned ; For God shall burn coals of fire upon his head , that saith before the Lord God and his glory , I have not sinned . ] Well! that case is confessed . All men have sinned , and come short of the glory of God. But is there no remedy for this ? Must it always be so , and sin for ever must have the upper hand , and for ever baffle our resolutions , and all our fierce and earnest promises of amendment ? God forbid ; there was a time then to come , and , blessed be God , it hath been long come [ Yet a little while ( saith that Prophet ) and iniquity shall be taken out of the earth , and righteousness shall reign among you . ] For , that 's in the day , of Christs kingdom , the manifestation of the Gospel : when Christ reigns in our hearts by his Spirit , Dagon and the Ark cannot stand together ; we cannot serve Christ and Belial . And as in the state of nature no good thing dwells within us , so when Christ rules in us , no evil thing can abide . For every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up , and cast away into the fires of consumption or purification . But how shall this come to pass , since we all find our selves so infinitely weak and foolish ? I shall tell you . It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle , than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven , said Christ. It is impossible to nature , it is impossible to them that are given to vanity ; it is impossible for them that delight in the evil snare . But Christ adds ; With men this is impossible , but with God all things are possible . What we cannot do for our selves , God can do for us and with us . What Nature cannot do , the Grace of God can . So that the thing may be done , not indeed by our selves , but gratia Dei mecum , saith S. Paul ; God and man together can do it . But if it can be done any way that God hath put into our powers , the consequent is this ; No mans good will shall be taken in exchange for the real and actual mortification of his sins . He that sins , and would fain not sin , but sin is present with him whether he will or no , let him take heed ; for the same is the Law of sin , and the Law of death ( saith the Apostle ) and that mans heart is not right with God. For it is impossible men should pray for deliverance and not be heard , that they should labour and not be prosperous , unless they pray amiss , and labour falsely . Let no man therefore please himself with talking of great things , with perpetual conversation in pious discourses , or with ineffective desires of serving God. He that does not practise as well as he talks , and do what he desires , and what he ought to do , confesses himself to sin greatly against his conscience ; and it is a prodigious folly to think that he is a good man , because though he does sin , yet it was against his mind to do so . A mans conscience can never condemn him , if that be his excuse , to say that his conscience checkt him ; and that will be but a sad apology at the day of Judgement . Some men talk like Angels , and pray with great fervor , and meditate with deep recesses , and speak to God with loving affections , and words of union , and adhere to him in silent devotion , and when they go abroad are as passionate as ever , peevish as a frighted Fly , vexing themselves with their own reflexions . They are cruel in their bargains , unmerciful to their tenants , and proud as a Barbarian Prince . They are for all their fine words impatient of reproof , scornful to their Neighbours , lovers of money , supream in their own thoughts , and submit to none ; all their spiritual life they talk of , is nothing but spiritual fancy and illusion : they are still under the power of their passions , and their sin rules them imperiously , and carries them away infallibly . Let these men consider ; there are some men think it impossible to do as much as they do . The common swearer cannot leave that vice and talk well ; and these men that talk thus well , think they cannot do as well as they talk ; but both of them are equally under the power of their respective sins , and are equally deceived , and equally not the servants of God. * This is true ; but it is equally as true ; that there is no necessity for all this ; for it ought , and it may be otherwise if we please . For I pray be pleased to hear S. Paul. Walk in the Spirit , and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh . There 's your remedy . For the Spirit lusteth against the flesh , and the flesh against the Spirit , there 's the cause of it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so that ye may not , or cannot do the things ye would . That 's the blessed consequent and product of that cause . That is plainly , As there is a state of carnality ( of which S. Paul speaks in my Text ) so that in that state a man cannot but obey the flesh : so there is also a state of spirituality , when sin is dead , and righteousness is alive ; and in this state the flesh can no more prevail , than the Spirit could do in the other . Some men cannot choose but sin ; for the carnal mind is not subject to God , neither indeed can be ( saith S. Paul ; ) but there are also some men , that cannot endure any thing that is not good . It is a great pain for a temperate man to suffer the disorders of Drunkenness , and the shames of Lust are intolerable to a chaste and modest person . This also is affirmed by S. John , Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin , for his seed remaineth in him . So that you see it is possible for a good man not to commit the sin to which he is tempted ; but the Apostle sayes more , He doth not commit sin , neither indeed can he , because he is born of God. And this is agreable to the words of our Blessed Saviour ; A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit ; and a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit , that is , as the child of Hell is carried to Sin pleno impetu , he does not check at it ; he does it and is not troubled ; so on the other side , a child of God is as fully convinced of righteousness , and that which is unrighteous is as hateful to him , as Colocynths to the taste , or the sharpest punctures to the Pupil of the eye . We may see something of this in common experiences . What man of ordinary prudence and reputation can be tempted to steal , or for what price would he be tempted to murder his friend ? If we did hate all sins as we hate these , would it not be as easy to be as innocent in other instances , as most men are in these ; and we should have as few Drunkards as we have thieves . In such as these , we do not complain in the words of my Text ; What I would not , that I do ; and what I would , I do not . Does not every good man overcome all the power of great sins ? And can he by the Spirit of God and right reason , by fear and hope conquer Goliath , and beat the sons of the Giant , and can he not overcome the little Children of Gath ? or is it harder to overcome a little sin than a great one ? Are not the temptations to little sins very little , and yet are they greater and stronger than a mighty grace ? Could the poor Demoniack that liv'd in the graves , by the power of the Devil break his iron chains in pieces , and cannot he who hath the Spirit of God dissolve the chains of sin ? Through Christ that strengthens me , I can do all things , saith S. Paul. Satis sibi copiarum cum Publio Decio , & nunquam nimium hostium fore , said one in Livie ; which is best rendred by S. Paul ; If God be with us , who can be against us ? Nay there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Paul , We are more than Conquerers ; for even amongst an army of Conquerours there are degrees of exaltation ; and some serve God like the Centurion , and some like S. Peter ; some like Martha , and some like Mary ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all good men conquer their temptation , but some with more ease , and some with a clearer victory ; and more than thus , Non Solum viperam terimus , sed ex ea antidotum conficimus , we kill the Viper , and make treacle of him , that is , not only escape from , but get advantages by temptations . But we commonly are more afraid than hurt . Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us ; so we read the words of the Apostle : but S. Chrysostoms reddition of them is better ; for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a perfect passive , and cannot signifie the strength and irresistibility of sin upon us ; but the quite contrary : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the sin that is so easily avoided , as they that understand that language know very well . And if we were so wise and valiant as not to affright our selves with our own terrors , we should quickly find , that by the help of the Spirit of God , we can do more then we thought we could . It was said of Alexander , Bene ausus est vana contemnere , he did no great matter in conquering the Persian , because they were a pitiful and a soft people ; only he understood them to be so , and was wise and bold enough not to fear such images , and men of clouts . But men in the matter of great sins and little , do as the Magicians of Aegypt ; when Moses turned his rod into a Serpent it moved them not ; but when they saw the Lice and the Flies , then they were afraid . We see that by the Grace of God we can escape great sins , but we start at Flies , and a bird out of a Bush disorders us : the Lyon in the way troubles us not ; but a Frog and a Worm affrights us . Remember the saying of S. Paul , Christ came to redeem to himself a Church , and to present it pure and spotless before the Throne of Grace ; and if you mean to be of this number , you must endeavour to be under this qualification , that is , ( as Paul laboured to be ) void of offence both towards God , and towards Man. And so I have done with the second Proposition ; It is necessary that all sin great and little should be mortified and dead in us , and that we no longer abide in that state of slavery as to say , The good that I would , I do not ; but the evil that I would not , that I do . 3. In the next place we are to inquire in what degree this is to be effected ; for though in negatives properly there are no degrees , yet unless there be some allays in this Doctrine , it will not be so well , and it may be your experiences will for ever confute my Arguments . For who can say that he is clean from his sin ? ( said the Wiseman ) and as our Blessed Saviour said , He that is innocent amongst you all , let him throw the first stone at the sinner and spare not . To this I answer in the words of S. Gregory . All mans righteousness will be found to be unrighteous , if God should severely enter into judgment ; but therefore even after our innocence we must pray for pardon , ut quae succumbere discussa poterat , ex judicis pietate convalescat , that our innocence which in strictness of Divine judgment would be found spotted and stained , by the mercy of our Saviour may be accepted . S. Bernard expresses this well . Nostra siqua est humilis justitia , recta forsitan sed non pura . Our humble righteousness is perhaps right in the eyes of God , but not pure , that is , accepted by his mercy , but it is such as dares not contend in judgment . For as no man is so much a sinner , but he sometimes speaks a good word , or does some things not ill ; and yet that little good interrupts not that state of evil : so it is amongst very good men , from whom sometimes may pass something that is not commendable ; and yet their heart is so habitually right towards God , that they will do nothing but ( I do not say which God in justice cannot , but ) which in mercy he will not impute to eternal condemnation , It was the case of David ; He was a man after Gods own heart ; nay it is said , he was blameless save in the matter of Uriah ; and yet we know he numbred the people , and God was angry with him and punished him for it : but because he was a good man and served God heartily , that other fault of his was imputed to him no further : God set a fine upon his head for it , but it was salvo contenemento , the main stake was safe . For concerning good men the question is not whether or no God could not in the rigour of justice blame their indiscretion , or impute a foolish word , or chide them for a hasty answer ; or a careless action , for a less devout prayer , or weak hands , for a fearful heart , or a trembling faith . These are not the measures by which God judges his children ; for he knoweth whereof we are made , and he remembers that we are but dust . But the question is , whether any man that is covetous or proud , false to his trust , or a Drunkard , can at the same time be a child of God ? No certainly he cannot . But then we know that God judges us by Jesus Christ , that is , with the allays of mercy , with an eye of pardon , with the sentences of a Father , by the measures of a man , and by analogy to all our unavoidable abatements . God could enter with us into a more severe judgment , but he would not ; and no justice tied him from exercising that mercy . But according to the measures of the Gospel , he will judge every man according to his works . Now what these measures are is now the question . To which I answer first in general , and then more particularly . 1. In general thus . A Christians innocence is always to be measured by the plain lines and measures of the Commandments ; but are not to be taken into account by uncertain and fond opinions , and the scruples of zealous and timorous persons . My meaning is this . Some men tell us that every natural inclination to a forbidden object is a sin ; which they that believe , finding them to be natural , do also confess that such sins are unavoidable . But if these natural and first motions be sins , then a man sins whether he resist them , or resists them not , whether he prevails , or prevails not ; and there is no other difference but this ; he that fights not against , but always yields to his desires , sins greatest ; and he that never yields but fights always , sins oftenest . But then , by this reckoning it will indeed be impossible to avoid millions of sins ; because the very doing of our duty does suppose a sin . If God should impute such first desires to us as sins , we were all very miserable ; but if he does not impute them , let us trouble our selves no further about them , but to take care that they never prevail upon us . Thus men are taught that they never say their prayers , but they commit a sin . Indeed that is true but too often ; but yet it is possible for us by the Grace of God to please him in saying our prayers , and to be accepted of him . But indeed if God did proceed against us as we do against one another , no man could abide innocent for so much as one hour . But Gods judgement is otherwise : He inquires if the heart be right , if our labour be true , if we love no sin , if we use prudent and efficacious instruments to mortifie our sin , if we go about our Religion as we go about the biggest concerns of our life ; if we be sincere and real in our actions and intentions . For this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God requires of us all ; this is that sinless state , in which if God does not find us , we shall never see his glorious face , and if he does find us , we shall certainly be saved by the blood of Jesus . For in the style of Scripture to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same thing ; to be sincere , and to be without offence is all one . Thus David spake heartily , I am utterly purpos'd that my mouth shall not offend ; and thou shalt find no wickedness in me . He that endeavours this , and hopes this , and does actions , and uses means accordingly , not being deceived by his own false heart , nor abused by evil propositions , this man will stand upright in the Congregations of the Just ; and though he cannot challenge Heaven by merit , yet he shall receive it as a gift , by promise and by grace . Lex nos innocentes esse jubet , non curiosos , said Seneca . For God takes no judgment of us by any measures ; but of the Commandment without , and the heart and the conscience within ; but he never intended his Laws to be a snare to us , or to entrap us with consequences and dark interpretations , by large deductions and witty similitudes of faults ; but he requires of us a sincere heart and a hearty labour in the work of his Commandments : he calls upon us to avoid all that which his Law plainly forbids , and which our consciences do condemn . This is the general measure . The particulars are briefly these . 1. Every Christian is bound to arrive at that state , that he have remaining in him no habit of any sin whatsoever . Our old man must be crucified ; the body of sin must be destroyed ; he must no longer serve sin ; sin shall not have the dominion over you . All these are the Apostles words ; that is plainly , as I have already declared , you must not be at that pass , that though ye would avoid sin ye cannot . For he that is so , is a most perfect slave , and Christs freed man cannot be so . Nay , he that loves sin , and delights in it , hath no liberty indeed , but he hath more shew of it , than he that obeys it against his will. — Libertatis servaveris umbram , Si quicquid jubeare velis — . He that loves to be in the place , is a less prisoner , than he that is confined against his will. 2. He that commits any one sin by choice and deliberation is an enemy to God , and is under the dominion of the flesh . In the case of deliberate sins one act does give the denomination ; he is an Adulterer that so much as once foully breaks the holy Laws of Marriage . He that offends in one is guilty of all , saith S. James , S. Peters Denial , and Davids Adultery had passed on to a fatal issue , if the mercy of God , and a great repentance had not interceded . But they did so no more , and so God restored them to Grace and Pardon . And in this sense are the words of S. John , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he that does a sin is of the Devil , and he that is born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he does not commit a sin ; he chooses none , he loves none , he endures none , talia quae non faciet bonae fidei & spei Christianus ; they do no great sin , and love no little one . A sin chosen and deliberately done , is , as Tertullians expression is , crimen devoratorium salutis ; it devours salvation . For as there are some sins which can be done but once ; as a man can kill his Father but once , or himself but once ; so in those things which can be repeated , a perfect choice is equivalent to a habit , it is the same in principle , that a habit is in the product . In short he is not a child of God , that knowingly and deliberately chooses anything that God hates . 3. Every Christian ought to attain to such a state of life , as that he never sin , not only by a long deliberation , but also not by passion . I do not say that he is not a good Christian , who by passion is suddenly surpriz'd and falls into folly ; but this I say , that no passion ought to make him choose a sin . For let the sin enter by anger or by desire , it is all one , if the consent be gain'd . It is an ill sign if a man , though on the sudden , consents to a base action . Thus far every good man is tied , not only to endeavour , but to prevail against his Sin. 4. There is one step more ; which if it be not actually effected , it must at least be greatly endeavour'd ; and the event be left to God : and that is , that we strive for so great a dominion over our sins and lust , as that we be not surpriz'd on a sudden . This indeed is a work of time , and it is well if it be ever done ; but it must alwayes be endeavoured . But in this particular , even good men are sometimes unprosperous . S. Epiphanius and S. Chrysostom grew once into choler , and they past too far , and lost more then their argument , they lost their reason , and they lost their patience : and Epiphanius wished that S. Chrysostom might not die a Bishop ; and he in a peevish exchange wished that Epiphanius might never return to his Bishoprick ; when they had forgotten their foolish anger , God remembred it , and said Amen to both their cursed speakings . Nay , there is yet a greater example of humane frailty . S. Paul and Barnabas were very holy persons , but once in a heat they were both to blame , they were peevish and parted company . This was not very much : but God was so displeased , even for this little Fly in their Box of Oyntment , that their story sayes , they never saw one anothers face again . These earnest emissions and transportations of passion do sometime declare the weakness of good men ; but that even here we ought at least to endeavour to be more than Conquerors appears in this , because God allows it not , and by punishing such follies does manifest that he intends that we should get victory over our suddain passions , as well as our natural lusts . And so I have done with the third inquiry , in what degree God expects our innocence ; and now I briefly come to the last particular , which will make all the rest practicable ; I am now to tell you how all this can be effected , and how we shall get free from the power and dominion of our sins . 4. The first great instrument is Faith. He that hath Faith like a grain of Mustard seed can remove mountains ; the mountains of sin shall fall flat at the feet of the Faithful man , and shall be removed into the sea , the Sea of Christs blood and penitential waters . Faith overcometh the world , saith S. John ; and walk in the Spirit , and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh : there are two of our enemies gone ; the world and the flesh , by Faith and the Spirit , by the Spirit of Faith ; and as for the Devil , put on the shield of Faith , and resist the Devil , and he will flee from you , saith the Apostle ; and the powers of sin seem insuperable to none , but to them that have not Faith ; we do not believe that God intends we should do what he seems to require of us ; or else we think that though Gods grace abounds , yet sin must superabound expresly against the saying of S. Paul , or else we think that the evil spirit is stronger than the good Spirit of God. Hear what S. John saith , My little children , ye are of God , and have overcome the evil one ; for the Spirit that is in you is greater than that which is in the world . Believest thou this ? If you do , I shall tell you what may be the event of it . When the father of the boy , possessed with the Devil , told his sad story to Christ ; he said ; Master if thou canst do any thing , I pray help me . Christ answered him , If thou canst believe , all things are possible to him that believeth . N. B. And therefore if you do believe this , go to your prayers , and go to your guards , and go to your labour ; and try what God will do for you . For whatsoever things ye desire , when ye pray , believe that ye shall receive them , and ye shall have them . Now consider ; Do not we every day pray in the Divine Hymn called Te Deum , Vouchsafe , O Lord , to keep us this day without sin ? And in the Collect at morning prayer , [ and grant that this day we fall into no sin , neither run into any kind of danger , but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance , to do alwayes that which is righteous in thy sight ? ] Have you any hope , or any faith when you say that Prayer ? And if you do your duty as you can , do you think the failure will be on Gods part ? Fear not that ; if you can trust in God , and do accordingly ; though your sins were as scarlet , yet they shall be as white as snow , and pure as the feet of the holy Lamb. Only let us forsake all those weak propositions which cut the nerves of faith , and make it impossible for us to actuate all our good desires , or to come out from the power of sin . 2. He that would be free from the slavery of Sin , and the necessity of sinning must alwayes watch . I , that 's the point ; but who can watch alwayes ? Why every good man can watch alwayes : and that we may not be deceived in this , let us know , that the running away from a temptation is a part of our watchfulness , and every good employment is another great part of it , and a laying in provisions of Reason and Religion before hand , is yet a third part of this watchfulness ; and the conversation of a Christian is a perpetual watchfulness ; not a continual thinking of that one , or those many things which may indanger us ; but it is a continual doing something directly or indirectly against sin . He either prayes to God for his Spirit , or relies upon the promises , or receives the Sacrament , or goes to his Bishop for Counsel and a Blessing , or to his Priest for Religious offices , or places himself at the feet of good men to hear their wise sayings , or calls for the Churches prayers , or does the duty of his calling , or actually resists Temptation , or frequently renews his holy Purposes , or fortifies himself by Vows , or searches into his Danger by a daily examination ; so that in the whole he is for ever upon his guards . * This duty and caution of a Christian is like watching lest a man cut his finger . Wise men do not often cut their fingers , and yet every day they use a knife ; and a mans eye is a tender thing , and every thing can do it wrong , and every thing can put it out ; yet because we love our eyes so well , in the midst of so many dangers , by Gods providence and a prudent natural care , by winking when any thing comes against them , and by turning aside when a blow is offered , they are preserved so certainly , that not one man in ten thousand does by a stroak lose one of his eyes in all his life time . If we would transplant our natural care to a spiritual caution , we might by Gods grace be kept from losing our souls , as we are from losing our eyes ; and because a perpetual watchfulness is our great defence , and the perpetual presence of Gods grace is our great security , and that this Grace never leaves us , unless we leave it , and the precept of a dayly watchfulness is a thing not only so reasonable , but so many easy wayes to be performed , we see upon what terms we may be quit of our sins , and more than Conquerors over all the enemies & impediments of Salvation . 3. If you would be in the state of the Liberty of the Sons of God , that is , that you may not be servants of sin in any instance ; be sure in the mortifications of sin , willingly or carelesly to leave no remains of it , no nest-egg , no principles of it , no affections to it ; if any thing remains , it will prove to us as Manna to the sons of Israel on the second day , it will breed worms and stink . Therefore labour against every part of it , reject every proposition that gives it countenance ; pray to God against it all ; and what then ? Why then , Ask and you shall have ( said Christ. ) Nay , say some ; it is true ; you shall be heard ; but in part only ; for God will leave some remains of sin within us , lest we should become proud by being innocent . So vainly do men argue against Gods goodness and their own blessings and Salvation , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as S. Basil sayes ) they contrive witty arts to undo themselves , being intangled in the periods of ignorant disputations . But as to the thing it self , if by the remains of sin they mean the propensities and natural inclinations to forbidden objects ; there is no question but they will remain in us so long as we bear our flesh about us ; and surely that is a great argument to make us humble . But these are not the sins which God charges on his people . But if by remains we mean any part of the habit of sin , any affection , any malice or perverseness of the Will ; then it is a contradiction to say that God leaves in us such remains of Sin , lest by innocence we become Proud. For how should Pride spring in a mans heart , if there be no remains of Sin left ? And is it not the best , the surest way to cure the Pride of our hearts by taking out every root of bitterness , even the root of Pride it self ? Will a Physician purposely leave the Reliques of a disease . and pretend he does it to prevent a relapse ? And is it not more likely he will relapse , if the sickness be not wholly cured ? * But besides this ; If God leaves any remains of Sin in us , what remains are they , and of what sins ? Does he leave the remains of Pride ? If so ; that were a strange cure to leave the remains of Pride in us to keep us from being proud . But if not so ; but that all the remains of Pride be taken away by the grace of God blessing our endeavours ; what danger is there of being proud , the remains of which Sin are by the grace of God wholly taken away ? But then , if the Pride of the heart be cured , which is the hardest to be remov'd , and commonly is done last of all , who can distrust the power of the Spirit of God , or his goodness , or his promises , and say that God does not intend to cleanse his Sons and Servants from all unrighteousness ; and according to S. Pauls prayer , keep their bodies and souls , and spirits , unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus . But however , let God leave what remains he please ; all will be well enough on that side , but let us be careful , as far as we can , that we leave none : lest it be severely imputed to us , and the fire break out and consume us . 4. Let us without any further question , put this argument to a material issue ; let us do all that we can do , towards the destruction of the whole body of sin ; but let us never say we cannot be quit of our Sin till we have done all that we can do towards the mortification of it . For till that be done , how can any man tell where the fault lies , or whether it can be done or no. If any man can say that he hath done all that he could do , and yet hath failed of his duty ; if he can say truly , that he hath endured as much as is possible to be endured , that he hath watched alwayes , and never nodded , when he could avoid it , that he hath loved as much as he could love , that he hath waited till he can wait no longer ; then indeed , if he sayes true , we must confess that it is not to be understood . But is there any man in the World that does all that he can do ? If there be , that man is blameless ; if there be not , then he cannot say but it is his own fault that his sin prevails against him . It is true that no man is free from sin ; but it is as true , that no man does as much as he can against it : and therefore no man must go about to excuse himself by saying , no man is free from his sin ; and therefore no man can be ; no not by the powers of grace : for he may as well argue thus , No man does do all that he can do against it ; and therefore it is impossible he should do what he can do . The argument is apparently foolish , and the excuse is weak , and the deception visible , and sin prevails upon our weak arguings ; but the consequence is plainly this . When any man commits a sin , he is guilty before God ; and he cannot say he could not help it , and God is just in punishing every sin , and very merciful when he forgives us any : but he that sayes he cannot avoid it , that he cannot overcome his lust , confesses himself a servant of Sin , and that he is not yet redeemed by the blood of the Holy Lamb. 5. He that would be advanced beyond the power and necessity of sinning must take great caution concerning his thoughts and secret desires . For lust when it is conceived bringeth forth sin ; but if it be suppressed in the conception , it comes to nothing : but we find it hard to destroy the Serpent when the egg is ha●ched into a Cockatrice . The thought is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; no man takes notice of it , but lets it alone till the sin be too strong , and then we complain we cannot help it . Nolo sinas cogitationem crescere . Suffer not your thoughts to grow up . For they usually come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as S. Basil sayes ) suddenly , and easily , and without business ; but take heed taht you nurse them not ; but if you chance to stumble , mend your pace ; and if you nod , let it awaken you ; for he only can be a good man , that raises himself up at the first trip , that strangles his sin in the birth . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Good men rise up again , even before they fall , saith S. Chrysostom . Now I pray consider , that when sin is but in the thought , it is easily suppressed ; and if it be stopt there , it can go no further ; and what great mountain of labour is it then to abstain from our sin ? Is not the Adultery of the eye easily cured by shutting the eye-lid ? and cannot the thoughts of the heart be turned aside by doing business , by going into company , by reading or by sleeping ? A man may divert his thoughts by shaking of his head , by thinking any thing else , by thinking nothing . Da mihi Christianum ( saith S. Austin ) & intelligit quod dico . Every man that loves God understands this , and more than this to be true . Now if things be thus , and that we may be safe in that which is supposed to be the hardest of all ; we must needs condemn our selves , and lay our faces in the dust when we give up our selves to any sin ; we cannot be justified by saying we could not help it . For as it was decreed by the Fathers of the Arausican Council ad . Hoc etiam secundum fidem Catholicam credimus , &c. This we believe according to the Catholick Faith , that have received Baptismal Grace , all that are baptiz'd by the aid and cooperation of Christ , must and can ( if they will labour faithfully ) perform and fulfil those things which belong unto salvation . 6. And lastly . If sin hath gotten the power of any one of us , consider in what degree the sin hath prevailed . If but a little , the battel will be more easy , and the victory more certain ; but then be sure to do it throughly , because there is not much to be done . But if sin hath prevailed greatly , than indeed you have very much to do , therefore begin betimes , and defer nor this ●ork till old age shall make it extremely difficult , or death shall make it impossible . Nam quamvis prope te , quamvis temone sub uno Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum , Cum rota posterior curras , & in axe secundo . If thou beest cast behind ; if thou hast neglected the duties of thy vigorous age , thou shalt never overtake that strength ; the hinder wheel , though bigger than the former , and measures more ground at every revolution : yet shall never overtake it : and all the second counsels of thy old age , though undertaken with greater resolution , and acted with the strengths of fear and need , and pursued with more pertinacious purposes than the early repentances of young men , yet shall never overtake those advantages which you lost when you gave your youth to folly , and the causes of a sad repentance . However if you find it so hard a thing to get from the power of one master-sin , if an old Adulterer does dote , if an old Drunkard be further from remedy than a young sinner , if Covetousness grows with old age , if ambition be still more Hydropick and grows more thirsty for every draught of honour , you may easily resolve that old age , or your last sickness is not so likely to be prosperous in the mortification of our long prevailing sins . Do not all men desire to end their dayes in Religion , to dye in the arms of the Church , to expire under the conduct of a religious man ? when ye are sick or dying , then nothing but prayers And sad complaints , and the groans of a tremulous repentance , and the faint labours of an almost impossible mortification : then the dispised Priest is sent for , then he is a good man , and his words are Oracles , and Religion is truth , and sin is a load , and the sinner is a fool : then we watch for a word of comfort from his mouth , as the fearful Prisoner for his fate upon the Judges answer . That which is true then , is true now ; and therefore to prevent so intolerable a danger , mortifie your sins betime , for el●e you will hardly mortifie it at all . Remember that the snail outwent the Eagle and won the goal , because she set out betimes . To sum up all , every good man is a new Creature , and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution , as a Divine frame and temper of Spirit , which if we heartily pray for , and endeavour to obtain , we shall find it as hard and as uneasie to sin against God , as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins . For as it is in the Spermatick vertue of the heavens , which diffuses it self Universally upon all sublunary bodies , and subtilly insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls ; Life and motion , and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing ; so it is in the Holy Spirit of God , and the word of God and the grace of God , which S. John calls the seed of God , it is a law of righteousness , and it is a law of the Spirit of Life , and changes nature into Grace , and dulness into zeal , and fear into love , and sinful habits into innocence , and passes on from grace to grace , till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ , and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God ; so that we shall no more say , The evil that I would not that I do ; but we shall hate what God hates , and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do , not because we are strong of our selves , but because Christ is our strength , and he is in us , and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness , and his grace will be sufficient for us : and he will of his own good pleasure work in us , not only to will , but also to do , velle & perficere saith the Apostle , to will and to do it throughly , and fully , being sanctified throughout , to the glory of his Holy name , and the eternal salvation of our Souls , through Jesus Christ our Lord , to whom with the Father , &c. FIDES FORMATA , OR , Faith working by Love. James II. 24. You see then , how that by works a Man is justified , and not by Faith only . THat we are justified by Faith , S. Paul * tells us , that we are also justified by works , we are told in my Text , and both may be true . But that this justification is wrought by Faith without works , to him that worketh not but believeth , ( saith S. Paul ; ) that this is not wrought without works ; S. James is as express for his negative , as S. Paul was for his affirmative , and how both these should be true , is something harder to unriddle . But affirmanti incumbit probatio , he that affirms must prove ; and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham , to whom faith was imputed for righteousness ; and therefore not by works . And what can be answered to this ? Nothing but this , that S. James uses the very same argument , to prove that our justification is by works also . [ For our Father Abraham was justified by works , when he offered up his son Isaac . ] Now which of these sayes true ? Certainly both of them ; but neither of them have been well understood ; insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful , but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life ; and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence , and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith . The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive institution ; and the other , a bold presumption on our selves ; while the first tempts us to live like Heathens , and the other recals us to live the life of Jews , while one sayes I am of Paul , and another , I am of S. James , and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ ; one looking on Christ only as a law-giver , and the other only as a Saviour . The effects of these are very sad , and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit . My purpose is not with subtile arts to reconcile them that never disagreed ; the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit , and to the same last design , though to differing intermedial purposes ; but because the great end of Faith , the design , the definition , the State , the Oeconomy of it , is that all believers should not live according to the flesh , but according to the Spirit ; before I fall to the close handling of the Text , I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness , to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles , to understand the question and the duty , by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article , and then proceed to the main inquiry . 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words , spoken in mystery , with allegorical expressions to secret senses , wrapt up in a cloud ; such as are [ Faith , and Justification , and Imputation , and Righ●eousness , and Works ] be pleased to consider that the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous , in so much that in the Latin Concordances of S. Hieroms Bible published by Robert Stephens , you may see no less than twenty two several senses and acceptations of the word Faith , set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them . To which if out of my own observation I could add no more , yet these are an abundant demonstration , that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification , is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity , and our carefulness of good life , when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul , of Justification by Faith , so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience . 2. As it is in the word Faith , so it is in works ; for by works is meant sometimes the thing done , sometimes the labour of doing , sometimes the good will ; it is sometimes taken for a state of good life , sometimes for the Covenant of works ; it sometimes means the works of the Law , sometimes the works of the Gospel ; sometimes it is taken for a perfect , actual , unsinning obedience , sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God ; sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the reward as of Debt , sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to recieve the favour and the grace of God. Now since our good works can be but of one kind , for ours cannot be meritorious , ours cannot be without sin all our life , they cannot be such as to need no repentance , it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense ; for by such works no man living can be justified . And these S. Paul calls the works of the Law , and sometimes he calls them our righteousness , and these are the Covenant of works . But because we came into the world to serve God , and God will be obeyed , and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin , and to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works , and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Fathers will , and destroyed the works of the Devil , and gives us his holy Spirit ; and by him we shall be justified in this obedience ; therefore when works , signifie a sincere , hearty endeavour to keep all Gods commands out of a belief in Christ , that if we endeavour to do so , we shall be helped by his grace , and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past , and if we continue to do so , we shall receive a Crown of Glory , therefore it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by works ; alwayes meaning , not the works of the law , that is , works that are meritorious ; works that can challenge the reward ; works that need no mercy , no repentance , no humiliation , and no appeal to grace and favour , but alwayes meaning , works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will , and a sincere endeavour , and the faith of the Lord Jesus . 3. But thus also it is in the word [ Justification . ] For God is justified , and wisdom is justified , and man is justified , and a sinner is not justified as long as he continues in sin , and a sinner is justified when he repents , and when he is pardoned ; and an innocent person is justified when he is declared to be no criminal , and a righteous man is justified when he is saved , and a weak Christian is justified when his imperfect services are accepted for the present , and himself thrust forward to more grace ; and he that is justified may be justified more ; and every man that is justified to one purpose is not so to all , and faith in divers senses gives justification in as many ; and therefore though to every sense of Faith there is not alwayes a degree of justification in any ; yet when the faith is such , that justification is the product and correspondent , as that Faith may be imperfect , so the justification is but begun , and either must proceed further , or else as the faith will dy , so the justification will come to nothing . The like observation might be made concerning imputation and all the words used in this question , but these may suffice till I pass to other particulars . 4. Not only the word Faith , but also charity and godliness , and religion signifie sometimes particular graces , and sometimes they suppose Universally , and mean conjugations and Unions of graces , as is evident to them that read the Scriptures with observation . Now when justification is attributed to Faith , or Salvation to godliness , they are to be understood in the aggregate sense : for that I may give but one instance of this ; when S. Paul speaks of faith as it is a particular grace and separate from the rest , he also does separate it from all possibility of bringing us to Heaven ; Though I have all Faith , so that I could remove Mountains , and have no charity , I am nothing . When Faith includes charity , it will bring us to Heaven ; when it is alone , when it is without charity , it will do nothing at all . 5. Neither can this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be salved by saying , that though Faith alone does justifie , yet when she does justifie she is not alone ; but good works must follow : for this is said to no purpose . 1. Because if we be justified by faith alone , the work is done , whether charity does follow or no , and therefore that want of charity cannot hurt us . 2. There can be no imaginable cause why charity and obedience should be at all necessary , if the whole work can be done without it . 3. If obedience and charity be not a condition of our Salvation , than it is not necessary to follow faith ; but if it be , it does as much as faith , for that is but a part of the condition . 4. If we can be sav'd without charity and keeping the Commandments , what need we trouble our selves for them : if we cannot be saved without them , then either faith without them does not justifie , or if it does , we are never the better , for we may be damned for all that justification . The Consequent of the these observations is briefly this . 1. That no man should fool himself by disputing about the Philosophy of Justification , and what causality faith hath in it ; and whether it be the act of faith that justifies , or the habit ? Whether faith as a good work , or faith as an instrument ? Whether Faith as it is Obedience , or faith as it is an access to Christ ? Whether as a hand , or as a heart ? Whether by its own innate vertue , or by efficacy of the object ? Whether as a sign , or as a thing signified ? Whether by introduction , or by perfection ? Whether in the first beginnings , or in its last and best productions ? Whether by inherent worthiness , or adventitious imputation ? Vberiùs ista quaeso , &c. ( that I may use the words of Cicero ) haec enim spinosiora priùs , ut confiteor , me cogunt quam ut assentiar . These things are knotty and too intricate to do any good ; they may amuse us , but never instruct us ; and they have already made men careless and confident , disputative and troublesom , proud and uncharitable , but neither wiser nor better . Let us therefore leave these weak wayes of troubling our selves or others , and directly look to the Theology of it , the direct duty , the end of Faith , and the work of Faith , the conditions and the instruments of our Salvation , the just foundation of our hopes , how our faith can destroy our sin , and how it can unite us unto God ; how by it we can be made Partakers of Christs death , and imitators of his life . For since it is evident by the premises , that this article is not to be determined or relyed upon by arguing from words of many significations ; we must walk by a clearer light , by such plain sayings and Dogmatical Propositions of Scripture which evidently teach us our duty , and place our hopes upon that which cannot deceive us , that is , which require Obedience , which call upon us to glorifie God , and to do good to men , and to keep all Gods Commandments , with diligence and sincerity . For since the end of our faith is that we may be Disciples and Servants of the Lord Jesus , advancing his Kingdom here , and partaking of it hereafter , since we are commanded to believe what Christ taught , that it may appear as reasonable as it is necessary to do what he hath commanded , since Faith and works are in order one to the other , it is impossible that Evangelical Faith , and Evangelical works should be opposed one to the other in the effecting of our Salvation . So that as it is to no purpose for Christians to dispute whether we are justified by Faith or the works of the law , that is the Covenant of works without the help of Faith and the auxiliaries and allowances of mercy on Gods part , and repentance on ours ; because no Christian can pretend to this : so it is perfectly foolish to dispute whether Christians are to be justified by Faith , or the works of the Gospel ; for I shall make it appear that they are both the same thing . No man disparages faith but he that sayes , Faith does not work righteousness ; for he that sayes so , sayes indeed it cannot justifie : for he sayes that faith is alone ; it is faith only , and the words of my Text are plain ; you see ( saith S. James ) that is , it is evident to your sense , it is as clear as an ocular demonstration , that a man is justified by works and not by Faith only . My Text hath it in these two Propositions ; a negative and an affirmative . The negative is this , 1. By Faith only a man is not justified . The affirmative , 2. By works also a man is justified . When I have briefly discoursed of these ; I shall only adde such practical considerations as shall make the Doctrines useful , and tangible , and material . 1. By faith only a man is not justified . By faith only , here is meant , faith without Obedience . For what do we think of those that detain the faith in Unrighteousness ? they have faith , they could not else keep it in so ill a Cabinet , but yet the Apostle reckons them amongst the Reprobates ; for the abominable , the Reprobates and the disobedient are all one ; and therefore such persons for all their faith shall have no part with faithful Abraham : for none are his Children but they that do the works of Abraham . Abraham's faith without Abraham's works is nothing : for of him that hath faith , and hath not works . S. James askes , Can Faith save him ? Meaning that it is impossible . For what think we of those that did miracles in Christs name , and in his name cast out Devils ? Have not they Faith ? Yes , omnem fidem , all faith , that is alone , for they could remove Mountains : but yet to many of them Christ will say , Depart from me ye workers of iniquity , I know you not . Nay at last , what think we of the Devils themselves ? have not they faith ? yes , and this faith is not fides miraculorum neither , but it is an Operative faith , it works a little ; for it makes them tremble ; and it may be that is more than thy faith does to thee : and yet dost thou hope to be saved by a faith that does less to thee , than the Devils faith does to him ? That 's impossible . For Faith without works is dead , saith S. James . It is manus arida saith S. Austin , it is a wither'd hand , and that which is dead cannot work the l●fe of grace in us , much less obtain eternal life for us . In short , a man may have faith , and yet do the works of unrighteousness ; he may have faith and be a Devil , and then what can such a faith do to him or for him ? It can do him no good in the present constitution of affairs . S. Paul , from whose mistaken words much noise hath been made in this question , is clear in this particular . Nothing in Christ Jesus can avail , but Faith working by Charity ; that is , as he expounds himself once and again ; nothing but a new creature , nothing but keeping the Commandments of God. If faith be defin'd to be any thing that does not change our natures , and make us to be a new Creation unto God ; if keeping the Commandments be not in the definition of faith , it avails nothing at all . Therefore deceive not your selves ; they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself ; Not every one that saith unto me Lord , Lord , that is , not every one that confesses Christ , and believes in him , calling Christ Master and Lord shall be sav'd , but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven . These things are so plain , that they need no Commentary ; so evident , that they cannot be denyied : and to these I add but this one truth : that faith alone without a good life is so far from justifying a sinner , that it is one of the greatest aggravations of his condemnation in the whole World. For no man can be so greatly damned as he that hath faith ; for unless he knows his masters will , that is , by faith be convinced , and assents to the revelations of the will of God , he can be beaten but with few stripes : but he that believes hath no excuse , he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , condemn'd by the sentence of his own heart , and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , many stripes , the greater condemnation shall be his portion . Natural reason is a light to the Conscience , but faith is a greater , and therefore if it be not followed , it damns deeper than the Hell of the Infidels and uninstructed . And so I have done with the Negative Proposition of my Text ; a man is not justified by faith alone , that is , by faith which hath not in it Charity and Obedience . 2. If faith alone will not do it , what will ? The affirmative part of the Text answers ; not faith alone ; but works must be an ingredient : a man is justified by works ; and that is now to be explicated and prov'd . It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justifie , if when a man is justified , he is never the nearer to be sav'd . Now that without Obedience no man can go to Heaven , is so evident in holy Scripture , that he that denyes it , hath no faith , There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked ; and I will not justifie a sinner , saith God ; unless faith purges away our sins it can never justifie . Let a man believe all the revelations of God , if that belief ends in its s●lf and goes no further , it is like physick taken to purge the stomach ; if it do not work , it is so far from bringing health , that it self is a new sickness . Faith is a great purger and purifier of the soul , purifying your hearts by Faith , faith the Apostle . It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul , but if it does not work , it corrupts in the stomach , it makes us to rely upon weak Propositions and trifling confidences , it is but a dreaming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a Phantastick dream , and introduces Pride or superstition , swelling thoughts and presumptions of the Divine favour . But what saith the Apostle ? Follow Peace with all men , and holiness , without which no man can see God. Mark that . If faith does not make you charitable and holy , talk no more of justification by it , for you shall never see the glorious face of God. Faith indeed is a title and relation to Christ ; it is a naming of his names , but what then ? Why than saith the Apostle , Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity . For let any man consider , can the Faith of Christ , and the hatred of God stand together ? Can any man be justified that does not love God ? Or can any man love God and sin at the same time ? And does not he love sin that falls under its temptation , and obeyes it in the lusts thereof , and delights in the vanity , and makes excuses for it , and returns to it with passion , and abides with pleasure ? This will not do it ; such a man cannot be justified for all his believing . But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way : This is a true saying , and I will that thou affirm constantly , that they who have believed in God , be careful to maintain good works . The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine , he arms it with a double Preface ; the saying is true , and it is to be constantly affirmed ; that is , it is not only true , but necessary ; it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled , because it is bound upon us by the decree of God , and it is unalterably certain , that every believer must do good works , or his believing will signifie little ; nay more than so , every man must be careful to do good works , and more yet ; he must carefully maintain them , that is , not do them by fits and interrupted returns , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them , to dwell upon them , to maintain good works , that is , to persevere in them . But I am yet but in the general ; be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations . 1. No mans sins are pardoned , but in the same measure , in which they are mortified , destroyed and taken away ; so that if faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie , it never can procure our pardon . And therefore it is , that as soon as ever faith in the Lord Jesus was preached , at the same time also they preached repentance from dead works : in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first Principles of Christianity ; nay , the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the faith of Christ. And I pray consider ; can there be any forgivness of sins without repentance ? But if an Apostle should preach forgivene●s to all that believe , and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin , the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus , a device to get togeth●r all the wicked people of the world , and to make them happy without any change of manners . Christ came to other purposes ; he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word ; the word of faith was not for it self , but was a design of holiness , and the very grace of God did appear , for this end ; that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts , we should live holily , justly , and soberly in this present World ; he came to gather a People together ; not like Davids army , when Saul pursued him , but the armies of the Lord , a faithful people , a chosen generation ; and what is that ? The Spirit of God adds , a People zealous of good works . Now as Christ prov'd his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans palsie ; because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed , so the great act of justification of a sinner , the pardoning of his sins , is then only effected , when the spiritual evil is taken away : that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon ; when God takes away the hardness of the heart , the love of sin , the accursed habit , the evil inclination , the sin that doth so easily beset us : and when that is gone , what remains within us that God can hate ? Nothing stayes behind , but Gods creation , the work of his own hands , the issues of his holy Spirit . The faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it destroyes the whole body of sin ; and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner , whom he doth not also purge and r●scue from the dominion of sin , is to affirm that he justifies the wicked , that he calls good evil , and evil good , that he delights in a wicked person , that he makes a wicked man all one with himself ; that he makes the members of a harlot at the same time also the members of Christ. But all this is impossible , and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour , Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away . Faith ingrafts us into Christ ; by faith we are inserted into the vine ; but the plant that is ingrafted , must also be parturient and fruitful , or else it shall be quite cut off from the root , and thrown into the everlasting burning . And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of faith . The just shall live by Faith. No man shall live by faith but the just man , he indeed is justified by faith , but no man else ; the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter . That 's the first great consideration in this affair ; no man is justified in the least sense of justification , that is , when it means nothing but the pardon of sins , but when his sin is mortified and destroyed . 2. No man is actually justified , but he that is in some measure sanctified . For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know , that justification when it is attributed to any cause , does not alwayes signifie justification actual . Thus when it is said in Scripture , We are justified by the death of Christ , it is but the same thing as to say , Christ dyed for us ; and he rose again for us too , that we might indeed be justified in due time , and by just measures and dispositions ; he dyed for our sins , and ros● again for our justification ; that is , by his death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power , and effected this mercy , that if we believe him and obey , we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom . But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon , of grace and of salvation , appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts ; but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances , in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified . For so saith the Scripture ; We when we were enemies , were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; and while we were yet sinners , Christ died for us ; that is , then was our Justification wrought on Gods part , that is , then he intended this mercy to us , then he resolved to shew us favour , to give us Promises , and Laws , and Conditions , and hopes , and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation ; and when faith layes hold on this Grace , and this Justification , then we are to do the other part of it ; that is , as God made it potential by the death and resurrection of Christ , so we laying hold on these things by Faith , and working the Righteousness of Faith , that is , performing what is required on our parts , we , I say , make it actual ; and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death . Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died , yea rather , that is risen again . And Christ was both delivered for our sins , and is risen again for our justification ; implying to us , that as it is in the principal , so it is in the correspondent ; our sins indeed are potentially pardoned , when they are mark'd out for death and crucifixion ; when by resolving and fighting against sin we dy to sin daily , and are so made conformable to his death ; but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual ; when we are dead to sin , and are risen again unto righteousness , then as we are partakers of his Death , so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection ( saith S. Paul ) that is , then we are truly , effectually , and indeed justified . Till than we are not . He that loveth Gold shall not be justified , saith the wise Bensirach ; he that is covetous , let his faith be what it will , shall not be accounted righteous before God , because he is not so in himself , and he is not so in Christ , for he is not in Christ at all ; he hath no righteousness in himself , and he ha●h none in Christ ; for if we be in Christ , or if Christ be in us , the body is dead by reason of sin , and the Spirit is life because of righteousness . For this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that faithful thing , that is , the faithfulness is manifested ; the Emun , f●om whence comes Emunah , which is the Hebrew word for Faith ; from whence Amen is deriv'd . Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde ; hoc fidum est , when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings . Fac fidelis sis fideli , cave fidem fluxam geras ; said he in the Comedy , God is faithful , be thou so too ; for if thou failest him , thy faith hath failed thee . Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrunque placitum , sayes one ; and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said ; the Just shall live by faith , in both senses : ex fide mea vivet , ex fide sua ; we live by Gods Faith , and by our own ; by his Fidelity , and by ours . When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness , and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us , by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit ; then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours , by his Grace , and our Obedience . So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished , but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course ; they may be distinguished in notion and speculation ; but never when they are to pass on to material events : for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified . They are the express words of S. Paul , Whom he did foreknow , them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son , to be like to Christ ; and then it follows , Whom he hath predestinated , so predestinated , them he hath also called , and whom he hath called , them he hath also justified ; and then it follows , Whom he hath justified , them he hath also glorified . So that no man is justified , that is , so as to signifie Salvation , but Sanctification must be precedent to it ; and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that which I was to prove . 3. I pray consider ; that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel , cannot pretend to Faith in Christ ; but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience ; And he that does not believe them as Christ made them , believes them not at all . In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator ; there is no committing our selves to God without well-doing ; For God will render to every man according to his deeds ; to them that obey unrighteousness , indignation and wrath ; but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory , and honour , and immortality , to them eternal life . So that if faith apprehends any other promises , it is illusion , and not faith . God gave us none such , Christ purchased none such for us ; search the Bible over and you shall find none such . But if faith layes hold on these promises that are , and as they are , then it becomes an Article of our faith , that without obedience , and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments , no man living can be justified . And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God , we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us . Christ freely died for us ; God pardons us freely in our first access to him ; we could never deserve pardon , because when we need pardon we are enemies , and have no good thing in us ; and he freely gives us of his Spirit , and freely he enables us to obey him ; and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life ; here is free Grace all the way , and he overvalues his pitiful services , who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them ; and that if he does his duty tolerably , eternal life is not a free gift to him , but a deserved reward . Conscius est animus meus , experientia testis , Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio . Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum , Spes mea crux Christi , gratia , non opera . It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris . I know that without a good life , and the fruits of repentance , a sinner cannot be justified ; and therefore I must live well , or I must dy for ever . But if I do live holily , I do not think that I deserve Heaven , it is the cross of Christ that procures me grace ; it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace ; it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto Glory . But yet he that shall exclude the works of faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ , may as well exclude faith it self ; for faith it self is one of the works of God : it is a good work ; so said Christ to them that asked him . [ What shall we do to work the works of God ? Jesus said , This is the work of God , that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . ] Faith is not only the Foundation of good works , but it self is a good work , it is not only the cause of obedience , but a part of it ; it is not only as the Son of Sirach calls it , initium adhaerendi Deo , a beginning of cleaving unto God ; but it carries us on to the perfection of it . Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith , and when Faith is finished , a good life is made perfect in our kind . Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise , nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness , nor snatch at a promi●e without performing the condition ; nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ , and to do nothing else ; for that will but deceive us , and turn Religion into words , and holiness into hypocrisy , and the promises of God into a snare , and the truth of God into a ly . For when God made a Covenant of faith , he made also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the law of Faith , and when he admitted us to a Covenant of more mercy than was in the Covenant of works , or of the law , he did not admit us to a Covenant of idleness , and incurious walking in a State of disobedience , but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance , and when he gives us better promises , he intends we should pay him a better obedience : when he forgives us what is past , he intends we should sin no more : when he offers us his graces , he would have us to make use of them ; when he causes us to distrust our selves , his meaning is we should rely upon him ; when he enables us to do what he commands us , he commands us to do all that we can . And therefore this Covenant of Faith and mercy is also a Covenant of holiness , and the grace that pardons us does also purifie us ; for so saith the Apostle , He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure . And when we are so , then we are justified indeed ; this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the law of Faith ; and by works in this sense , that is , by the works of Faith , by Faith working by love , and producing fruits worthy of amendment of life , we are justified before God. And so I have done with the affirmative Proposition of my Text ; you see that a man is justified by works . But there is more in it then this matter yet amounts to . For S. James does not say , we are justified by works , and are not justified by Faith ; that had been irreconcileable with S. Paul ; but we are so justified by works , that it is not by Faith alone ; it is Faith and works together : that is , it is by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obedience of Faith , by the works of Faith , by the law of Faith ; by righteousness Evangelical , by the conditions of the Gospel and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular ; but because I have but a little time left to say them in , I will sum it all up in this Proposition , That in the question of justification and salvation , Faith and good works are no part of a distinction , but members of one intire body . Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God. That is , that I may speak plainly , justifying faith contains in it obedience : and if this be made good , then the two Apostles are reconciled to each other , and both of them to the necessity , the indispensable necessity of a good life . Now that justifying and saving Faith must be defined by something more than an act of understanding , appears not only in this , that S. Peter reckons Faith as distinctly from knowledge , as he does from patience , or strength or brotherly kindness ; saying [ Add to your faith vertue , to vertue knowledge ] but in this also ; because an error in life , and whatsoever is against holiness , is against faith . And therefore S. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient , murders of Parents , man-stealing and such things to be against sound doctrines , for the doctrine of Faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the doctrine that is according to godliness . And when S. Paul prayes against ungodly men , he adds this reason , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . for all men have not Faith : meaning that wicked men are Infidels and Unbelievers , and particularly he affirms of him that does not provide for his own , that he hath denyed the Faith. Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness , because all wickedness is infidelity , it is an Apostacy from the Faith. Ille erit , Ille nocens qui me tibi fecerat hostem ; he that sins against God , he is the enemy to the Faith of Jesus Christ ; and therefore we deceive our selves if we place faith in the understanding only ; it is not that , and it does not dwell there , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith the Apostle , the Mystery of Faith is kept no where , it dwells no where but in a pure conscience . For I consider that since all moral habits are best defined by their operations , we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does . To this purpose hear S. Paul , By faith Abel offered up to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain . By faith Noah made an Ark. By faith Abraham left his Country and offered up his Son. By faith Moses chose to suffer affliction , and accounted the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches of Aegypt . In short , the children of God by faith subdued Kingdoms , and wrought righteousness : To work righteousness is as much the duty and work of faith as believing is . So that now we may quickly make an end of this great inquiry , whether a man is justified by Faith , or by works , for he is so by both ; if you take it alone , faith does not justifie , but take it in the aggregate sense as it is used in the question of Justification by S. Paul , and then faith does not only justifie , but it sanctifies too , and then you need to inquire no further ; obedience is a part of the definition of faith , as much as it is of Charity . This is love , saith S. John , that we keep his Commandments . And the very same is affirmed of Faith too by Bensirach , He that believeth the Lord will keep his Commandments . I have now don with all the Proposi●ions expressed and implyed in the Text ; give me leave to make some practical Considerations , and so I shall dismiss you from this Attention . The rise I take from the words of S. Epiphanius speaking in praise of the Apostolical and purest Ages of the Church . There was at first no distinction of Sects and Opinions in the Church : she knew no difference of men , but good and bad ; there was no separation made , but what was made by piety or impiety , or ( sayes he ) which is all one , by fidelity and infidelity . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . For Faith hath in it the Image of godliness engraven , and infidelity hath the character of wickedness and prevarication . A man was not then esteemed a Saint for disobeying his Bishop or an Apostle , nor for misunderstanding the hard sayings of S. Paul about predestination : to kick against the laudable customs of the Church was not then accounted a note of the godly party : and to despise Government was but an ill mark , and weak indication of being a good Christian. The Kingdom of God did not then consist in words , but in power , the power of godliness ; though now we are fallen into another method : we have turned all Religion into Faith , and our Faith is nothing but the productions of interest or disputing ; it is adhering to a party , and a wrangling against all the world beside ; and when it is asked of what Religion he is of , we understand the meaning to be , what faction does he follow ; what are the articles of his Sect , not what is the manner of his life ; and if men be zealous for their party and that interest , then they are precious men , though otherwise they be Covetous as the grave , factious as Dathan , Schismatical as Corah , or proud as the falling Angels , Alas ! these things will but deceive us ; the faith of a Christian cannnot consist in strifes about words , and perverse disputings of men . These things the Apostle calls prophane and vain Bablings ; and mark what he sayes of them , these things will encrease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . They are in themselves ungodliness and will produce more ; they will encrease unto more ungodliness . But the faith of a Christian had other measures : that was faith then which made men faithful to their vows in Baptism . The faith of a Christian was the best security in contracts , and a Christians word was as good as his bond , because he was faithful that promised , and a Christian would rather dy then break his word ; and was alwayes true to his trust ; he was faithful to his Friend , and loved as Jonathan did David . This was the Christian Faith then : their religion was to hurt no man , and to do good to every man , and so it ought to be . True Religion is to visit the Fatherless and Widow , and to keep our selves unspotted of the World. That 's a good religion , that 's pure and undefiled : so S. James , and S. Chrysostom defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , true religion to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a pure faith and a godly life , for they make up the whole mystery of god●iness ; and no man could then pretend to Faith , but he that did do valiantly , and suffer patiently , and resist the Devil , and overcome the world . These things are as pr●perly the actions of Faith , as alms is of Charity , and therefore they must enter into the moral definition of it . And this was truly understood by Salvian , that wi●e and godly Priest of Massilia ; what is Faith , and what is believing ( saith he ) hominem fideliter Christo credere est fidel●m Deo esse , h. e. fideliter Dei mandata servare . That man does faithfully believe in Christ who is faithful unto God , who faithfully keeps Gods commandments : and therefore let us measure our Faith here by our faithfulness to God , and by our diligence to do our Masters Commandments ; For Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere & m●culâ vivere , said Lactantius . The whole religion of a Christian is to live unblameably ; that is , in all holiness and purity of conversation . 2. When our faith is spoken of as the great instrument of justification and salvation , take Abraham's faith as your best pattern , and that w●ll end the dispute , because that he was justified by Faith when his faith was mighty in effect ; when he trusted in God , when he believed the promises , when he expected a resurrection of the dead , when he was strong in Faith ▪ when he gave glory to God , when against hope he believed in hope , and when all this past into an act of a most glorious obedience , even denying his greatest desires , contradicting his most passionate affections , offering to God the best thing he had , and exposing to death his beloved Isaac , his laughters , all his joy at the command of God. By this faith he was justified , saith S. Paul ; by these works he was justified , saith S. James ; that is , by this faith working this obedience . And then all the difficulty is over ; only remember this , your faith is weak and will do but little for you , if it be not stronger then all your secular desires and all your peevish angers . Thus we find in the holy Gospels , this conjunction declared necessary , Whatsoever things ye desire , when ye pray , believe that ye receive them , and ye shall have them . Here is as glorious an event promised to Faith as can be expressed , Faith shall obtain any thing of God. True ; but it is not Faith alone ; but faith in prayer ; faith praying , not faith simply believing . So S. James ; the prayer of Faith shall save the sick , but adds , it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man , so that faith shall prevail ; but there must be prayer in faith , and servour in prayer , and devotion in fervour , and righteousness in devotion , and then impute the effect to faith if you please , provided that it be declared : that effect cannot be wrought by Faith unless it be so qualified . But Christ adds one thing more . When ye stand praying , forgive , but if ye will not forgive , neither will your Father forgive you . So that it will be to no purpose to say a man is justified by faith , unless you mingle charity with it : for without the charity of forgiveness , there can be no pardon ; and then justification is but a word , when it effects nothing . 3. Let every one take heed that by an importune adhering to and relying upon a mistaken Faith , he do not really make a shipwrack of a right Faith. Hymenaeus & Alexander lost their faith by putting away a good conscience , and what matter is it , of what religion or faith a man be of , if he be a Villain and a cheat , a man of no truth , and of no trust , a lover of the World , and not a lover of God. But I pray consider , can any man have faith that denyes God ? That 's not possible : and cannot a man as well deny God by an evil action , as by an heritical Proposition ? Cannot a man deny God by works as much as by words ? Hear what the Apostle sayes , They profess that they know God , but in works they deny him , being abominable and disobedient , and unto every good work reprobate . Disobedience is a denying God. Nolumus hunc regnare , is as plain a renouncing of Christ , as nolumus huic credere ▪ It is to no purpose to say we believe in Christ and have faith , unless Christ reign in our hearts by faith . 4. From these premises we may see but too evidently , that though a great part of mankind pretend to be saved by Faith , yet they know not what it is , or else wilfully mistake it , and place their hopes upon sand , or the more unstable water . Believing is the least thing in a justifying faith . For faith is a conjugation of many Ingredients ; and faith is a Covenant , and faith is a law , and faith is obedience , and faith is a work , and indeed it is a sincere cleaving to and closing with the terms of the Gospel in every instance , in every particular . Alas ! the niceties of a spruce understanding , and the curious nothings of useless speculation , and all the opinions of men that make the divisions of heart , and do nothing else , cannot bring us one drop of comfort in the day of tribulation ; and therefore are no parts of the strength of faith . Nay , when a man begins truly to fear God , and is in the Agonies of mortification , all these new-nothings and curiosities will neglected by , as baubles do by children when they are deadly sick . But that only is faith that makes us to love God , to do his will , to suffer his impositions , to trust his promises , to see through a cloud , to overcome the World , to resist the Devil , to stand in the day of tryal , and to be comforted in all our sorrows . This is that precious faith so mainly necessary to be insisted on , that by it we may be Sons of the free woman , liberi à vitiis ac ritibus , that the true Isaac may be in us , which is Christ according to the Spirit , the wisdom and power of God , a Divine vigour and life , whereby we are enabled with joy and cheerfulness to walk in the way of God. By this you may try your faith , if you please , and make an end of this question . Do you believe in the Lord Jesus , yea or no ? God forbid else , but if your Faith be good it will abide the trial . There are but three things that make the integrity of Christian faith , believing the words of God , confidence in his goodness , and keeping his commandments . For the first , it is evident that every man pret●nds to it ; if he calls himself Christian , he believes all that is in the Canon of the Scriptures , and if he did not , he were indeed no Christian. But now consider , what think we of this Proposition ? All shall be damned who believe not the truth , but have pleasure in unrighteousness . Does not every man believe this ? Is it possible they can believe there is any such thing as unrighteousness in the World , or any such thing as damnation ; and yet commit that which the Scriptures call unrighteousness , and which all laws , and all good men say is so ? Consider how many unrighteous men there are in the world , and yet how few of them think they shall be damned . I know not how it comes to pass ; but men go upon strange principles , and they have made Christianity to be a very odd Institution , if it had not better measures than they are pleased to afford it . There are two great roots of all evil , Covetousness and Pride ; and they have infected the greatest parts of mankind , and yet no man thinks himself to be either covetous or proud . And therefore whatever you discourse against these sins , it never hits any man , but like Jonathans arrows to David , they fall short , or they fly beyond . Salvian complained of it in his time . Hoc ad crimina nostra addimus , ut cum in omnibus rei simus , etiam bonos nos , & sanctos esse credamus . This we add unto our crimes , we are the vilest persons in the world , and yet we think our selves to be good people , and when we dy make no question but we shall go to Heaven . There is no cause of this , but because we have not so much Faith as believing comes to , and yet most men will pretend not only to believe , but to love Christ all this while . And how do they prove this ? Truly they hate the memory of Judas , and curse the Jews that crucified Christ , and think Pilate a very miserable man , and that all the Turks are damned , and to be called Cajaphas is a word of reproach ; and indeed there are many that do not much more for Christ than this comes to ; things to as little purpose , and of as little signification . But so the Jews did hate the memory of Corah as we do of Caiphas , and they builded the Sepulchres of the Prophets , and we also are angry at them that killed the Apostles and the Martyrs . But in the mean time we neither love Christ nor his Saints ; for we neither obey him , nor imitate them . And yet we should think our selves highly injured , if one should call us Infidels and haters of Christ. But I pray consider ; what is hating of any man , but designing and doing him all the injury and spite we can ? Does not he hate Christ that dishonours him , that makes Christs members the members of an harlot ? That doth not feed & clothe these members ? If the Jews did hate Christ when they crucified him , then so does a Christian too when he crucifies him again . Let us not deceive our selves ; a Christian may be damned as well as a Turk ; and Christians may with as much malice crucifie Christ as the Jews did . And so does every man that sins wilfully ; he spills the blood of Christ , making it to be spent in vain . He that hateth you , hateth me , he that receives you , receives me , said Christ to his Apostles . I wish the world had so much faith as to believe that ; and by this try whether we love Christ , and believe in him or no , I shall for the tryal of our Faith ask one easy question . Do we believe that the story of David and Jonathan is true ? Have we so much faith as to think it possible that two Rivals of a Crown should love so dearly ? Can any man believe this , and not be infinitely ashamed to see Christians ( almost all Christians ) to be irreconcileably angry , and ready to pull their brothers heart out , when he offers to take our Land or money from us ? Why do almost all men that go to law for right hate one anothers persons ? Why cannot men with patience hear their titles questioned ? But if Christianity be so excellent a Religion , why are so very many Christians so very wicked ? Certainly they do not so much as believe the propositions and principles of their own Religion . For the body of Christians is so universally wicked , that it would be a greater change to see Christians generally live according to their profession , than it was at first from infidelity to see them to turn Believers . The conversion from Christian to Christian , from Christian in title to Christian in sincerity , would be a greater miracle then it was when they were converted from Heathen and Jew to Christian. What is the matter ? Is not repentance from dead works reckoned by S. Paul in the 6. Hebr. as one of the fundamental points of Christian Religion ? Is it not a piece of our Catechism , the first thing we are taught , and is it not the last thing that we practise ? We had better be without Baptism than without repentance , and yet both are necessary ; and therefore if we were not without faith , we should be without neither . Is not Repentance a forsaking all sin , and an intire returning unto God ? Who can deny this ? And is it not plainly said in Scripture , Vnless ye repent ye shall all perish ? But shew me the man that believes these things heartily : that is , shew me a true penitent , he only believes the doctrines of repentance . If I had time I should examine your faith by your confidence in God , and by your obedience . But if we fall in the meer believing , it is not likely we should do better in the other . But because all the promises of God are conditional , and there can be no confidence in the particular without a promise or revelation , it is not possible that any man that does not live well should reasonably put his trust in God. To live a wicked life , and then to be confident that in the day of our death God will give us pardon , is not faith but a direct want of faith . If we did believe the promises upon their proper conditions , or believe that Gods commandments were righteous and true , or that the threatnings were as really intended as they are terribly spoken , we should not dare to live at the rate we do : But wicked men have not faith , saith S. Paul , and then the wonder ceases . But there are such palpable contradictions between mens practices and the fundamentals of our faith , that it was a material consideration of our Blessed Saviour , When the Son of man comes shall he find faith upon the earth ? Meaning it should be very hard and scant : every man shall boast of his own goodness ; sed virum fidelem , ( saith Solomon ) but a faithful man who can find ? Some men are very good when they are afflicted . Hanc sibi virtutem fractâ facit urceus ansâ , Et tristis nullo qui tepet igne focus ; Et teges & cimex , & nudi sponda grabati , Fit brevis atque eadem nocte dieque toga . When the gown of the day is the mantle of the night , and cannot at the same time cover the head , and make the feet warm ; when they have but one broken dish and no spoon , then they are humble and modest ; then they can suffer an injury , and bear contempt : but give them riches and they grow insolent ; fear and pusillanimity did their first work , and an opportunity to sin undoes it all . Bonum militem perdidisti , Imperatorem pessimum creâsti , said Galba , you have spoiled a good Trooper when you made me a bad Commander . Others can never serve God , but when they are prosperous : if they lose their fortune they lose their Faith , and quit their Charity . Non rata fides ubi jam melior fortuna ruit . If they become poor , they become liars and deceivers of their trust , envious and greedy , restless and uncharitable ; that is , one way or other they shew that they love the world , and by all the faith they pretend to cannot overcome it . Cast up therefore your reckonings impartially ; See what is , what will be required at your hands . Do not think you can be justified by faith , unless your faith be greater then all your passions ; you have not the learning , not so much as the common notices of faith , unless you can tell when you are covetous , and reprove your self when you are proud ; but he that is so , and knows it not ( and that is the case of most men ) hath no faith , and neither knows God , nor knows himself . To conclude . He that hath true justifying faith , believes the power of God to be above the powers of nature ; the goodness of God above the merit and disposition of our persons , the bounty of God above the excellency of our works , the truth of God above the contradiction of our weak arguings and fears , the love of God above our cold experience and ineffectual reason , and the necessities of doing good works above the faint excuses and ignorant pretences of disputing sinners . But want of faith makes us so generally wicked as we are , so often running to despair ; so often baffled in our resolutions of a good life . But he whose faith makes him more than Conqueror over these difficulties , to him Isaac shall be born even in his old age ; the life of God shall be perfectly wrought in him , and by this faith so operative , so strong , so lasting , so obedient , he shall be justified , and he shall be saved . THE END . A SERMON Preached at the Consecration of Two Archbishops and Ten Bishops , in the Cathedral Church of S. Patrick in DVBLIN . January 27.1660 . By Jeremie Taylor D. D. LORD Bishop of Down and Connor . Sal liquefit , ut condiat . LONDON , Printed for R. Royston , Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty . 1663. To the CHRISTIAN READER . MY Obedience to the Commands of the Right Honourable the Lords Justices , and the most Reverend and Learned Primate , and to the desires of my Reverend Brethren , put it past my inquiry , whether I ought to publish this following Sermon . I will not therefore excuse it , and say it might have advantages in the Delivery , which it would want in the Reading ; and the ear would be kind to the Piety of it , which was apparent in the design , when the eye would be severe in its censure of those arguments , which as they could not be longer in that measure of time ; so would have appeared more firm , if they could have had liberty to have been pursued to their utmost issue . But reason lies in a little room , and Obedience in less . And although what I have here said , may not stop the mouths of Men resolved to keep up a faction , yet I have said enough to the sober and pious , to them who love Order , and hearken to the voice of the Spouse of Christ , to the Loving and to the Obedient : And for those that are not so , I have no argument fit to be used , but Prayer , and readiness to give them a reason , when they shall modestly demand it . In the mean time I shall only desire them to make use of those trut●s which the more Learned of their party have by the evidence of fact been forced to confess . Rivet affirms that it descended ex veteris aevi reliquiis , that Presbyters should be assistants or conjoyned to the Bishops , ( who is by this confessed to be the principal ) in the imposition of hands for Ordination . Walo Messalinus acknowledges it to be rem antiquissimam , a most ancient thing that these two Orders , ( viz. ) of Bishops and Presbyters , should be distinct , even in the middle , or in the beginning of the next age after Christ. Dd. Blondel places it to be 35. years after the death of S. John. Now then Episcopacy is confessed to be of about 1600. years continuance : and if before this they can shew any Ordination by mere Presbyters , by any but an Apostle , or an Apostolical man ; and if there were not visibly a distinction of powers and persons relatively in the Ecclesiastical Government , or if they can give a rational account why they who are forced to confess the Honour and distinct Order of Episcopacy for about 16. ages , should in the dark interval of 35. years ( in which they can pretend to no Monument or Record to the contrary ) yet make unlearned scruples of things they cannot colourably prove ; if ( I say ) they can reasonably account for these things , I for my part will be ready to confess that they are not guil●y of the greatest , the most unreasonable and inexcusable schism in the World. But else , they have no colour to palliat the unlearned crime . For will not all wise men in the world conclude ; that the Church of God , which was then Holy , not in title only and design , but practically and materially ; and pers●cuted , and not immerged in secular temptations , could not all in one instant joyn together to alter that form of Church Government , which Christ and his Apostles had so recently established , and without a Divine warrant destroy a Divine institution , not only to the confusion of the Hierarchy , but to the ruine of their own Souls . It were strange that so great a change should be , and no good man oppose it . In toto orbe decretum est : so S. Hierom. All the world consented in the advancement of the Episcopal Order . And therefore if we had no more to say for it , yet in prudence and piety we cannot say they would innovate in so great a matter . But I shall enter no further upon this inquiry : only I remember that it is not very many Months since the Bigots of the Popish party cryed out against us vehemently , and inquired , Where is your Church of England , since you have no Unity ? for your Ecclesiastick head of Unity , your Bishops , are gone . And if we should be desirous to verify their argument , so as indeed to destroy Episcopacy , We should too much advantage Popery , and do the most imprudent and most impious thing in the world . But blessed be God , who hath restored that Government , for which our late King of glorious memory gave his blood . And that ( me thinks ) should very much weigh with all the Kings true hearted Subjects , who should make it Religion not to rob that glorious Prince of the greatest honour of such a Martyrdom . For my part , I think it fit to rest in those words of another Martyr , S. Cyprian , Si quis cum Episcopo non sit , in Ecclesia non esse : He that is not with the Bishop , is not in the Church : that is , he that goes away from him , and willingly separates , departs from Gods Church ; and whether he can then be with God , is a very material consideration , and fit to be thought on by all that think Heaven a more eligible good then the interests of a faction , and the importune desire of rule can countervail . However , I have in the following papers spoken a few things , which I hope may be fit to perswade them that are not infinitely prejudiced : and although two or three good arguments are as good as two or three hundred , yet my purpose here was to prove the dignity and necessity of the Office and Order Episcopal , only that it might be as an Oeconomy to convey notice , and remembrances of the great duty incumbent upon all them that undertake this great charge . The Dignity and the Duty take one another by the hand , and are born together : only every Sheep of the Flock must take care to make the Bishops duty as easy as it can , by humility and love , by prayer and by Obedience . It is at the best very difficult , but they who oppose themselves to Government , make it harder and uncomfortable . But take heed ; if thy Bishop hath cause to complain to God of thee for thy perversness and uncharitable walking , thou wilt be the loser . And for us , we can only say in the words of the Prophet , We will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people : But Our comfort is in God : for we can do nothing without him , but in him we can do all things . And therefore We will pray , Domine , dabis pacem nobis , omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis : God hath wrought all our works within us : and therefore he will give us Peace , and give us his Spirit . Finally , Brethren , pray for us , that the word of the Lord may have free course , and be glorified even as it is with you ; and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men ; for all men have not Faith. A Consecration Sermon Preached at DVBLIN . Luke XII . 42. And the Lord said , Who then is that faithful and wise Steward , whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold , to give them their portion of meat in due season . 43. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; THese words are not properly a question , though they seem so , and the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not interrogative , but hypothetical ; and extends who to whosoever ; plainly meaning that whoever is a Steward over Christs houshould , of him God requires a great care , because he hath trusted him with a great imployment . Every Steward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so it is in St. Matthew * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so it is in my Text ; Every Steward whom the Lord hath or shall appoint over the Family to rule it and to feed it , now and in all generations of men , as long as this Family shall abide on earth , that is , the Apostles , and they who were to succeed the Apostles in the Stewardship , were to be furnished with the same power , and to undertake the same charge , and to give the same strict and severe accounts . In these words here is something insinuated , and much expressed . 1. That which is insinuated only is , who these Stewards are , whom Christ had , whom Christ would appoint over his Family the Church : they are not here named , but we shall find them out by their prope● dir●ction , and indigitation by and by . 2. But that which is expressed , is the Office it self , in a double capacity . 1. In the dignity of it , It is a Rule and a Government : [ whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his houshould . ] 2. In the care and duty of it , which determines the government to be paternal and profitable ; i● is a rule , but such a rule as Shepherds have over their flocks , to lead them to good pastures , and to keep them within their appointed walks , and within their folds : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : that 's the work , to give them a measure and proportion of nourishment : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so St. Matthew calls it : meat in the season ; that which is fit for them , and when it is fit ; meat enough , and meat convenient ; and both together mean that which the Greek Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the strong wholsom dyet . 3. Lastly . Here is the reward of the faithful and wise dispensation . The Steward that does so , and continues to do so , till his Lord find him so doing , this man shall be blessed in his deed . [ Blessed is the Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing . ] Of these in order . ● . Who are these Rulers of Christs Family : for though Christ knew it , and therefore needed not to ask ; yet we have disputed it so much , and obeyed so little , that we have changed the plain hypothesis into an intangled question . The answer yet is easy as to some part of the inquiry . The Apostles are the first meaning of the Text ; for they were our Fathers in Christ ; They begat Sons and Daughters unto God ; and were a spiritual paternity is evident : we need look no further for spiritual Government , because in the paternal rule all power is founded ; They begat the Family by the power of the word and the life of the Spirit , and they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministery . They had the keyes of this house , the Stewards Ensign ; and they had the Rulers place ; for they sat on twelve thrones and judged the twelve tribes of Israel . But of this there is no question . And as little of another proposition ; that this Stewardship was to last for ever ; for the powers of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual . For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church , then for the first planting ; and if it was necessary that the Apostles should have a rod and a staff at first , it would be more necessary afterwards , when the Family was more numerous , and their first zeal abated , and their native simplicity perverted into arts of hypocrisy and forms of godliness , when Heresies should arise , and the love of many should wax cold . The Apostles had also a power of Ordination ; and that the very power it self does denote , for it makes perpetuity , that could not expire in the dayes of the Apostles ; for by it they themselves propagated a succession . And Christ having promised his spirit to abide with his Church for ever , and made his Apostles the Channels , the Ministers and conveyances of it , that it might descend as the inheritance and eternal portion of the Family ; it cannot be imagined that when the first Ministers were gone , there should not others rise up in the same places , some like to the first , in the same Office and Ministery of the Spirit . But the thing is plain and evident in the matter of fact also . Quod in Ecclesiâ nunc geritur , hoc olim fecerunt Apostoli , said S. Cyprian ; What the Apostles did at first , that the Church does to this day , and shall do so for ever . For when S. Paul had given to the Bishop of Ephesus rules of Government in this Family ; he commands that they should be observed till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ : and therefore these authorities and charges are given to him and to his Successors ; it is the observation of S. Ambrose upon the warranty of that Text , and is obvious and undeniable . Well then . The Apostles were the first Stewards ; and this Office dies not with them , but must for ever be succeeded in ; and now begins the inquiry , who are the Successors of the Apostles : for they are , they must evidently be the Stewards to feed and to rule this Family . There are some that say that all who have any portion of work in the Family , all the Ministers of the Gospel are these Stewards , and so all will be Rulers . The Presbyters surely ; for say they , Presbyter and Bishop is the same thing , and have the same name in Scripture , and therefore the Office cannot be distinguished . To this I shall very briefly say two things , which will quickly clear our way through this bush of thorns . I. That the word Presbyter is but an honourable appellative used amongst the Jews , as Alderman amongst us ; but it signifies no order at all , nor was ever us●d in Scripture to signify any distinct company or order of Clergy . And this appears not only by an induction in all the enumerations of the Offices Ministerial in the New Testament : * where to be a Presbyter is never reckoned either as a distinct Office , or a distinct order ; but by its being indifferently communicated to all the Superior Clergy , and all the Princes of the people . II. The second thing I intended to say is this , that although all the Superior Clergy had not only one , but divers common appellatives ; all being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , even the Apostolate it self being called a Deaconship * ; yet it is evident that before the common appellations were fixt into names of propriety , they were as evidently distinguished in their offices and powers , as they are at this day , in their Names and Titles . To this purpose S. Paul gave to Titus the Bishop of Crete a special commission , command and power to make Ordinations ; and in him , and in the person of Timothy he did erect a Court of Judicature even over some of the Clergy , who yet were called Presbyters ; against a Presbyter receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses : there is the measure and the warranty of the Audientia Episcopalis , the Bishops Audience Court ; and when the accused were found guilty he gives in charge to proceed to censures ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; You must rebuke them sharply , and you must silence them , stop their mouths , that 's S. Pauls word ; that they may no more scatter their venom in the ears and hearts of the people . These Bishops were commanded to set in order things that were wanting in the Churches , the same with that power of S. Paul ; [ other things will I set in order when I come , ] said he to the Corinthian Churches ; in which there were many who were called Presbyters ; who nevertheless for all that name , had not that power . To the same purpose it is plain in Scripture , that some would have been Apostles that were not ; such were those whom the spirit of God notes in the Revelation ; and some did love preeminence that had it not ; for so did Diotrephes ; and some were Judges of questions , and all were not , for therefore they appealed to the Apostles at Jerusalem ; and S. Philip though he was an Evangelist , yet he could not give confirmation to the Samaritans whom he had baptized , but the Apostles were sent for ; for that was part of the power reserved to the Episcopal or Apostolick order . Now from these premises the conclusion is plain and easy . 1. Christ left a Government in his Church , and founded it in the persons of the Apostles . 2. The Apostles received this power for the perpetual use and benefit , for the comfort and edification of the Church for ever . 3. The Apostles had this Government , but all that were taken into the Ministry , and all that were called Presbyters had it not . If therefore this Government , in which there is so much disparity in the very nature and exercise and first original of it , must abide for ever ; then so must that disparity : If the Apostolate in the first stabiliment was this eminency of power ; then it must be so , that is , it must be the same in the succession , that it was in the foundation . For after the Church is founded upon its Governours , we are to expect no change of Government . If Christ was the Author of it , then as Christ left it , so it must abide for ever : forever there must be the Governing and the Governed , the superior and the subordinate , the Ordainer and the ordained , the confirmer and the confirmed . Thus far the way is straight , and the path is plain . The Apostles were the Stewards and the ordinary Rulers of Christs Family by virtue of the order and office Apostolical ; and although this must be succeeded to for ever ; yet no man for his now , or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it ; for besides his being a Presbyter , he must be an Apostle too ; else , though he be called in partem sollicitudinis , and may do the offices of assistance and understewardship ; yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him . But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now ? To this the answer is also certain and easy . Christ hath made the same Governours to day as heretofore ; Apostles still , For though the twelve Apostles are dead ; Yet the Apostolical order is not : it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a generative order , and begets more Apostles ; now who these minores Apostoli are , the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supreme regiment of souls , we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures ; which when I have clearly shewn to you , I shall pass on to some more practical considerations . 1. Therefore , certain and known it is , that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons ; the XII . Apostles , and the LXXII . Disciples ; to these he gave a limited commission , to those a fulness of power ; to these a temporary imployment , to those a perpetual and everlasting ; from these two societies founded by Christ , the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy ; and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles ; so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ , but by claiming a succession to the LXXII . And then consider the difference , compare the Tables , and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have ; for since the LXXII . had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand & more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture ; but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power , and made them the ordinary Ministers of that spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever ; the Divine institution of Bishops , that is , of Successors to the Apostles , is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters , or Successors of the LXXII . And yet if from hence they do not derive it , they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all , much less to be so alone . But we may see the very thing it self ; the very matter of fact . S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem , is by S. Paul called an Apostle ; Other Apostles saw I none , save James the Lords Brother . For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord ; that is , such which Christ made by his word immediately , or by his Spirit extraordinarily ; and even into this number and title , Matthias , and S. Paul , & Barnabas were accounted . * But the Church also made Apostles ; and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Apostles of the Churches , and particularly , Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians ; properly so ( saith Primasius , ) and what is this else but the Bishop faith Theodoret ; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles , saith the same Father ; the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church , [ In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in Lands , ] that is , not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ , who first begat us , were to rule Christs Family , but when they were gone , their children and Successors should arise in their stead : Et nati natorum , & qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi , that is , Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church . De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas , id est , Episcopi quos illa genuit , & patres appellat , & constituit in sedibus Patrum ; saith S. Austin , the children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful ; that is , the Church begets Bishops ; and places them in the seat of Fathers , the first Apostles . After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture , it will not be amiss to say , that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution , but on matter of fact ; passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and practice of the whole Catholick Church . For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Antient Fathers of the Church , and might easily make good his affirmative ; We can ( sayes he ) reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches , to be their Successors unto us ; leaving to them the same power and authority which they had . Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna ; S. Clement Bishop of Rome by St. Peter , and divers others by the Apostles , faith Tertullian ; saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John ; and to be short , that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church , is expresly taught by S. Cyprian , and S. Hierom , S. Ambrose , and S. Austin , by Euthymius , and Pacianus , by S. Gregory , and S. John Damascen , by Clarius à Muscula , and S. Sixtus , by Anacletus , and S. Isidore ; by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester , and the Councel of Carthage ; and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings , and one can no more be denyed then the other . The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian , Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos , id est , Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit . Let the Ministers know that Apostles , that is , he Bps. were chosen by our blessed Lord himself ; and this was so evident , and so believed , that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat , No man is so ignorant but he knows this , that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches . Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this order ; for they are noted by three Apostles , S. Paul , S. Peter and S. Jude , to be despisers of Government , and to speak evil of dignities ; and what government it was they did so despise , we may understand by the words of S. Jude , they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah , who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest ; and excepting these who were the vilest of men , no man within the first 300. years after Christ , opposed Episcopacy . But when Constantine received the Church into his arms , he found it universally governed by Bishops , and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian , that is , to believe the holy Catholick Church , can be content to quit the Apostolical Government ; ( that by which the whole Family of God was fed , and taught , and ruled , ) and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles , who by wanting succession from the Apostles of our Lord , have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with these fountains of our Saviour . If ever Lirinensis's rule could be used in any question , it is in this : Quod semper , quod ubique , quod ab omibus ; That Bishops are the successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship ; and that they did alwayes rule the Family , was taught and acknowledged alwayes , and every where , and by all men that were of the Church of God : and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this question , we shall find our faith to fail in many other articles , of which we yet are very confident , For the observation of the Lords day , the consecration of the holy Eucharist by Priests , the baptizing Infants , the communicating of women , and the very Canon of the Scripture it self rely but upon the same probation ; and therefore the denying of Articles thus proved is a way ( I do not say ) to bring in all Sects and Heresies , ( that 's but little ) but a plain path and inlet to Atheism and Irreligion ; for by this means , it will not only be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture , but the Scripture it self , and all the Records of Religion will become useless , and of no efficacy or perswasion . I am entered into a sea of matter , but I will break it off abruptly , and sum up this inquiry with the words of the Councel of Chalcedon , which is one of the four Generals , by our laws made the measures of judging Heresies . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . It is sacriledge to bring back a Bishop to the degree and order of a Presbyter . It is indeed a rifling the order , and intangling the gifts , and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost ; it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour , and a robbing them of those spiritual eminencies with which the spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of Bishops . And I shall say one thing more , which indeed is a great truth , that the diminution of Episcopacy was first introduced by Popery , and the Popes of Rome by communicating to Abbots , and other mere Priests , special graces to exercise some essential Offices of Episcopacy , hath made this sacred order to be cheap , and apt to be invaded . But then add this : If Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the gifts and powers of the Apostolical order , what shall we think of them that snatch them away , and pretend to wear them whether the Apostles and their Successors will or no ? This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to bely the Holy Ghost ; that is the least of it : it is rapine and sacrilege , besides the heresy and schism , and the spiritually . For the government Episcopal , as it was exemplified in the Synagogue , and practised by the same measures in the Temple , so it was transcribed by the eternal Son of God , who translated it into a Gospel Ordinance : it was sanctifyed by the Holy Spirit , who named some of the persons , and gave to them all power and graces from above . It was subjected in the Apostles first , and by them transmitted to a distinct Order of Ecclesiasticks : it was received into all Churches , configned in the Records of the holy Scriptures , preached by the universal voice of all the Christian World , delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practise , and derived to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession . I have done with the hardest part of the Text , by finding out the persons intrusted , the Stewards of Christs Family : which though Christ only intimated in this place , yet he plainly enough manifested in others : The Apostles and their Successors the Bishops , are the men intrusted with this great charge ; God grant they may all discharge it well . And so I pass from the Officers , to a consideration of the Office it self , in the next words ; Whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshould , to give them their meat in due season . 2. The Office it self is the Stewardship , that is Episcopacy , the Office of the Bishop . The name signifies an Office of the Ruler indefinitely , but the word was chosen , and by the Church appropriated to those whom it now signifies , both because the word it self is a monition of duty , and also because the faithful were used to it in the dayes of Moses and the Prophets . The word is in the prophecy of the Church , [ I will give to thee Princes in peace , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and Bishops in righteousness , ] upon which place S. Hierom sayes , Principes Ecclesiae vocat futuros Episcopos ; [ The spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian Bishops , principes , or chief Rulers , ] and this was no new thing ; For the chief of the Priests who were set over the rest , are called Bishops by all the Hellenist Jews . Thus Joel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Bishop over the Priests , and the son of Bani , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Bishop and Visitor over the Levites , and we find at the purging of the Land from idolatry , the High Priest placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Bishops over the House of God. Nay , it was the appellative of the High Priest himself , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Bishop Eleazar , the Son of Aaron the Priest , to whom is committed the care of Lamps , and the daily Sacrifice , and the holy unction . Now this word the Church retained , choosing the same Name to her superiour Ministers , because of the likeness of the Ecclesiastical Government between the Old and New Testament . For Christ made no change but what was necessary . Baptism was a rite among the Jews , and the Lords Supper was but the post-coenium of the Hebrews changed into a mystery , from a type to a more real exhibition ; and the Lords Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the Prophets and Holy men before Christ , who prayed by the same spirit ; and the censures Ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals ; and the whole Religion was but the Law of Moses drawn out of its vail into clarity and manifestation ; and to conclude in order to the present affair , the Government which Christ left was the same as he found it ; for what Aaron and his Sons , and the Levites were in the Temple , that Bishops , Priests , and Deacons are in the Church ; it is affirmed by S. Hierom more then once ; and the use he makes of it is this , Esto subjectus Pontificituo , & quasi animae parentem suscipe ; Obey your Bishop , and reeeive him as the nursing Father of your Soul. But above all , this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our blessed Lord himself . For he is called in Scripture , the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls . But our inquiry is not after the Name , but the Office , and the dignity and duty of it ; Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimis ac divina potestas ( so S. Cyprian calls it ) a High and a Divine power from God of Governing the Church ; rem magnam & preciosaem in conspectu Domini ( so S. Cyril ) a great and a pretious thing in the sight of God ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by Isidor Pelusiot ; the utmost limit of what is desireable amongst men . But the account upon which it is so desireable , is the same also that makes it formidable . They who have tryed it , and did it conscientiously , have found the burden so great , as to make them stoop with care and labor ; and they who do it ignorantly or carelesly , will find it will break their bones . For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of S Cyprian ; He is a Bishop or Overseer of the Brotherhood , the Ruler of the people , the Shepherd of the Flock , the Governour of the Church , the Minister of Christ , and the Priest of God. These are great titles , and yet less then what is said of them in Scripture ; which calls them Salt of the Earth , Lights upon a candlestick , Stars and Angels , Fathers of our Faith , Embassadors of God , Dispensers of the Misteries of God , the Apostles of the Churches , and the Glory of Christ ; but then they are great burdens too : for the Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , intrusted with the Lords people ; that 's a great charge , but there is a worse matter that follows ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : the Bishop is he of whom God will require an account for all their souls : they are the words of S. Paul , and transcribed into the 40th . Canon of the Apostles , and the 24th . Canon of the Councel of Antioch . And now I hope the envy is taken off ; for the honour does not pay for the burden ; and we can no sooner consider Episcopacy in its dignity , as it is a Rule , but the very nature of that Rule does imply so severe a duty , that as the load of it is almost insufferable , so the event of it is very formidable , if we take not great care . For this Stewardship is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a Principality and a Ministry . So it was in Christ ; he is Lord of all , and yet he was the Servant of all ; so it was in the Apostles , it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their lot was to be Apostles , and yet to serve and minister ; and it is remarkable that in Isaiah the 70. use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop ; but there they use it for the Hebrew word nechosbeth , which the Greeks usually render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the interlineary translation by Exactores . Bishops are only Gods Ministers and tribute gatherers , requiring & overseeing them that they do their duty ; and therefore here the case is so , and the burden so great , and the dignity so allayed , that the envious man hath no reason to be troubled that his brother hath so great a load ; nor the proud man plainly to be delighted with so honourable a danger . It is indeed a Rule , but it is paternal ; it is a Government , but it must be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is neither a power to constrain , nor a commission to get wealth ; for it must be without necessity , and not for filthy lucre sake ; but it is a Rule , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Luke , as of him that ministers ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so S. Mark ; as of him that is servant of all ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so S. John ; such a principality as he hath that washes the feet of the weary traveller ; or if you please , take it in the words of our Blessed Lord himself , that [ He that will be chief among you let him be your Minister , ] meaning that if under Christs Kingdom you desire rule , possibly you may have it ; but all that rule under him are Servants to them that are ruled , and therefore you get nothing by it , but a great labour , and a busy imployment , a careful life , and a necessity or making severe accounts . But all this is nothing but the general measures , I cannot be useful or understood unless I be more particular . The particulars we shall best enumerate by recounting those great conjugations of worthy offices and actions by which Christian Bishops have blessed and built up Christendom ; for because we must be followers of them , as they were of Christ , the recounting what they did worthily in their generations , will not only demonstrate how useful , how profitable , how necessary Episcopacy is to the Christian Church , but it will at the same time teach us our duty , by what services we are to benefit the Church , in what works we are to be imployed , and how to give an account of our Stewardship with joy . 1. The Christian Church was founded by Bishops , not only because the Apostles , who were Bishops , were the first Preachers of the Gospel , and Planters of Churches , but because the Apostolical men , whom the Apostles used in planting and disseminating Religion , were by all Antiquity affirmed to have been Diocesan Bishops ; in so much that as S. Epiphanius witnesses , there were at the first disseminations of the faith of Christ , many Church●s who had in them no other Clergy , but a Bishop and his Deacons , and the Presbyters were brought in afterwards as the harvest grew greater . But the Bishops names are known , they are recorded in the book of Life , and their praise is in the Gospel ; such were Timothy and Titus , Clemens and Linus , Marcus and Dionysius , Onesimus and Caius , Epaphroditus and S. James our Lords Brother , Evodius and Simeon ; all which , if there be any faith in Christians that gave their lives for a testimony to the faith , and any truth in their stories ; and unless we who believe Thucydides and Plutarch , Livy and Tacitus , think that all Church story is a perpetual Romance , and that all the brave men , the Martyrs and the Doctors of the Primitive Church , did conspire as one man to abuse all Christendom for ever ; I say unless all these impossible suppositions be admitted , all these whom I have now reckoned were Bishops fixed in several Churches , and had Dioceses for their Charges . The consequent of this consideration is this . It Bishops were those upon whose Ministry Christ founded and built his Church , let us consider what great wisdom is required of them that seem to be Pillars : the Stewards of Christs Family must be wise : that Christ requires , and if the order be necessary to the Church , wisdom cannot but be necessary to the Order . For it is a shame if they who by their Office are Fathers in Christ , shall by their unskilfulness be but Babes themselves ; understanding not the secrets of Religion , the mysteries of Godliness , the perfections of the Evangelical law , all the advantages and disadvantages in the Spiritual life . A Bishop must be exercised in Godliness , a man of great experience in the secret conduct of Souls , not satisfied with an ordinary skill in making homilies to the people ; and speaking common exhortations in ordinary cases ; but ready to answer in all secret inquiries , and able to convince the gainsayers , and to speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect . If the first Bishops laid the foundation ; their Successors must not only preserve whatsoever is fundamental , but build up the Church in a most holy Faith , taking care that no Heresie sap the foundation , and that no hay or rotten wood be built upon it ; and above all things , that a most Holy life be superstructed upon a holy and unreproveable Faith. So the Apostles laid the foundation , and built the walls of the Church , and their Successors must raise up the roof as high as Heaven . For let us talk and dispute eternally , we shall never compose the controversies in Religion , and establish truth upon unalterable foundations , as long as men handle the word of God deceitfully , that is , with designs and little artifices , and secular partialities , and they will for ever do so , as long as they are proud or covetous . It is not the difficulty of our questions , or the subtilty of our adversaries that makes disputes interminable ; but we shall never cure the itch of disputing , or establish Unity , unless we apply our selves to humility , and contempt of riches . If we will be contending , let us contend like the Olive and the Vine , who shall produce best , and most fruit ; not like the Aspine and the Elm which shall make most noise in a wind . And all other methods are a beginning at a wrong end . And as for the people ; the way to make them conformable to the wise and holy rules of faith and government , is by reducing them to live good lives . When the children of Israel gave themselves to gluttony and drunkenness , and filthy lusts , they quickly fell into abominable idolatries ; and S. Paul sayes that men make shipwrack of their Faith by putting away a good conscience ; for the mystery of Faith is best preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in a pure conscience , saith the same Apostle ; secure but that , and we shall quickly end our disputes , and have an obedient and conformable people ; but else never . 2. As Bishops were the first Fathers of Churches , and gave them being ; so they preserve them in being . For withour Sacraments there is no Church ; or it will be starved and dy : and without Bishops there can be no Priests , and consequently no Sacraments ; and that must needs be a supreme order from whence ordination it self proceeds . For it is evident and notorious that in Scripture there is no record of ordination , but an Apostolical hand was in it ; one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one of the chief , one of the superior and Ruling Clergy ; and it is as certain in the descending ages of the Church , the Bishop alwayes had that power , it was never denyed to him , and it was never imputed to Presbyters ; and S. Hierom himself , when out of his anger against John Bishop of Jerusalem he endeavoured to equal the Presbyter with the Bishop , though in very many places he spake otherwise , yet even then also and in that heat , he excepted Ordination , acknowledging that to be the Bishops peculiar . And therefore they who go about to extinguish Episcopacy , do as Julian did ; they destroy the Presbytery and starve the Flock , and take away their Shepherds , and dispark their pastures , and tempt Gods providence to extraordinaries , and put the people to hard shifts , and turn the chanels of Salvation quite another way , and leave the Church to a perpetual uncertainty , whether she be alive or dead , and the people destitute of the life of their Souls , and their daily bread , and their spiritual comforts , and holy blessings . The consequent of this is . If Sacraments depend upon Bishops , then let us take care that we convey to the people holy and pure materials , sanctified with a holy ministry , and ministred by holy persons . For although it be true , that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend wholly upon he worthiness of him that ministers ; yet it is as true , that it does not wholly rely upon the worthiness of the Receiver ; but both together relying upon the goodness of God produce all those blessings which are designed . The Minister hath an influence into the effect , and does very much towards it ; and if there be a failure there , it is a defect in one of the concurring causes ; and therefore an unholy Bishop is a great diminution to the peoples blessing . S. Hierom presses this severely : Impiè faciunt &c. They do wickedly who affirm that the holy Eucharist is consecrated by the words [ alone ] and solemn prayer of the consecrator , and not [ also ] by his life and holiness , and therefore S. Cyprian affirms , that none but holy and upright men are to be chosen , who offering their Sacrifices worthily to God may be heard in their prayers for the Lords people : but for others ; Sacrificia eorum panis luctus ( saith the Prophet Hosea , ) their Sacrifices are like the bread of sorrow , whoever eats thereof shall be defiled . This discourse is not mine but S. Cyprians : and although his words are not to be understood dogmatically , but in the case of duty and caution , yet we may lay our hands upon our hearts , and consider how we shall give an account of our Stewardship , if we shall offer to the people the bread of God with impure hands ; it is of it self a pure nourishment , but if it passes through an unclean vessel , it looses much of its excellency . 3. The like also is to be said concerning prayer . For the Episcopal order is appointed by God to be the great Ministers of Christs Priesthood , that is , to stand between Christ and the people in the entercourse of prayer and blessing . We will give our selves continually to prayer ; said the Apostles , that was the one half of their imployment ; and indeed a Bishop should spend very much of his time in holy prayer , and in diverting Gods judgments , and procuring blessings to the people ; for in all times , the chief of the Religion was ever the chief Minister of blessing . Thus Abraham blessed Abimelech , and Melchisedeck blessed Abraham , and Aaron blessed the people ; and without all controversy ( saith the Apostle , ) the l●ss is blessed of the Greater . But then we know that God heareth not sinners ; and it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a Righteous man that shall prevail . And therefore we may easily consider that a vitious Prelate is a great calamity to that Flock , which he is appointed to bless and pray for . How shall he reconcile the penitents , who is himself at enmity with God ? How shall the Holy Spirit of God descend upon the Symbols at his prayer who does perpetually grieve him , and quench his holy fires , and drive him quite away ? How shall he that hath not tasted of the spirit by contemplation , stir up others to earnest desires of Celestial things ? Or what good shall the people receive , when the Bishop layes upon their head a covetous or a cruel , an unjust or an impure hand ? But therefore that I may use the words of S. Hierom. Cum ab Episcopo gratia in populum transfundatur , & mundi totius & Ecclesiae totius condimentum sit Episcopus , &c. Since it is intended that from the Bishop grace should be diffused amongst all the people , there is not in the world a greater indecency then a holy office ministred by an unholy person , and no greater injury to the people , then that of the blessings which God sends to them by the ministries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward . And therefore it was an excellent prayer which to this very purpose was by the son of Sirach made in behalf of the High Priests the sons of Aaron ; [ God give you wisdom in your heart to judge his people in Righteousness , that their good things be not abolished , and that their glory may endure for ever . ] 4. All the offices Ecclesiastical alwayes were , and ought to be conducted by the Episcopal order , as is evident in the universal doctrine and practise of the primitive Church . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . It is the 40 th . Canon of the Apostles , Let the Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without leave of the Bishop . But that case is known . The consequent of this consideration is no other then the admonition in my text . We are Stewards of the manifold Grace of God , and dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdom ; and it is required of Stewards that they be found faithful ; that we preach the word of God in season and out of season , that we rebuke and exhort , admonish and correct ; for these , God calls Pastores secundùm cor meum , Pastors according to his own heart , which feed the people with knowledge and understanding ; but they must also comfort the afflicted and bind up the broken heart ; minister the Sacraments with great diligence , and righteous measures , and abundant charity , alwayes having in mind those passionate words of Christ to S. Peter , If thou lovest me , feed my sheep ; If thou hast any love to me , feed my lambs . And let us remember this also , that nothing can enforce the people to obey their Bishops as they ought , but our doing that duty and charity to them which God requires . There is reason in these words of S. Chrysostom , [ It is necessary that the Church should adhere to their Bishop as the body to the head , as plants to their roots , as rivers to their springs , as children to their Fathers , as Disciples to their Masters . ] These similitudes express not only the relation and dependency , but they tell us the reason of the duty . The head gives light and reason to conduct the body , the roots give nourishment to the plants , and the springs , perpetual emanation of waters to the chanels . Fathers teach and feed their children , and Disciples receive wise instruction from their Masters : and if we be all this to the people , they will be all that to us ; and wisdom will compel them to submit , and our humility will teach them obedience , and our charity will invite their compliance . Our good example will provoke them to good works , and our meekness will melt them into softness and flexibility . For all the Lords people are populus voluntarius , a free and willing people ; and we who cannot compel their bodies , must thus constrain their souls ; by inviting their wills , by convincing their understandings , by the beauty of fair example , the efficacy and holiness , and the demonstrations of the spirit . This is experimentum ejus qui in nobis loquitur Christus . The experiment of Christ that speaketh in us . For to this purpose those are excellent words which S. Paul spake . [ Remember them who have the rule over you , whose faith follow , considering the end of their conversation . ] There lyes the demonstration : and those prelates who teach good life , whose Sermons are the measures of Christ , and whose life is a copy of their Sermons ; these must be followed ; and surely these will ; for these are burning and shining lights ; but if we hold forth false fires , and by the amusement of evil examples call the vessels that sail upon a dangerous sea to come upon a rock , or an iron shoar instead of a safe harbour , we cause them to make shipwrack of their precious Faith , and to perish in the deceitful and unstable waters . Vox operum fortiùs sonat quàm verborum . A good life is the strongest argument that your faith is good , and a gentle voice will be sooner entertained then a voice of thunder ; but the greatest eloquence in the world , is a meek spirit , and a liberal hand ; these are the two pastoral staves the Prophet speaks of , nognam & hovelim , beauty and bands ; he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness , the ornament of fair example , he hath also the staff of bands , atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos , in vinculis cha●itatis ; as the Prophet Hosea's expression is ; he shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man , by the bands of a holy charity . But if against all these demonstrations any man will be refractary ; We have instead of a staff , an Apostolical rod ; which is the last and latest remedy , and either brings to repentance , or consigns to ruin and reprobation . If there were any time remaining , I could reckon that the Episcopal order is the principle of Unity in the Church ; and we see it is so , by the inumerable Sects that sprang up when Episcopacy was persecuted . I could adde , how that Bishops were the cause that S. John wrote his Gospel ; that the Christian Faith was for 300. years together bravely defended by the sufferings , the prisons and flames , the life and the death of Bishops , as the principal Combatants . That the Fathers of the Church whose writings are held in so great veneration in all the Christian World , were almost all of them Bishops . I could adde , that the Reformation of Religion in England was principally by the Preachings and the disputings , the writings and the Martyrdom of Bishops . That Bishops have ever since been the greatest defensatives against Popery . That England and Ireland were governed by Bishops ever since they were Christian , and under their conduct have for so many ages enjoyed all the blessings of the Gospel . I could add also , that Episcopacy is the great stabiliment of Monarchy , but of this we are convinced by a sad and too dear bought experience . I could therefore in stead of it , say , that Episcopacy is the great ornament of Religion , that as it rescues the Clergy from contempt , so it is the greatest preserv●tive of the peoples liberty from Ecclesiastick Tyranny on one hand , ( the Gentry being little better then servants , while they live under the Presbytery , ) and Anarchy and licentiousness on the other . That it endears obedience , and is subject to the Laws of Princes . And is wholly ordained for the good of mankind , and the benefit of Souls . But I cannot stay to number all the blessings which have entered into the World at this door : I only remark these because they describe unto us the Bishops imployment , which is , to be busy in the service of Souls , to do good in all capacities , to serve every mans need , to promote all publick benefits , to cement Governments , to establish peace , to propagate the Kingdom of Christ , to do hurt to no man , to do good to every man ; that is , so to minister , that Religion and Charity , publick peace , and private blessings may be in their exaltation . As long as it was thus done by the Primitive Bishops , the Princes and the people gave them all honour . Insomuch that by a decree of Constantine the great , the Bishop had power given him to retract the sentences made by the Presidents of Provinces , and we find in the acts of S. Nicholas , that he rescued some innocent persons from death when the executioner was ready to strike the fatal blow ; which thing even when it fell into inconvenience , was indeed forbidden by Arcadius and Honorius ; but the confidence and honour was only changed , it was not taken away : for the condemned criminal had leave to appeal to the Audientia Episcopalis , to the Bishops Court. This was not any right which the Bishops could challenge , but a reward of their Piety ; and so long as the Holy Office was holily administred , the world found so much comfort and security , so much justice and mercy , so many temporal and spiritual blessings consequent to the ministries of that order , that as the Galatians to S. Paul , men have plucked out their eyes to do them service , and to do them honour . For then Episcopacy did that good that God intended by it : it was a spiritual Government , by spiritual persons , for spiritual ends . Then the Princes and the people gave them honours because they deserved and sought them not : then they gave them wealth , because they would dispend it wisely , frugally and charitably : Then they gave them power ; because it was sure to be used for defence of the innocent , for relief of the oppressed , for the punishment of evil doers , and the reward of the vertuous . Then they desired to be judged by them , because their audiences or Courts did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they appeased all furious sentences , and taught gentle principles , and gave merciful measures , and in their Courts were all equity and piety , and Christian determinations . But afterwards , when they did fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into secular methods , and made their Counsels vain by pride , and durtied their sentences with money , then they became like other men ; and so it will be , unless the Bishops be more holy then other men ; but when our sanctity and severity shall be as eminent as the calling is , then we shall be called to Councels , and sit in publick meetings , and bring comfort to private Families , and rule in the hearts of men by a jus relationis , such as was between the Roman Emperors and the Senate ; they courted one another into power , and in giving honour strived to outdo each other ; for from an humble wise man , no man will snatch an imployment that is honourable ; but from the proud and from the covetous every man endeavours to wrest it , and thinks it lawful prize . My time is now done ; and therefore I cannot speak to the third part of my text , the reward of the good Steward and of the bad ; I shall only mention it to you in a short exhortation ; and so conclude . In the Primitive Church a Bishop was never admitted to publick penance ; not only because in them every crime is ten , and he that could descern a publick shame , could not deserve a publick honor , nor yet only because every such punishment was scandalous , and did more evil by the example of the crime , then it could do good by the example of the punishment ; but also because no spiritual power is higher then the Episcopal , and therefore they were to be referred to the Divine judgment , which was likely to fall on them very heavily . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : the Lord will cut the evil Stewards asunder ; he will suffer schisms and Divisions to enter in upon us , and that will sadly cut us asunder ; but the evil also shall fall upon their persons ; like the punishment of quartering Traitors , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , punishment with the circumstances of detestation and exemplarity . Consider therefore what is your great duty . Consider what is your great danger . The lines of duty I have already described ; only remember how dear and pretious Souls are to God , since for their salvation Christ gave his bloud , and therefore will not easily lose them , whom though they had sin'd against him , yet he so highly valued ; remember that you are Christs deputies in the care of Souls , and that you succeed in the place of the Apostles . Non est facilè stare loco Pauli , & tenere gradum Petri ; You have undertaken the work of S. Paul , and the Office of S. Peter , and what think you upon this account will be required of us ? S. Hierom expresses it thus . The wisdom and skill of a Bishop ought to be so great , that his countenance , his gesture , his motion , every thing should be vocal , ut quicquid agit , quicquid loquitur , doctrina sit Apostolorum : that whatever he does or speaks be doctrine Apostolical . The ancient Fathers had a pious opinion , that besides the Angel guardian which is appointed to the guard of every man ; there is to every Bishop a second Angel appointed to him at the Consecration ; and to this Origen alludes , saying that every Bishoprick hath two Angels , the one visible and the other invisible . This is a great matter , and shews what a precious thing that order and those persons are in the eyes of God ; but then this also means , that we should live Angelick lives , which the Church rarely well expresses by saying , that Episcopal dignity is the Ecclesiastick state of perfection , and supposes the persons to be so far advanced in holiness , as to be in the state of confirmation in grace . But I shall say nothing of these things ; because it may be they press too hard , but the use I shall make of it upon occasion of the reward of the good and bad Steward , is to remind you of your great danger . For if it be required of Bishops to be so wise and so holy , so industrious and so careful , so busy and so good up to the height of best examples ; if they be anointed of the Lord , and are the Husbands of the Churches , if they be the Shepherds of the flock , and Stewards of the houshould ; it is very fit they consider their danger , that they may be careful to do their duty . S. Bernard considers it well in his epistle to Henry Archbishop of Sens ; If I lying in my Cell , and smoaking under a Bushel , not shining , yet cannot avoid the breath of the winds , but that my light is almost blown out ; what will become of my Candle , if it were placed on a candlestick and set upon a hill ? I am to look to my self alone , and provide for my own salvation ; and yet I offend my self , I am weary of my self , I am my own scandal and my own dang●r ; my own eye , and my own belly , and my own appetite find me work enough ; and therefore God help them who besides themselves are answerable for many others . Jacob kept the Sheep of Laban ; and we keep the Sheep of Christ ; and Jacob was to answer for every Sheep that was stoln , and every lamb that was torn by the wild beast , and so shall we too , if by our fault one of Christs Sheep perish ; and yet it may be there are 100000. Souls committed to the care and conduct of some one Shepherd , who yet will find his own Soul work enough for all his care and watchfulness . If any man should desire me to carry a Frigat into the Indies , in which a 100. men were imbarqued ; I were a mad man to undertake the charge , without proportionable skill ; and therefore when there is more ●●nger , and more Souls , and rougher Seas , and more secret Rocks , and horrible storms , and the Shipwrack is an eternal loss , the matter will then require great consideration in the undertaking , and greatest care in the conduct . Upon this account we find many brave persons in the first and in the middle ages of the Church with great resolution refusing Episcopacy . I will not speak of those who for fear of Martyrdom declined it : but those who for fear of damnation did refuse . S. Bernard was by three rich Cities severally called to be their Bishop , and by two to be their Archbishop , and he refused them ; S. Dominicus refused four successively ; S. Thomas Aquinas refused the Archbishoprick of Naples , and Vincentius Ferrerius would not accept of Valentia , or Ilerda , and Bernardinus Senensis refused the Bishopricks of Sens Vrbin and Ferrara . They had reason ; and yet if they had done amiss in that Office which they declined , it had been something more excusable ; but if they that s●ek it be as careless in the office as they are greedy of the honour , that will be found intolerable . Electus Episcopus ambulat in disco , recusans volvitur in arcâ , said the Hermit in S. Hierom. The Bishop walks upon round and trundling stones , but he that refuses it , stands upon a floor . But I shall say no more of it ; because I suppose you have read it and considered it in S. Chrysostoms six books de sacerdotio , in the Apologetie of S. Greg Naz. in the p●storal of S. Greg. of Rome , in S. Dionysius's 6th . Epistle to Demophilus , in the letters of Epiphanius to S. Hierom , in S. Austins Epistle to Bishop Valerius , in S. Bernards life of S. Malachy , in S. Hieroms 138. Epi●●le to Fabiola ; These things I am sure you could not read without trembling ; a●d certainly , if it can belong to any Christian , then [ work out your salvation with fear and trembling ] that 's the Bishops burden . For the Bishop is like a man that is surety for his friend ; he is bound for many , and for great sums ; what is to be done in this case ; Solomons answer is the way : Do this now , my Son , deliver thy self , make sure thy friend , give not sleep to thine eyes , nor slumber to thine eye lids : that is , be sedulous to discharge thy trust , to perform thy charge ; be zealous for Souls , and careless of money ; and remember this , that even in Christs Family there was one sad example of an Apostate Apostle ; and he fell into that fearful estate merely by the desire and greediness of money . Be warm in zeal , and indifferent in thy temporalities . For he that is zealous in temporals , and cold in the spiritual : he that doth the accessories of his calling by himself , and the principal by his Deputies ; he that is present at the feast of Sheep-shearing , and puts others to feed the flock , hath no sign at all upon him of a good Shepherd . It is not fit for us to leave the word of God , and to serve tables , said the Apostles . And if it be a less worthy office to serve the tables even of the poor , to the diminution of our care in the dispensation of Gods word ; it must needs be an unworthy imployment to leave the word of God , and to attend the rich and superfluous furniture of our own Tables Remember the quality of your charges . Civitas est , Vigilate ad custodiam & concordiam ; sponsa est , studete amari ; oves sunt , intendite pastui . The Church is a spouse : the Universal Church is Christs spouse ; but your own Diocese is yours ; behave your selves so , that ye be beloved . Your people are as sheep , and they must be fed , and guided , and preserved , and healed , and brought home . The Church is a City , and you are the watch men , take care that the City be kept at Unity in it self ; be sure to make peace amongst your people , suffer no hatred , no quarrels , no suits at law amongst the Citiz●ns , which you can avoid ; make peace in your Dioceses by all the wayes of prudence , piety and authority that you can , and let not your own corrections of criminals be to any purpose , but for their amendment , for the cure of offenders , as long as there is hope , and for the security of those who are found and whole . Preach often , and pray continually ; let your discipline be with charity , and your censures flow ; let not excommunications pass for trifles , and drive not away the fly from your brothers forehead with a hatchet ; give counsel frequently , and dispensations seldom , but never without necessity or great charity . Let every place in your Diocese say , Invenerunt me vigiles , the watch men have found me out , hassovevim . They that walk the City round , have sought me out and found me . Let every one of us , ( as S. Paul's expression is , ) shew himself a workman , that shall not be ashamed ; operarium inconfusibilem , mark that , such a labourer as shall not be put to shame for his illness , or his unskilfulness , his falseness and unfaithfulness in that day when the great Bishop of souls shall make his last and dreadful visitation . For be sure , there is not a carkase nor a skin , not a lock of wool , nor a drop of milk of the whole flock , but God shall for it call the Idol Shepherd to a severe account . And how , think you , will his anger burn , when he shall see so many goats standing at his left hand , and so few Sheep at his right ? and upon inquiry shall find , that his ministring Shepherds , were Wolves in Sheeps clothing ; and that by their ill example , or pernitious doctrines , their care of money , and carelesness of their flocks , so many Souls perish ; who if they had been carefully and tenderly , wisely and conscientiously handled , might have shin'd as bright as Angels . And it is a sad conside●ation to remember , how many souls are pitifully handled in this world , and carelesly dismissed out of this world ; they are left to live at their own rate , and w●en they are sick , they are bidden to be of good comfort , and then all is well ; who when they are dead , find themselves cheated of their pretious and invaluable eternity . Oh , how will those Souls in their eternal prisons for ever curse those evil and false guides ! and how will those evil guides themselves abide in jud●ment , when the Angels of wrath snatch their abused people into everlasting tor●ents ! For will God bless them or pardon them , by whom so many souls perish ? Shall they reign with Christ , who evacuate the death of Christ , and make it useless to dear Souls ? Shall they partake of Christs glories , by whom it comes to pass that there is less joy in Heaven it self , even because sinners are not converted , and God is not glorified , and the people is not instructed , and the Kingdom of God is not filled ? Oh no ? the curses of a false Prophet will fall upon them , and the reward of the evil Steward will be their portion , and they who destroyed the Sheep , or neglected them , shall have their portion with Goats for ever and ever in everlasting burnings , in which it is impossible for a man to dwell . Can any thing be beyond this ? beyond damna●ion ? Surely a m●n would think , not . And yet I remember a severe saying of S. Gregory ; Scire debent Prelati , quod tot mortibus digni sunt , quot perditionis exempla ad subditos extenderunt . One damnation is not enough for an evil Shepherd ; but for every Soul who dyes by his evil example or p●rnitious carelesness , he deserves a new death , a new damnation . Let us therefore be wise and faithful , walk warily , and watch carefully , and rule diligently , and pray assiduously . For God is more propense to rewards , then to punishments ; and the good Steward that is wise and faithful in his dispensation , shall be greatly blessed . But how ? He shall be made ruler over the houshold . What is that ? for he is so already . True ; but he shall be much more . Ex dispensatore faciet procuratorem . God will treat him as Joseph was treated by his Master ; he was first a Steward , and then a Procurator , one that ruled his goods without account , and without restraint . Our ministry shall pass into Empire , our labour into rest , our watchfulness into fruition , and our Bishoprick to a Kingdom . In the mean time our Bishopricks are a great and weighty care , and in a spiritual sense , our dominion is founded in grace , and our rule is in the hearts of the people , and our strengths are the powers of the Holy Ghost , and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual ; and the eye of God watches over us curiously , to see if we watch over our flocks by day and by night . And though the Primitive Church ( as the Ecclesiastick Histories observe , ) when they deposed a Bishop from his office , ever concealed his crime , and made no record of it ; yet remember this , that God does , and will call us to a strict and severe account . Take heed that you may never hear that fearful sentence , I was hungry and ye gave me no meat . If you suffer Christs little ones to starve , it will be required severely at your hands ; And know this , that the time will quickly come , in which God shall say unto thee in the words of the Prophet , Where is the Flock that was given thee , thy beautiful Flock ? ) What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee ? God of his mercy grant unto us all to be so faithful and so wise , as to convert Souls , and to be so blessed and so assisted , that we may give an account of our charges with joy , to the glory of God , to the edification and security of our Flocks , and the salvation of our own Souls , in that day when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls sha●l come to judgment , even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost , be all Honour and Glory , Love and Obedience , now and for evermore , Amen . FINIS . Thursday the 9 th of May. ORdered that the Speaker do give the Reverend Father in God , the Lord Bishop of Down , the thanks of this House for his yesterdaies paines , and that he desire him to print his Sermon . John Keating Cler. Parl. 11. die Maii 1661. ORdered that Sir Theophilus Jones Knight , Marcus Trever Esq Sir William Domville Kn t his Majesties Attorney General , and Richard Kirle Esq be , and are hereby appointed , a Committee to return thanks unto the Lord Bishop of Down for his Sermon preached on Wednesday last unto the Lords Justices , and Lords Spiritual and Temporal , whereunto the House of Commons were invited ; and that they desire his Lordship from this House to cause the same to be forthwith printed and published . Copia Vera. Ex. per Philip Ferneley Cler. Dom. Com. A SERMON PREACHED At the opening of the Parliament of IRELAND , May 8. 1661. Before the right Honourable the Lords Justices , and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons . By JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor . Salus in multitudine consulentium . LONDON , Printed by J. F. for R. Royston , Bookseller to his most Sacred MAJESTY , 1661. To the Right Honourable , the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland Assembled in PARLIAMENT . My Lords and Gentlemen ; I Ought not to dispute your commands for the printing my Sermon of Obedience ; lest my Sermon should be protestatio contra factum : here I know my Example would be the best Use to this Doctrine , and I am sure to find no inconveniency so great as that of Disobedience ; neither can I be confident that I am wise in any thing but when I obey ; for then I have the wisdome of my Superiour for my warrant , or my excuse . I remember the saying of Aurelius the Emperor , Aequius est me tot & talium amicorum consilium , quam tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi . I could easily have pretended excuses , but that day I had taught others the contrary ; and I would not shed that Chalice which my own hands had newly filled with waters issuing from the fountains of Salvation . My eyes are almost grown old with seeing the horrid mischiefs which came from Rebellion and Disobedience ; and I would willingly now be blessed with observation of Peace and Righteousness , Plenty and Religion ▪ which do already , and I hope shall for ever , attend upon Obedience to the best KING and the best CHURCH in the world . I see no objection against my hopes , but that which ought least of all in this case to be pretended . Men pretend Conscience against Obedience ; expressly against Saint Paul's Doctrine , teaching us to obey for conscience sake ; but to disobey for Conscience in a thing indifferent , is never to be found in the books of our Religion . It is very hard when the Prince is forc'd to say to his rebellious Subject , as God did to his stubborn people , Quid faciam tibi ? I have tried all the waies I can to bring thee home , and what shall I now doe unto thee ? The Subject should rather say , Quid me vis facere ? What wilt thou have me to doe ? This Question is the best end of disputations . Corrumpitur atque dissolvitur Imperantis officium , si quis ad id quod facere jussus est , non obsequio debito , sed consilio non considerato respondeat , said one in A. Gellius . When a Subject is commanded to obey , and he disputes , and saies , Nay , but the other is better , he is like a servant that gives his Master necessary counsel , when he requires of him a necessary obedience . Utilius parére edicto quam efferre consilium , he had better obey then give counsel : by how much it is better to be profitable then to be witty , to be full of goodness rather then full of talk and argument . But all this is acknowledged true in strong men , but not in the weak ; in vigorous , but not in tender Consciences : for Obedience is strong meat , and will not down with weak stomacks . As if in the world any thing were easier then to obey : for we see that the food of Children is milk and lawes ; the breast-milk of their Nurses and the commands of their Parents is all that food and Government by which they are kept from harm and hunger , and conducted to life and wisdome . And therefore they that are weak brethren , of all things in the world have the least reason to pretend an excuse for disobedience , for nothing can secure them but the wisdome of the Laws : for they are like Children in minority ; they cannot be trusted to their own conduct , and therefore must live at the publick charge , and the wisdome of their Superiors is their guide and their security . And this was wisely advised by S. Paul , Him that is weak in the faith receive , but not to doubtfull disputations : that 's not the way for him ; Children must not dispute with their Fathers and their Masters . If old men will dispute , let them look to it ; that 's meat for the strong indeed , though it be not very nutritive : but the Laws and the Counsels , the Exhortations and the Doctrines of our Spiritual Rulers , are the measures by which God hath appointed Babes in Christ to become Men , and the weak to become strong ; and they that are not to be received to doubtful disputations , are to be received with the arms of love into the imbraces of a certain and regular Obedience . But it would be considered , that Tenderness of Conscience is an equivocal terme , and does not alwaies signifie in a good sense . For a Child is of a tender flesh ; but he whose foot is out of joint , or hath a bile in his arme , or hath strained a sinew , is much more tender . The tenderness of age is that weakness that is in the ignorant and new beginners : the tenderness of a bile , that is soreness indeed rather then tenderness , is of the diseased , the abused , and the mis-perswaded . The first indeed are to be tenderly dealt with , and have usages accordingly : but that is the same I have already told ; you must teach them , you must command them , you must guide them , you must chuse for them , you must be their guardians , and they must comport themselves accordingly . But for that tenderness of Conscience which is the disease and soreness of Conscience , it must be cured by anodynes and soft usages , unless they prove ineffective , and that the Launcet be necessary . But there are amongst us such tender stomacks , that cannot endure Milk , but can very well digest Iron ; Consciences so tender , that a Ceremony is greatly offensive , but Rebellion is not ; a Surplice drives them away as a bird affrighted with a man of clouts , but their Consciences can suffer them to despise Government , and speak evil of Dignities , and curse all that are not of their Opinion , and disturb the peace of Kingdomes , and commit Sacrilege , and account Schisme the character of Saints . The true Tenderness of Conscience is 1. that which is impatient of a sin ; 2ly , it will not endure any thing that looks like it ; and 3ly , it will not give offence . Now since all Sin is Disobedience , 1. it will be rarely contingent that a man in a Christian Common-wealth shall be tied to disobey , to avoid sin : and certain it is , if such a case could happen , yet 2ly , nothing of our present questions is so like a sin , as when we refuse to obey the Laws ; to stand in a clean Vestment is not so ill a sight as to see men stand in separation , and to kneel at the Communion is not so like Idolatry as Rebellion is to Witchcraft : and then 3ly , for the matter of giving offences , what scandal is greater then that which scandalizes the Laws ? and who is so carefully to be observed , lest he be offended , as the KING ? And if that which offends the weak brother is to be avoided , much more that which offends the strong ; for this is certainly really criminal , but for the other it is much oddes but it is mistaken . And when the case is so put , between the obedient and the disobedient , which shall be offended , and one will , I suppose there is no question but the Laws will take more care of Subjects then of Rebels , and not weaken them in their duty in compliance with those that hate the Laws , and will not endure the Government . And after all this , in the conduct of Government what remedy can there be to those that call themselves Tender Consciences ? I shall not need say that every man can easily pretend it ; for we have seen the vilest part of mankind , men that have done things so horrid , worse then which the Sun never saw , yet pretend tender Consciences against Ecclesiastical Laws : but I will suppose that they are really such , that they in the simplicity of their hearts follow Absolom , and in weakness hide their heads in little Conventicles and places of separation for a trifle ; what would they have done for themselves ? If you make a Law of Order , and in the sanction put a clause of favour for tender Consciences , do not you invite every Subject to Disobedience by impunity , and teach him how to make his own excuse ? is not such a Law , a Law without an obligation ? may not every man chuse whether he will obey or no ? and if he pretends to disobey out of Conscience , is not he that disobeyes equally innocent with the obedient ; altogether as just , as not having done any thing without leave , and yet much more Religious and conscientious ? Quicunque vult is but an ill preface to a Law ; and it is a strange obligation that makes no difference between him that obeyes and him that refuses to obey . But what course must be taken with tender Consciences ? Shall the execution of the Law be suspended as to all such persons ? that will be all one with the former : for if the execution be commanded to be suspended , then the obligation of the Law by command is taken away , and then it were better there were no Law made . And indeed that is the pretension , that is the secret of the business ; they suppose the best way to prevent Disobedience is to take away all Laws . It is a short way indeed ; there shall then be no Disobedience , but at the same time there shall be no Government : but the Remedy is worse then the Disease ; and to take away all Wine and strong drink to prevent Drunkenness would not be half so great a folly . I cannot therefore tell what to advise in this particular , but that every Spiritual guide should consider who are tender Consciences and who are weak brethren , and use all the waies of piety and prudence to instruct and to inform them , that they may increase in knowledge and spiritual understanding . But they that will be alwaies learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth , they that will be children of a hundred years old and never come to years of discretion , they are very unfit to guide others , and to be Curates of Souls : but they are most unfit to reprove the Laws , and speak against the wisdome of a Nation , when it is confessed that they are so weak , that they understand not the fundamental Liberty which Christ hath purchased for them , but are servants to a scruple , and affrighted at a circumstance , and in bondage under an indifferent thing , an so much Idolaters of their Sect or Opinion as to prefer it before all their own nobler interests , and the Charity of their brother , and the Peace of a whole Church and Nation . To you , my Lords and Gentlemen , I hope I may say as Marcus Curius said to a stubborn young man , Non opus Vos habere cive qui parére nesciret ; the Kingdome hath no need of those that know not how to obey . But as for them who have weak and tender Consciences , they are in the state of Childhood and minority : but then you know that a Child is never happy by having his own humor : if you chuse for him , and make him to use it , he hath but one thing to doe ; but if you put him to please himself , he is troubled with every thing , and satisfied with nothing . We find that all Christian Churches kept this Rule . They kept themselves and others close to the rule of Faith , and peaceably suffered one another to differ in Ceremonies , but suffered no difference amongst their own : they gave Liberty to other Churches , and gave Laws , and no Liberty , to their own Subjects . And at this day the Churches of Geneva , France , Switzerland , Germany , Low Countries , tye all their people to their own Laws , but tye up no mans Conscience ; if he be not perswaded as they are , let him charitably dissent , and leave that Government , and adhere to his own Communion . If you be not of their mind , they will be served by them that are : they will not trouble your Conscience , and you shall not disturb their Government . But when men think they cannot enjoy their Conscience unless you give them good Livings , and if you prefer them not , you afflict their Consciences , they do but too evidently declare that it is not their Consciences but their Profits they would have secured . Now to these I have only this to say , That their Conscience is to be enjoyed by the measures of God's Word , but the Rule for their Estates is the Laws of the Kingdome : and I shew you yet a more excellent way ; Obedience is the best security for both ; because this is the best conservatory of Charity and Truth and Peace . Si vis brevi perfectus esse , esto obediens etiam in minimis , was the saying of a Saint ; and the world uses to look for Miracles from them whom they shall esteem Saints : but I had rather see a man truly humble and obedient , then to see him raise a man from the dead , said old Pachomius . But to conclude : if weak brethren shall still plead for Toleration and Compliance , I hope my Lords the Bishops will consider where it can doe good and doe no harm , where they are permitted , and where themselves are bound up by the Laws , and in all things where it is safe and holy to labour to bring them ease and to give them remedy : but to think of removing the Disease by feeding the Humor , I confess it is a strange cure to our present Distempers . He that took clay and spittle to open the blind eyes can make any thing be collyrium ; but he alone can doe it . But whether any humane power can bring good from so unlikely an instrument , if any man desires yet to be better informed , I desire him , besides the calling to mind the late sad effects of Schime , to remember that no Church in Christendome ever did it . It is neither the way of Peace nor Government , nor yet a proper remedy for the cure of a weak Conscience . I shall therefore pray to God that these men who separate in simplicity may by God's mercy be brought to understand their own Liberty , and that they may not for ever be babes and Neophytes , and wax old in trifles ; and for ever stay at entrances and outsides of Religion ; but that they would pass in interiora domûs , and seek after Peace and Righteousness , Holiness and Justice , the love of God and Evangelical perfections ; and then they will understand how ill-advised they are who think Religion consists in zeal against Ceremonies and speaking evil of the Laws . My Lords and Gentlemen , what I said in pursuance of publick Peace and private Duty , and some little incidences to both , I now humbly present to you , more to shew my own Obedience then to re-mind you of your Duty , which hitherto you have so well observed in your amicable and sweet concord of counsels and affections , during this present Session . I owe many thanks to you who heard me patiently , willingly and kindly ; I endeavoured to please God , and I find I did not displease you : but he is the best hearer of a Sermon who first loves the Doctrine , and then practises it ; and that you have hitherto done , very piously and very prosperously . I pray God continue to direct your Counsels so that you in all things may please him , and in all things be blessed by him , that all generations may call you blessed Instruments of a lasting Peace , the restorers of the old paths , the Patrons of the Church , friends of Religion , and Subjects fitted for your Prince , who is Just up to the greatest example , and Merciful beyond all examples , a Prince who hath been nourished , and preserved , and restored , and blessed by Miracles ; a Prince whose Vertues and Fortunes are equally the greatest . 1 SAMUEL 15. latter part of the 22 th verse . Behold to obey is better then sacrifice , and to hearken then the fat of rams . First part of the 23 th . For Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft , and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry . IN the world nothing is more easy then to say our Prayers , and to obey our Superiors ; and yet in the world there is nothing to which we are so unwilling as to Prayer , and nothing seems so intolerable as Obedience : for men esteem all Laws to be fetters , and their Superiors are their enemies : and when a command is given , we turn into all shapes of excuse to escape from the imposition : For either the authority is incompetent , or the law it self is Statutum non bonum , or it is impossible to be kept , or at least very inconvenient , and we are to be reliev'd in equity , or there is a secret dispensation , and it does not bind in my particular case , or not now ; or it is but the law of a man , and was made for a certain end ; or it does not bind the conscience , but 't was only for Political regards ; or , if the worst happen , I will obey passively , and then I am innocent . Thus every man snuffes up the wind , like the wild asses in the wilderness , and thinks that Authority is an incroachment upon a mans birth-right ; and in the mean time never considers that Christ took upon him our Nature that he might learn us Obedience , and in that also make us become like unto God. In his Justice and his Mercy he was imitable before ; but before the Incarnation of Christ we could not in passive graces imitate God who was impassible . But he was pleased at a great rate to set forward this duty ; and when himself became obedient in the hardest point , obediens usque ad mortem , and is now become to us the author and finisher of our Obedience , as well as of our Faith , admonetur omnis aetas fieri posse quod aliquando factum est . We must needs confess it very possible to obey the severest of the divine laws , even to dye if God commands , because it was already done by a man ; and we must needs confess it excellent , because it was done by God himself . But this great Example is of universal influence in the whole matter of Obedience . For that I may speak of that part of this Duty which can be useful , and concerns us ; Men do not deny but they must obey in all Civil things , but in Religion they have a Supreme , God only , and Conscience is his interpreter ; and in effect every man must be the Judge whether he shall obey or no. Therefore it is that I say , the Example of our Lord is the great determination of this inquiry : for he did obey and suffer , according to the commands of his Superiors under whose Government he was placed ; he gave his back to the smiters , and his cheeks to the nippers ; he kept the orders of the Rulers , and the customes of the Synagogues , the Law of Moses and the rights of the Temple ; and by so doing he fulfilled all righteousness . Christ made no distinctions in his Obedience , but obeyed God in all things , and those that God set over him in all things according to God , and in things of Religion most of all ; because to obey was of it self a great instance of Religion , and if ever Religion comes to be pretended against Obedience in any thing where our Superior can command , it is imposture : For that is the purpose of my text , Obedience is better then Sacrifice . Our own judgment , our own opinion is the sacrifice , seldome fit to be offered to God , but most commonly deserving to be consumed by fire : but take it at the best , it is not half so good as Obedience ; for that was indeed Christ's Sacrifice , and ( as David of Goliah's sword , non est alter talis ) there is no other sacrifice that can be half so good : and when Abraham had lifted up his sacrificing knife to slay his Son , and so express'd his obedience , God would have no more ; he had the Obedience , and he cared not for the Sacrifice . By Sacrifice here then is meant the external and contingent actions of Religion ; by Obedience is meant submission to Authority , and observing the command . Obedience is a not chusing our Duty , a not disputing with our Betters , not to argue , not to delay , not to murmure ; it is not this , but it is much better ; for it is Love , and Simplicity , and Humility , and Usefulness , and I think these do reductively contain all that is excellent in the whole conjugation of Christian Graces . My Text is a perfect Proposition , and hath no special remark in the words of it ; but is only a great representation of the most useful Truth to all Kingdomes and Parliaments and Councels and Authorities in the whole world : It is your Charter , and the Sanction of your authority , and the stabiliment of your Peace , and the honour of your Laws , and the great defence of your Religion , and the building up and the guarding of the King's Throne . It is that by which all the Societies in heaven and earth are firm : without this you cannot have a Village prosperous , or a Ship arrive in harbour . It is that which God hath bound upon us by hope and fear , by wrath and conscience , by duty and necessity . Obedience is the formality of all Vertues , and every Sin is Disobedience . There can no greater thing be said , unless you please to adde , that we never read that the earth opened and swallowed up any man alive , but a company of rebellious disobedient people , who rose cup against Moses and Aaron , the Prince of the People , and the Priest of God. For Obedience is the most necessary thing in the world , and corruptio optimi est pessima : Disobedience is the greatest evil in the world , and that alone which can destroy it . My text is instanced in the matter of Obedience to God ; but yet the case is so , that though I shall in the first place discourse of our Obedience to man , I shall not set one foot aside from the main intention of it ; because Obedience to our Superiors is really and is accounted to be Obedience to God , for they are sent by God , they are his vicegerents , his Ministers , and his Embassadors . Apostolus cujusque est quisque say the Jewes , Every mans Apostle is himself ; and he that heareth or despiseth you , said Christ , heareth or despiseth me : And the reason is very evident , because it is not to be expected that God should speak to us by himself , but sometimes by Angels , sometimes by Prophets , once by his Son , and alwaies by his Servants . Now I desire two things to be observed . First , We may as well perceive that God speaks to us when he uses the ministry of men as when he uses the ministry of Angels : one is as much declared and as certain as the other . And if it be said , a man may pretend to come from God , and yet deliver nothing but his own errand ; that is no strange thing : but remember also that S. Paul puts this supposition in the case of an Angel , [ If an Angel preach any other Gospel ; ] and we know that many Angels come like Angels of light , who yet teach nothing but the waies of Darkness . So that we are still as much bound to obey our Superior as to obey an Angel : a man is paulò minor angelis , a little lower then the Angels ; but we are much lower then the King. Consider then with what fear and love we should receive an Angel , and so let us receive all those whom God hath sent to us , and set over us ; for they are no less : less indeed in their Persons , but not in their Authorities . Nay the case is nearer yet ; for we are not only bound to receive God's Deputies as God's Angel , but as God himself . For it is the power of God in the hand of a man , and he that resists , resists God's ordinance . And I pray remember that there is not only no power greater then God's , but there is no other ; for all Power is his . The consequent of this is plain enough ; I need say no more of it : It is all one to us who commands , God , or God's Vicegerent . This was the first thing to be observed . Secondly , there can be but two things in the world requir'd to make Obedience necessary , the greatness of the Authority , and the worthiness of the Thing . In the first you see the case can have no difference , because the thing it self is but one . There is but one Authority in the world , and that is God's : as there is but one Sun whose light is diffused into all Kingdomes . But is there not great difference in the Thing commanded ? Yes certainly , there is some ; but nothing to warrant disbobedience : for whatever the thing be , it may be commanded by man , if it be not countermanded by God. For 1. It is not required that every thing commanded should of it self be necessary ; for God himself oftentimes commands things which have in them no other excellency then that of Obedience . What made Abraham the friend of God ? and what made his offer to kill his Son to be so pleasing to God ? It had been naturally no very great good to cut the throat of a little child ; but only that it was Obedience . What excellency was there in the journeys of the Patriarchs from Mesopotamia to Syria , from the land of Canaan into Egypt ? and what thanks could the sons of Israel deserve that they sate still upon the seventh day of the week ? and how can a man be dearer unto God by keeping of a Feast , or building of a Booth , or going to Jerusalem , or cutting off the foreskin of a boy , or washing their hands and garments in fair water ? There was nothing in these things but the Obedience . And when our blessed Lord himself came to his Servant to take of him the Baptisme of Repentance , alas , he could take nothing but the water and the ceremony : for , as Tertullian observes , he was nullius poenitentiae debitor , he was indeed a just person and needed no repentance ; but even so it became him to fulfil all righteousness : but yet even then it was that the Holy Spirit did descend upon his holy head , and crown'd that Obedience , though it were but to a ceremony . Obedience , you see , may be necessary when the law is not so . For in these cases , God's Son and God's Servants did obey in things which were made good only by the commandement : and if we doe so in the Instances of humane Laws , there is nothing to be said against it , but that what was not of it self necessary , is made so by the authority of the Commander and the force of the Commandement . But there is more in it then so . For , 2ly , We pretend to be willing to obey even in things naturally not necessary , if a divine command does interpose ; but if it be only a commandement of man , and the thing be not necessary of it self , then we desire to be excus'd . But will we doe nothing else ? We our selves will doe many things that God hath not commanded , and may not our Superiors command us in many cases to doe what we may lawfully doe without a commandement ? Can we become a law unto our selves , and cannot the word and power of our Superiors also become a law unto us ? hath God given more to a private then to a publick hand ? But consider the ill consequents of this fond opinion . Are all the practices of Geneva or Scotland recorded in the Word of God ? are the trifling Ceremonies of their publick Penance recorded in the four Gospels ? are all the rules of decency , and all things that are of good report , and all the measures of prudence , and the laws of peace and war , and the customes of the Churches of God , and the lines of publick honesty , are all these described to us by the laws of God ? If they be , let us see and read them , that we may have an end to all questions and minute cases of Conscience : but if they be not , and yet by the Word of God these are bound upon us in the general , and no otherwise ; then it follows that the particulars of all these , which may be infinite , and are innumerable , yet may be the matter of humane Laws ; and then are bound upon us by the power of God put into the hands of man. The consequent is this , that whatsoever is commanded by our Superior according to the will of God , or whatsoever is not against it , is of necessity to be obey'd . 3ly , But what if our Princes or our Prelates command things against the Word of God ? what then ? Why nothing then , but that we must obey God and not man ; there 's no dispute of that . But what then again ? Why therefore saies the Papist I will not obey the Protestant Kings , because against the Word of God they command me to come to Church where Heresy is preached ; and I will not acknowledge the Bishops , saith the Presbyterian , because they are against the discipline and scepter of Jesus Christ ; and the Independent hates Parochial meetings , and is wholly for a gathered Church , and supposes this to be the practice Apostolical ; and I will not bring my Child to Baptisme , ( saith the Anabaptist ) because God calls none but believers to that Sacrament ; and I will acknowledge no Clergy , no Lord , no Master , saith the Quaker , because Christ commands us to call no man master on the earth , and be not called of men Rabbi . And if you call upon these men to obey the Authority God hath set over them , they tell you with one voice , with all their hearts , as far as the Word of God will give them leave ; but God is to be obey'd , and not man : and therefore if you put the Laws in execution against them , they will obey you passively , because you are stronger , and so long as they know it they will not stir against you ; but they in the mean time are little less then Martyrs , and you no better then Persecutors . What shall we doe now ? for here is evidently a great heap or disorder : they all confess that authority must be obey'd ; but when you come to the trial , none of them all will doe it , and they think they are not bound : but because their Opinions being contrary cannot all be right , and it may be none of them are , it is certain that all this while Authority is infinitely wronged and prejudiced amongst them , when all fantastick Opinions shall be accounted a sufficient reason to despise it . I hope the Presbyterian will joyn with the Protestant , and say that the Papist , and the Socinian , and the Independent , and the Anabaptist , and the Quaker are guilty of Rebellion and Disobedience for all their pretence of the Word of God to be on their side : and I am more sure that all these will joyn with the Protestant , and say that the Presbyterian hath no reason to disobey Authority upon pretence of their new Government concerning which they do but dream dreams , when they think they see visions . Certain it is that the biggest part of dissenters in the whole world are criminally disobedient ; and it is a thousand to one but that Authority is in the right against them , and ought to be obey'd . It remains now in the next place , that we inquire what Authority is to doe in this case , and what these Sectaries and Recusants are to doe ; for these are two things worth inquiry , 1. Concerning Authority . All disagreeing persons , to cover their foul shame of Rebellion or Disobedience , pretend Conscience for their Judge , and the Scripture for their Law. Now if these men think that by this means they proceed safely , upon the same ground the Superior may doe what he thinks to be his duty , and be at least as safe as they . If the Rebellious Subject can think that by God's Law he ought not to obey ; the Prince may at the same time think that by God's Law he ought to punish him : and it is as certain that he is justly punished , as he thinks it certain he reasonably disobeys . Or is the Conscience of the Superior bound to relaxe his lawes , if the inferior tells him so ? Can the Prince give Laws to the peoples will ; and can the people give measures to the Princes understanding ? If any one of the people can prescribe or make it necessary to change the Law , then every one can ; and by this time every new Opinion will introduce a new Law , and that Law shall be obey'd by him only that hath a mind to it , and that will be a strange Law that binds a man only to doe his own pleasure . But because the King's Conscience is to him as sure a Rule as the Conscience of any disobedient Subject can be to himself , the Prince is as much bound to doe his duty in Government , as the other can be to follow his Conscience in disagreeing ; and the consequent will be , that whether the Subject be right or wrong in the disputation , it is certain he hath the just reward of Disobedience in the conclusion . If one mans Conscience can be the measure of another mans action , why shall not the Princes Conscience be the Subject's measure ? but if it cannot , then the Prince is not to depart : from his own Conscience , but proceed according to the Laws which he judges just and reasonable . 2. The Superior is tied by the laws of Christian Charity so far to bend in the ministration of his Laws , as to pity the invincible Ignorance and Weakness of his abused people , qui devoratur à malis Pastoribus ( as S. Hierom's expression is ) that are devour'd by their evill Shepheards : but this is to last no longer then till the Ignorance can be cured , and the man be taught his duty ; for whatsoever comes after this looks so like Obstinacy , that no Laws in the world judge it to be any thing else . And then secondly , this also is to be understood to be the duty of Superiors only in matters of mere Opinion , not relating to Practice . For no mans Opinion must be suffer'd to doe mischief , to disturb the Peace , to dishonour the Government : not only because every disagreeing person can to serve his end pretend his Conscience , and so claim impunity for his Villany ; but also because those things which concern the good of mankind and the Peace of Kingdomes are so plainly taught , that no man who thinks himself so wise as to be fit to oppose Authority , can be so foolish as in these things not to know his Duty . In other things , if the Opinion does neither bite nor scratch , if it dwells at home in the house of understanding , and wanders not into the out-houses of Passion and popular orations , the Superior imposes no laws , and exacts no obedience , and destroies no liberty , and gives no restraint . This is the part of Authority . 2. The next enquiry is , What must the disagreeing Subject doe when he supposes the Superiors command is against the Law of God ? I answer that if he thinks so , and thinks true , he must not obey his Superior in that : but because most men that think so think amiss , there are many particulars fit by such persons to be consider'd . 1. Let such men think charitably of others , and that all are not fools or mad-men who are not of the same Opinion with themselves or their own little party . 2. Let him think himself as fallible and subject to mistake as other men are . 3. But let him by no means think that every Opinion of his is an Inspiration from God ; for that is the pride and madness of a pretended Religion : such a man is to be cured by Physick ; for he could not enter into that perswasion by Reason or Experience , and therefore it must enter into him by folly or the anger of God. 4. From hence it will naturally follow , that he ought to think his Opinion to be uncertain , and that he ought not to behave himself like the man that is too confident ; but because his Obedience is Duty , and his Duty certain , he will find it more wise and safe and holy to leave that which is disputable , and pursue that which is demonstrable ; to change his uncertain Opinion for his certain Duty . For it is twenty to one but he is deceived in his Opinion ; but if he be , it is certain that whatsoever his Conscience be , yet in his separation from Authority he is a sinner . 2. Every man who by his Opinion is ingaged against Authority , should doe well to study his doubtful Opinion less , and Humility and Obedience more . But you say , that this concerns not me , for my disagreeing is not in a doubtful matter , but I am sure I am in the right ; there is no ifs and ands in my case . Well , it may be so : but were it not better that you did doubt ? A wise man feareth ( saith Solomon ) and departeth from evil ; but a fool rageth and is confident : and the difference between a Learned man and a Novice is this , that the yong fellow crieth out , I am sure it is so ; the better learned answers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , possibly it may , and peradventure it is so , but I pray enquire : and he is the best Diviner , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he is the best Judge that conjectures best , not he that is most confident ; for , as Xenophanes said wisely , Man does but conjecture , but God only knows ; and it is no disparagement to a wise man to learn , and by suspecting the fallibility of things and his own aptness to mistake , to walk prudently and safely , with an eye to God , and an eare open to his Superior . Some men are drunk with fancy , and mad with Opinion . Who believe more strongly then boyes and women ? who are so hard to be perswaded as fools ? and who so readily suspect their teachers as they who are govern'd by chance , and know not the intrinsick measures of good and evil ? Qui pauca considerat de facili pronunciat ; it is a little learning and not enough that makes men conclude hastily , and clap fast hold on the Conclusion before they have well weighed the Premisses : but Experience and Humility would teach us Modesty and Fear . 3. In all disputes he that obeys his Superior can never be a Heretick in the estimate of Law , and he can never be a Schismatick in the point of Conscience ; so that he certainly avoids one great death , and very probably the other . Res judicata pro veritate accipitur , saith the Law ; If the Judge have given sentence , that sentence is suppos'd a truth : and Cassiodor said according to the sentence of the Law , Nimis iniquum est ut ille patiatur dispendium , qui imperium fecit alienum . Our Obedience secures us from the imputation of evil , and Error does but seldome goe in company with Obedience . But however there is this advantage to be gotten by Obedience ; that he who prefers the sentence of the Law before his own Opinion does doe an act of great Humility , and exercises the grace of Modesty , and takes the best way to secure his Conscience and the publick Peace , and pleases the Government which he is bound to please , and pursues the excellencies of Unity , and promotes Charity and Godly Love : whereas on the other side , he that goes by himself apart from his Superior is alwaies materially a Schismatick , and is more likely to be deceiv'd by his own Singularity and Prejudice and Weakness , then by following the guides God hath set over him . And if he loses Truth , certainly he will get nothing else : for by so doing we lose our Peace too , and give publick offence , and arme Authority against us , and are scandalous in Law , and pull evil upon our heads ; and all this for a proud Singularity , or a trifling Opinion , in which we are not so likely to be deceived , if we trust our selves less , and the publick more . In omnibus falli possum , in obedientia non possum , said S. Teresa , I can in every thing else , but in Obedience I can never be deceived . And it is very remarkable in my Text , that Rebellion or Disobedience is compared to the sin of witchcraft . Indeed it seems strange , for the meaning of it is not only that a Rebel is as much hated by God as a Witch , but it means that the sinnes are alike in their very natures : quasi peccatum divinationis ( saith the Vulgar Latine ) they that disobey Authority , trusting in their own opinions , are but like Witches or Diviners ; that is , they are led by an evil spirit ; pride and a lying and deceiving spirit is their teacher , and their answers are seldome true ; for though they pretend the Truth of God for their Disobedience , yet they fall into the deception of the devil , and that 's the end of their soothsaying . And let me adde this , that when a man distrusts his Superior and trusts himself , if he misses Truth , it will be greatly imputed to him ; he shall feel the evil of his error and the shame of his pride , the reproach of his folly and the punishment of his disobedience , the dishonour of singularity , and the restlesness of Schisme , and the scorn of the multitude : but on the other side , if he obey Authority , and yet be deceived , he is greatly excused , he erred on the safer side , he is defended by the hands of many vertues , and gets peace and love of the Congregation . You see the Blessings of Obedience , even in the questions and matters of Religion : but I have something more to say , and it is not only of great use to appease the tumultuary disputations and arguings of Religion which have lately disturbed these Nations , but is proper to be spoken to , and to be reduced to practice by this Honourable and High Court of Parliament . That which I am to say is this ; You have no other way of Peace , no better way to appease and quiet the Quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us , but by reducing all men to Obedience , and all questions to the measures of the Laws . For they on both sides pretend Scripture , but one side onely can pretend to the Laws : and they that do admit no authority above their own to expound Scripture , cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the makers and proper expounders of our Laws ; and if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other , let no man dispute against your Laws . For did not our Blessed Saviour say , that an Oath is the end of all questions , and after depositions are taken , all Judges goe to sentence ? What Oaths are to private questions , that Laws are to publick . And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken ; it is true , but may not an Oath also be a Perjury ? and yet because in humane affairs we have no greater certainty , and greater then God gives we may not look for , let the Laws be the last determination ; and in wise and religious Governments no disputation is to goe beyond them . 2. But this is not onely true in religious prudence and plain necessity , but this is the way that God hath appointed , and that he hath blessed , and that he hath intended to be the means of ending all questions . This we learn from S. Paul , I exhort that first of all prayers , and supplications , and intercessions , and giving of thanks be made for all men : for Kings and for all that are in Authority . For all ; for Parliaments and for Councils , for Bishops and for Magistrates : it is for all , and for Kings above all . Well , to what purpose is all this ? that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty . Mark that : Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the means of obtaining unity and peace in Godliness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in all the true and Godly worshippings of God ; no Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority . 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies , the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded . If you suffer the Authority of the King to be lessened , to be scrupled , to be denied in Ecclesiastical affairs , you have no way left to silence the tongues and hands of gainsaying people . But so it is , the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our questions of Religion : Divinatio in labiis Regis ( saith Solomon ) in judicio non errabit os ejus , Divination and a wise sentence is in the lips of the King , and his mouth shall not erre in judgement . In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes infallibility , but by this it appears there is divinity in the Kings sentence : for God gives to Kings , who are his Vicegerents , a peculiar spirit . And when Justinian had out of the sense of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many cases for which Law made no provision , he addes , If any such shall happen , Augustum imploretur remedium , run to the King for remedy ; for therefore God hath set the Imperial fortune over humane affairs , ut possit omnia quae noviter contingunt & emendare & componere , & modis ac regulis competentibus tradere , that the King may amend and rule and compose every new-arising question . And it is not to be despised , but is a great indication of this Truth , that the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the world do approve them , and are a great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued , even in matters of Religion , and questions of greatest doubt . Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi , said the old Abbot of Kells ; a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup , in which our Lord the King divines . And since God hath blessed us with so good , so just , so religious and so wise a Prince , let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort , and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination . For Wisedome saith , By me Princes rule , by me they decree justice : and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency , and is as the spirit of the most High God. 4. Let no man be too busy in disputing the laws of his Superiors , for a man by that seldome gets good to himself , but seldome misses to doe mischief unto others . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said one in Laertius . Will a son contend with his father ? that 's not decent , though the son speak that which is right : he may possibly say well enough , but he does doe very ill ; not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear , but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior , whether it be good or no ; for the very commandement can make it not only good , but a necessary good . It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden then these necessary things , said the Council of Jerusalem : and yet these things were not necessary , but as they were commanded : to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary ; but the commandement came , authority did interpose , and then they were made so . 5. But then besides the advantages both of the spirit , and the authority of Kings in matters of question , the laws and decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteem'd as a final sentence in all things disputed . The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13.7 . Remember them which have the rule over you , who have spoken unto you the word of God : this tels what Rulers he means ; Rulers Ecclesiastical : and what of them ? whose faith follow ; they must praeire in articulis ; they are not masters of your faith , but guides of it : and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obey'd , said our blessed Saviour . These words were not said for nothing ; and they were nothing if their authority were nothing . For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private . The publick is far the better , the daughter of God , and the mother of a blessing , and alwaies dwels in light . The publick spirit hath already passed the trial , it hath been subjected to the Prophets , tried and searched and approved ; the private is yet to be examined . The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed ; the private is various and multiform as chance , and no man can follow him that hath it . For if he follows one , he is reproved by a thousand ; and if he changes , he may get a shame , but no truth : and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior . When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses , God told them that they were Prophets of an inferior rank then Moses was . God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions ; but the Ruach hakkodesh , the publick spirit of Moses their Prince , that was higher : and what then ? wherefore then ( God said ) were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses ? plainly teaching us , that where there is a more excellent spirit , they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it . And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit ; that is , of a Subject speaking against the spirit and the laws of the Church . In heaven , and in the air , and in all the regions of spirits , the spirit of a lower order dares not speak against the spirit of an higher ; and therefore for a private spirit to oppose the publick , is a disorder greater then is in hell it self . To conclude this point ; Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy , and not by the Laws ; who would endure them ? and yet why may they not doe that as well as any Ecclesiastic person preach Religion , not which the Laws allow , but what is taught him by his own private Opinion ? but he that hath the Laws on his side , hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him , and can never want a great measure of justification . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Laws and the customes of the country are the results of wise counsels or long experience ; they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit : and nothing of this can be said of private Religions ; for they break the Peace , and trouble the Conscience , and undo Government , and despise the Laws , and offend Princes , and dishonour the wisdome of Parliaments , and destroy Obedience . Well , but in the last place , if we cannot doe what the Laws command , we will suffer what they impose ; and then all is well again . But first , who ever did so that could help it ? And secondly , this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery ; for what man did ever say the Laws were not good , but he also said the Punishment was unjust ? And thirdly , which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws , and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty ? and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution ? he may think to please himself , but he neither does or saies any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws . Such men are like them that sail in a storm ; they may possibly be thrown into a harbour , but they are very sick all the way . But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons , That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God ; and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharg'd in the Court of Conscience , but there he is still a sinner and a debter . For the law is not made for the righteous , but for sinners ; that is , the punishment appointed by the Law falls on him only that hath sinned : but an offending subject cannot with the fruit of his body pay for the sin of his Soul : when he does evil he must suffer evil ; but if he does not repent besides , a worse thing will happen to him ; for we are not tied to obey only for wrath , but also for Conscience . Passive obedience is only the correspondent of wrath , but it is the active obedience that is required by Conscience ; and whatever the Subject suffers for his own fault , it matters nothing as to his Duty , but this also God will exact at the hands of every man that is placed under Authority . I have now told you the summe of what I had to say concerning Obedience to Laws and to your own Government , and it will be to little purpose to make laws in matter of Religion , or in any thing else , if the end of it be , that every man shall chuse whether he will obey or no : and if it be questioned whether you be deceiv'd or no , though the suffering such a question is a great diminution to your authority , yet it is infinitely more probable that you are in the right then that the disobedient Subject is ; because you are conducted with a publick spirit , you have a special title and peculiar portions of the promise of God's assistance , you have all the helps of Counsel and the advantages of deliberation , you have the Scriptures and the Laws , you are as much concerned to judge according to truth as any man , you have the principal of all capacities and states of men to assist your consultations , you are the most concern'd for Peace , and to please God also is your biggest interest : and therefore it cannot be denied to be the most reasonable thing in the world which is set down in the Law : Praesumptio est pro authoritate imponentis , the presumption of truth ought to be on your side ; and since this is the most likely way for Truth , and the most certain way for Peace , you are to insist in this , and it is not possible to find a better . I have another part or sense of my Text yet to handle ; but because I have no more time of mine own , and I will not take any of yours , I shall only doe it in a short Exhortation to this most Honourable Auditory , and so conclude . God hath put a Royal Mantle , and fastned it with a Golden Clasp , upon the shoulder of the KING , and he hath given you the Judges Robe ; the King holds the Scepter , and he hath now permitted you to touch the golden Ball , and to take it a while into your handling and made obedience to your Laws to be Duty and Religion : but then remember that the first in every kind is to be the measure of the Subjects should obey you , unless you obey God. I do not speak this only in relation to your personal duty ; though in that also it would be consider'd , that all the Bishops and Ministers of Religion are bound to teach the same Doctrines by their Lives as they do by their Sermons ; and what we are to doe in the matters of Doctrine , you are also to doe in matter of Laws ; what is reasonable for the advantages of Religion , is also the best Method for the advantages of Government ; we must preach by our good Example , and you must govern by it ; and your good example in observing the laws of Religion will strangely endear them to the affections of the people . But I shall rather speak to you as you are in a capacity of union and of Government ; for as now you have a new Power , so there is incumbent upon you a special Duty . 1. Take care that all your power and your counsels be imploy'd in doing honour and advantages to Piety and Holiness . Then you obey God in your publick capacity , when by holy Laws and wise administrations you take care that all the Land be an obedient and a religious People . For then you are princely Rulers indeed when you take care of the Salvation of a whole Nation . Nihil aliud est imperium nisi cura salutis alinae , said Ammianus ; Government is nothing but a care that all men be saved . And therefore take care that men do not destroy their Souls by the abominations of an evil life : see that God be obey'd , take care that the breach of the laws of God may not be unpunished . The best way to make men to be good Subjects to the King is to make them good servants of God. Suffer not Drunkenness to pass with impunity , let Lust find a publick shame . Let the sonnes of the Nobility and Gentry no more dare to dishonour God then the meanest of the people shall : let baseness be basely esteemed ; that is , put such characters of Shame upon dishonourable Crimes , that it be esteem'd more against the honour of a Gentleman to be drunk then to be kicked , more shame to fornicate then to be can'd : and for honours sake and the reputation of Christianity , take some course that the most unworthy sins of the world have not reputation added to them by being the practice of Gentlemen and persons of good birth and fortunes . Let not them who should be examples of Holiness have an impunity and a licence to provoke God to anger ; lest it be said that in Ireland it is not lawful for any man to sin , unless he be a person of quality . Optimus est reipublicae status , ubi nihil deest nisilicentia pereundi ; In a common-wealth that 's the best state of things , where every thing can be had but a leave to sin , a licence to be undone . 2. As God is thus to be obey'd , and you are to take care that he be , so God also must be honnourd , by paying that reverence and religious obedience which is due to those persons whom he hath been pleased to honour by admitting them to the dispensation of his blessings , and the ministeries of your Religion . For certain it is , this is a right way of giving honour and obedience to God. The Church is in some very peculiar manner the portion and the called and the care of God ; and it will concern you in pursuance of your obedience to God , to take care that they in whose hands Religion is to be ministred and conducted , be not discouraged . For what your Judges are to the ministry of Laws , that your Bishops are in the ministeries of Religion ; and it concerns you that the hands of neither of them be made weak : and so long as you make Religion your care , and Holiness your measure , you will not think that Authority is the more to be despised because it is in the hands of the Church , or that it is a sin to speak evil of dignities , unless they be Ecclesiastical ; but that they may be reviled , and that though nothing is baser then for a man to be a Thief , yet Sacrilege is no dishonour ; and indeed to be an Oppressor is a great and crying sin , yet to oppress the Church , to diminish her rents , to make her beggerly and contemptible , that 's no offence ; and that though it is not lawful to despise Government , yet if it be Church-government , that then the case is altered . Take heed of that , for then God is dishonoured , when any thing is the more despised by how much it relates nearer unto God. No Religion ever did despise their chiefest Ministers : and the Christian Religion gives them the greatest honour . For honourable Priesthood is like a shower from heaven , it causes blessings every where : but a pitiful , a disheartned , a discouraged Clergy , waters the ground with a water-pot , here and there a little good , and for a little while ; but every evil man can destroy all that work whenever he pleases . Take heed ; in the world there is not a greater misery can happen to any man , then to be an enemy to God's Church . All Histories of Christendome and the whole Book of God have sad records , and sad threatnings , and sad stories of Corah , and Doeg , and Balaam , and Jeroboam , and Uzzah , and Ananias , and Sapphira , and Julian , and of Hereticks and Schismaticks , and sacrilegious ; and after all , these men could not prevail finally , but pai'd for the mischief they did , and ended their daies in dishonour , and left nothing behind them but the memory of their sin , and the record of their curse . 3. In the same proportion you are to take care of all inferiour Relatives of God and of Religion . Find out methods to relieve the Poor , to accommodate and well dispose of the cures of Souls ; let not the Churches lye wast and in ruinous heaps , to the diminution of Religion , and the reproach of the Nation , lest the nations abroad say , that the Britans are a kind of Christians that have no Churches : for Churches , and Courts of Judicature , and the publick defences of an Imperial City , are res sacrae ; they are venerable in Law , and honourable in Religion . But that which concerns us most is , that we all keep close to our Religion . Ad magnas reipublicae utilitates retinetur Religio in civitatibus , said Cicero ; by Religion and the strict preserving of it , ye shall best preserve the Interests of the Nation : and according to the precept of the * Apostle , Mark them which cause divisions amongst us , contrary to the doctrine that ye have receiv'd , and avoid them . For I beseech you to consider , all you that are true Protestants ; do you not think that your Religion is holy , and Apostolical , and taught by Christ , and pleasing unto God ? If you do not think so , why do you not leave it ? but if you do think so , why are ye not zealous for it ? Is not the Government a part of ? it is that which immures , and adorns , and conducts all the rest , and is establisht in the 36. Article of the Church , in the publick Service-book , and in the book of consecration : it is therefore a part of our Religion , and is not all of it worth preserving ? If it be , then they which make Schisms against this Doctrine , by the rule of the Apostle are to be avoided . Beatus qui praedicat verbum inauditum , Blessed is he that preaches a word that was never heard before , so said the Spanish Jesuite : but Christ said otherwise , No man having drunk old wine straight desires new , for he saith the old is better . And so it is in Religion , Quod primum verum , Truth is alwaies first : and since Episcopacy hath been of so lasting an abode , of so long a blessing , since it hath ever combin'd with Government , and hath been taught by that spirit that hath so long dwelt in God's Church , and hath now according to the promise of Jesus , that saies the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church , been restored amongst us by a heap of miracles , and as it went away , so it return'd again in the hand of Monarchy , and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws ; suffer no evil tongue to speak against this Truth , which hath had so long a testimony from God , and from Experience , and from the wisdome of so many Ages , of all your Ancestours and all your Laws , lest ye be found to speak against God , and neglect the things that belong unto your Peace , and get nothing by it but news and danger , and what other effects ye know not . But Leontimus Bishop of Antioch stroak'd his old white beard and said , When this snow is dissolved , a great deal of dirty weather will follow ; meaning , that when the old Religion should be questioned and discountenanced , the new Religion would bring nothing but trouble and unquietness : and we have found it so by a sad-experience . 4. Ye cannot obey God unless ye doe Justice : for this also is better then sacrifice , said Solomon , Prov. 21.3 . For Christ , who is the Sun of righteousness , is a Sun and a Shield to them that doe righteously . The Indian was not immured sufficiently by the Atlantick sea , nor the Bosphoran by the walls of Ice , nor the Arabian by his meridian Sun ; the Christian Justice of the Romane Princes brake through all inclosures , and by Justice set up Christs standard , and gave to all the world a testimony how much could be done by Prudence and Valour , when they were conducted by the hands of Justice . And now you will have a great trial of this part of your Obedience to God. For you are to give sentence in the causes of half a Nation : and he had need be a wise and a good man that divides the inheritance amongst Brethren ; that he may not be abused by contrary pretences , nor biassed by the Interest of friends , nor transported with the unjust thoughts even of a just Revenge , nor allured by the opportunities of Spoile , nor turn'd aside by Partiality in his own concerns , nor blinded by Gold , which puts out the eyes of wise men , nor couzened by pretended Zeal , nor wearied with the difficulty of questions , nor directed by a general measure in cases not measurable by it , nor born down by Prejudice , nor abused by resolutions taken before the cause be heard , nor over-ruled by National Interests . For Justice ought to be the simplest thing in the world , and is to be measured by nothing but by Truth and by Laws and by the decrees of Princes . But whatever you doe , let not the pretence of a different Religion make you think it lawful to oppress any man in his just rights . For Opinions are not , but Laws only , and doing as we would be done to , are the measures of Justice : and though Justice does alike to all men , Jew and Christian , Lutheran and Calvinist ; yet to doe right to them that are of another Opinion is the way to win them ; but if you for Conscience sake doe them wrong , they will hate you and your Religion . Lastly , as obedience is better then sacrifice , so God also said , I will have mercy and not sacrifice ; meaning that Mercy is the best Obedience . Perierat totum quod Deus fecerat , nisi misericordia subvenisset , said Chrysologus ; all the creatures both of heaven and earth would perish , if Mercy did not relieve us all . Other good things , more or less , every man expects according to the portion of his fortune : Ex clementia omnes idem sperant , but from Mercy and Clemency all the world alike do expect advantages . And which of us all stands here this day , that does not need God's pardon and the King's ? Surely no man is so much pleased with his own innocence , as that he will be willing to quit his claim to Mercy : and if we all need it , let us all shew it . Naturae imperio gemimus , cum funus adultae Virginis occurrit , vel terrâ clauditur infans , Et minor igne rogi — If you do but see a Maiden carried to her grave a little before her intended marriage , or an Infant dye before the birth of Reason , Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear : Alas ! your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families , wnich though they sadly have deserved , yet Mercy is not delighted with the spectacle ; and therefore God places a watry cloud in the eye , that when the light of heaven shines upon it , it may produce a rain-bow to be a Sacrament and a memorial that God and the sons of God do not love to see a man perish . God never rejoyces in the death of him that dies ; and we also esteem it undecent to have Musick at a Funeral . And as Religion teaches us to pity a condemned Criminal , so Mercy intercedes for the most benign interpretation of the Laws . You must indeed be as just as the Laws , and you must be as merciful as your Religion : and you have no way to tye these together , but to follow the pattern in the Mount ; doe as God does , who in judgement remembers mercy . To conclude ; If every one in this Honourable Assembly would joyn together to promote Christian Religion in it's true notion , that is , Peace and Holiness , the Love of God and the Love of our Brother , Christianity in all its proper usefulness , and would not indure in the Nation any thing against the laws of the Holy Jesus ; if they were all zealous for the doctrines of Righteousness , and impatient of Sin in your selves and in the people , it is not to be imagined what a happy Nation we should be . But if ye divide into parties , and keep up useless differences of names or interests ; if ye do not joyn in the bands of Peace , that is , the King , and the Church , Religion , and the good of the Nation , you can never hope to see a blessing to be the end of your labours . Remember the words of Solomon , Righteousness exalteth a Nation , but sin is a reproach to any people : but when Righteousness is advanced in the hearts and lives of the Nation , who shall dare to reprove your Faith ? who can find fault with your Religion ? God of his mercy grant that in all your Consultations the Word of God may be your measure , the Spirit of God may be your guide , and the glory of God may be your end : He of his mercy grant that Moderation may be your limit , and Peace may be within your walls as long as you are there , and in all the Land for ever after . But remember , that since the honour and service of his Majesty , and the peace and prosperity of the Church , the perpetuity of our fundamental Laws , publick Justice , and the honour of all legal Authority , the advancement of Trade and the wealth of the Nation is your design , remember , I pray , what warranty you have to expect all this ; no less then the words of our Blessed Saviour , but it is upon these terms , Seek ye first the Kingdome of God , and the righteousness thereof , and all these things shall be added to you . Amen . FINIS . A CATALOGUE of some Books written by JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor , and Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivy-lane , London . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , A Course of Sermons for all the Sundaies of the year ; together with a discourse of the Divine Institution , Necessity , Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial , in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ , the third Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living , in 12. 4. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying , in 12. 5. The Golden Grove , or A Manual of daily Prayers , fitted to the daies of the week , together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness , in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses , in fol. newly reprinted . 7. A Discourse of the Nature , Offices and Measure of Friendship , in 12. new . 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians , taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches , especially the Greek , together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation , in a large octavo , newly published . 9. Ductor Dubitantium , or the Rule of Conscience , fol. in two volumes . 10. The doctrine and Practice of Repentance , describing the necessities of a Strict , a Holy and a Christian Life : serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience . 11. The Worthy Communicant in octavo , sold at the Bell in S. Pauls Churchyard . Via Intelligentiae . A SERMOM Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN : Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Usefull . Published at their desire . By the R. R. Father in God , JEREMY , Lord Bishop of Downe , &c. and Vicechancellour of that UNIVERSITY . Ad majorem Dei gloriam . LONDON : Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty , 1662. TO THE READER . PEACE is so great a Blessing , and Disputations and Questions in Religion are so little friends to Peace , that I have thought no mans time can be better spent then in propositions and promotions of Peace , and consequently in finding expedients , and putting periods to all contentious Learning . I have already in a discourse before the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament prov'd that Obedience is the best medium of Peace and true Religion ; and Lawes are the only common term and certain rule and measure of it . Vocatâ ad concionem multitudine , quae coalescere in populum Unius corporis nullâ re praeterquam legibus poterat , said Livy . Obedience to Man is the externall instrument ; and the best in the World. To which I now add , that Obedience to God is the best internall instrument ; and I have prov'd it in this discourse . Peace and Holiness are twin-Sisters ; after which because every man is bound to follow , and he that does not shall never see God , I concluded that the office of a Bishop is in nothing so signally to be exhibited as in declaring by what means these great duties and blessings are to be acquir'd . This way I have here describ'd is an old way ; for it was Christs way , and therefore it is truth and life : but it hath been so little regarded and so seldom taught , that when I first spake my thoughts of it in the following words before the Little , but Excellent , University of Dublin , they consented to it so perfectly , and so piously entertain'd it , that they were pleas'd with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the World , and to consigne it to them as a perpetual memorial of their duty , and of my regards to them , and care over them in my Station . I was very desirous to serve and please them in all their worthy desires , but had found so much reason to distrust my own abilities , that I could not resolve to do what I fain would have done ; till by a Second communication of those thoughts , though in differing words , I had publish'd it also to my Clergy at the Metropolitical Visitation of the most Reverend and Learned Lord Primate of Armagh in my own Diocese . But when I found that they also thought it very reasonable and pious , and joyn'd in the desire of making it publick , I consented perfectly , and now only pray to God it may do that Work which I intended . I have often thought of those excellent words of Mr. Hooker in his very learned discourse of Justification ; [ Such is the untoward constitution of our Nature , that we do neither so perfectly understand the way and knowledge of the Lord , nor so stedfastly embrace it when it is understood , nor so graciously utter it when it is embraced , nor so peaceably maintain it when it is uttered , but that the best of us are overtaken sometime through blindness , sometime through hastiness , sometime through impatience , sometime through other passions of the mind , whereunto ( God knows ) we are too subject ] That I find by true experience , the best way of Learning and Peace is that which cures all these evils , as far as in this World they are curable ; and that is the wayes of Holiness , which are therefore the best and only way of Truth . In Disputations there is no end , and but very little advantage ; but the way of godliness hath in it no Error , and no Doubtfulness . By this therefore I hop'd best to apply the Counsel of the Wise man : Stand thou fast in thy sure Understanding , in the way and knowledge of the Lord , and have but one manner of word , and follow the word of peace and righteousness . I have reason to be confident that they who desir'd me to publish this discourse will make use of it , and find benefit by it : and if any others do so too , both they and I shall still more and more give God all thanks , and praise , and glory . Sermons newly Printed , and are sold by R. Royston . A Sermon preached at the opening of the Parliament in Ireland , May 8. 1661. Before the Right Honourable the Lords Justices , and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons . A Sermon preached at the Consecration of two Archbishops and ten Bishops , in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick in Dublin , January 27. 1660. Both by Jeremy Taylor D. D. Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor . A Sermon preached at the Consecration of Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford , by Jasper Main D. D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary . The grand debate resumed in the point of Prayer , being an Answer to the Presbyterian papers presented to the most Reverend the Lord Bishops at the Savoy , upon the subject by a Member of the Convocation . 7 JOHN 17. If any man will do his will , he shall know of the Doctrine , whether it be of God , or whether I speak of my self . THe Ancients in their Mythological Learning tell us , that when Jupiter espyed the men of the World striving for Truth , and pulling her in pieces to secure her to themselves , he sent Mercury down amongst them , and he with his usuall Arts dressed Error up in the Imagery of Truth , and thrust her into the croud , and so left them to contend still : and though then , by Contention men were sure to get but little Truth , yet they were as earnest as ever , and lost Peace too , in their Importune Contentions for the very Image of Truth . And this indeed is no wonder : but when Truth and Peace are brought into the world together , and bound up in the same bundle of life ; when we are taught a Religion by the Prince of Peace , who is the Truth it self , to see men Contending for this Truth to the breach of that Peace ; and when men fall out , to see that they should make Christianity their theme , that is one of the greatest wonders in the World. For Christianity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a soft and gentle Institution ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it was brought into the World to soften the asperities of humane nature , and to cure the Barbarities of evil men , and the Contentions of the passionate . The Eagle seeing her breast wounded , and espying the Arrow that hurt her to be feathered , cryed out , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the feathered Nation is destroyed by their own feathers ; That is , a Christian fighting and wrangling wi●h a Christian ; and indeed that 's very sad : but wrangling about Peace too ; that Peace it self should be the argument of a War , that 's unnaturall ; and if it were not that there are many who are homines multae religionis , nullius penè pietatis , Men of much Religion and little Godliness , it would not be that there should be so many Quarrells in and concerning that Religion which is wholly made up of Truth and Peace , and was sent amongst us to reconcile the hearts of men when they were tempted to uncharitablenesse by any other unhappy argument . Disputation cures no vice , but kindles a great many , and makes Passion evaporate into sin : and though men esteem it Learning , ye● it is the most uselesse Learning in the world . When Eudamidas the Son of Archidamas heard old Xenocrates disputing about Wisdom , he asked very soberly , If the old Man be yet disputing and enquiring concerning Wisdom , what time will he have to make use of it ? Christianity is all for Practice , and so much time as is spent in quarrells about it is a diminution to its Interest : men inquire so much what it is , that they have but little time left to be Christians . I remember a saying of Erasmus , that when he first read the New Testament with fear and a good mind , with a purpose to understand it and obey it , he found it very usefull and very pleasant : but when afterwards he fell on reading the vast differences of Commentaries , then he understood it lesse then he did before , then he began not to understand it . For indeed the Truths of God are best dressed in the plain Culture and simplicity of the Spirit ; but the Truths that men commonly teach are like the reflexions of a Multiplying-glasse : for one piece of good money you shall have forty that are fantasticall ; and it is forty to one if your finger hit upon the right . Men have wearied themselves in the dark , having been amused with false fires : and instead of going home , have wandered all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in untroden , unsafe , safe , uneasie wayes ; but have not found out what their Soul desires . But therefore since we are so miserable , and are in error , and have wandered very far , we must do as wandring Travellers use to do , go back just to that place from whence they wandered , and begin upon a new Account . Let us go to the Truth it self , to Christ , and he will tell us an easie way of ending all our Quarrells . For we shall find Christianity to be the easiest and the hardest thing in the World : it is like a secret in Arithmetick , infinitely hard till it be found out by a right operation , and then it is so plain , we wonder we did not understand it earlier . Christ's way of finding out of truth is by doing the will of God. We will try that by and by , if possibly we may find that easie and certain : in the mean time let us consider what wayes men have propounded to find out Truth , and upon the foundation of that to establish Peace in Christendom . 1. That there is but one true way is agreed upon ; and therefore almost every Church of one denomination that lives under Government propounds to you a Systeme or collective Body of Articles , and tells you , that 's the true Religion , and they are the Church , and the peculiar people of God : like Brutus and Cassius , of whom one sayes , Ubicunque ipsi essent , praetexebant esse rempublicam , they suppos'd themselves were the Commonwealth ; and these are the Church , and out of this Church they will hardly allow salvation . But of this there can be no end . For divide the Church into Twenty parts , and in what part soever your lot falls , you and your party are Damned by the other Nineteen ; and men on all hands almost keep their own Proselytes by affrighting them with the fearful Sermons of Damnation : but in the mean time here is no security to them that are not able to judge for themselves , and no Peace for them that are . 2. Others cast about to cure this evil , and conclude that it must be done by submission to an Infallible Guide ; this must do it or nothing : and this is the way of the Church of Rome . Follow but the Pope and his Clergie , and you are safe , at least as safe as their warrants can make you . Indeed this were a very good way , if it were a way at all ; but it is none ; for this can never end our Controversies : not onely because the greatest Controversies are about this Infallible Guide ; but also because , 1. We cannot find that there is upon Earth any such Guide at all . 2. We do not find it necessary that there should . 3. We find that they who pretend to be this Infallible Guide are themselves infinitely deceiv'd . 4. That they do not believe themselves to be Infallible whatever they say to us ; because they do not put an end to all their own Questions that trouble them . 5. Because they have no peace but what is constrained by force and Government . 6. And lastly , because if there were such a Guide , we should fail of Truth by many other causes : for it may be that Guide would not do his duty ; or we are fallible followers of this infallible Leader ; or we should not understand his meaning at all times , or we should be perverse at some times , or something as bad : because we all confesse that God is an Infallible Guide , and that some way or other he does teach us sufficiently , and yet it does come to passe by our faults that we are as far to seek for Peace and Truth as ever . 3. Some very wise men finding this to fail , have undertaken to reconcile the differences of Christendom by a way of moderation . Thus they have projected to reconcile the Papists and the Lutherans , the Lutherans and the Calvinists , the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants , and project that each side should abate of their asperities , and pare away something of their proportions , and joyn in Common terms and phrases of Accommodation , each of them sparing something , and promising they shall have a great deal of peace for the exchange of a little of their opinion . This was the way of Cassander , Modrevius , Andreas Frisius , Erasmus , Spalato , Grotius , and indeed of Charles the Fifth in part , but something more heartily of Ferdinand the Second . This device produced the conferences at Poissy , at Montpellier , at Ratisbon , at the Hague , at many places more : and what was the event of these ? Their parties when their Delegates returned , either disclaimed their Moderation , or their respective Princes had some other ends to serve , or they permitted the Meetings upon uncertain hopes , and a triall if any good might come ; or it may be they were both in the wrong , and their mutuall abatement was nothing but a mutuall quitting of what they could not get , and the shaking hands of false friends ; or it may be it was all of it nothing but Hypocrisie and Arts of Craftiness , and , like Lucian's man , every one could be a Man and a Pestle when he pleased . And the Council of Trent , though under another cover , made use of the artifice , but made the secret manifest and common : for at this day the Jesuits in the Questions de auxiliis Divinae gratiae have prevailed with the Dominicans to use their expressions , and yet they think they still keep the sentence of their own Order . From hence can succeed nothing but folly and a phantastick peace . This is but the skinning of an old sore , it will break out upon all occasions . 4. Others , who understand things beyond the common rate , observing that many of our Controversies and peevish wranglings are kept up by the ill stating of the Question , endeavour to declare things wisely , and make the matter intelligible , and the words cleare ; hoping by this meanes to cut off all disputes . Indeed this is a very good way , so far as it can go ; and would prevaile very much , if all men were wise , and would consent to those stateings , and would not fall out upon the main enquiry when it were well stated : but we find by a sad experience that few Questions are well stated ; and when they are , they are not consented to ; and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated , it is nothing else but a drawing up the Armies in Battalia with great skill and discipline ; the next thing they do is , they thrust their Swords into one anothers sides . 5. What remedy after all this ? Some other good men have propounded one way yet : but that is a way of Peace rather then Truth ; and that is , that all Opinions should be tolerated and none persecuted ; and then all the World will be at peace . Indeed this relies upon a great reasonableness : not onely because Opinions cannot be forced ; but because if men receive no hurt , it is to be hoped they will do none . But we find that this alone will not do it . For besides that all men are not so just as not to do any Injury ( for some men begin the evil ) besides this ( I say ) there are very many men amongst us who are not content that you permit them ; for they will not permit you , but rule over your faith , and say that their way is not only true , but necessary ; and therefore the Truth of God is at stake , and all Indifference and moderation is carnall Wisdom and want of Zeal for God : nay more then so , they preach for Toleration when themselves are under the rod , who when they got the rod into their own hands thought Toleration it self to be Intolerable . Thus do the Papists , and thus the Calvinists : and for their Cruelty they pretend Charity . They will indeed force you to come in , but it is in true Zeal for your Soul : and if they do you violence , it is no more then if they pull your Arme out of joynt , when to save you from drowning they draw you out of a River ; and if you complain , plain , it is no more to be regarded then the out-cries of Children against their Rulers , or sick men against Physicians . But as to the thing it self , the truth is , it is better in Contemplation then in Practice : for reckon all that is got by it when you come to handle it , and it can never satisfie for the infinite disorders happening in the Government ; the scandal to Religion , the secret dangers to publick Societies , the growth of Heresie , the nursing up of parties to a grandeur so considerable as to be able in their own time to change the Lawes and the Government . So that if the Question be whether meer Opinions are to be persecuted , it is certainly true , they ought not . But if it be considered how by Opinions men rifle the affaires of Kingdoms , it is also as certain , they ought not to be made publick and permitted . And what is now to be done ? must Truth be for ever in the dark , and the World for ever be divided , and Societies disturbed , and Governments weakned , and our Spirits debauched with Error and the uncertain Opinions and the Pedantery of talking men ? Certainly there is a way to cure all this evil ; and the wise Governour of all the World hath not been wanting in so necessary a matter as to lead us into all Truth . But the way hath not yet been hit upon , and yet I have told you all the wayes of Man and his Imaginations in order to Truth and Peace : and you see these will not do ; we can find no rest for the soles of our feet amidst all the waters of Contention and disputations , and little artifices of divided Schools . Every man is a lyar , and his understanding is weak , and his Propositions uncertain , and his Opinions trifling , and his Contrivances imperfect : and neither Truth nor Peace does come from man. I know I am in an Auditory of inquisitive persons , whose businesse is to study for Truth , that they may find it for themselves , and teach it unto others : I am in a School of Prophets and Prophets Sons , who all ask Pilate's Question , What is Truth ? You look for it in your Books , and you tug hard for it in your Disputations , and you derive it from the Cisterns of the Fathers , and you enquire after the old wayes , and sometimes are taken with new appearances , and you rejoyce in false lights , or are delighted with little umbrages and peep of Day . But where is there a man , or a Society of men , that can be at rest in his enquiry , and is sure he understands all the truths of God ? where is there a man but the more he studies and enquires , still he discovers nothing so clearly as his own Ignorance ? This is a demonstration that we are not in the right way , that we do not inquire wisely , that our Method is not artificiall . If men did fall upon the right way , it were impossible so many learned men should be engaged in contrary parties and opinions . We have examined all wayes but one , all but God's way : Let us ( having missed in all the other ) try this : let us go to God for Truth ; for Truth comes from God only , and his wayes are plain , and his sayings are true , and his promises Yea and Amen : and if we miss the Truth , it is because we will not find it : for certain it is , that all that Truth which God hath made necessarie , he hath also made legible and plain , and if we will open our eyes , we shall see the Sun , and if we will walk in the light , we shall rejoyce in the light : only let us withdraw the Curtains , let us remove the impediments and the sin that doth so easily beset us ; that 's Gods way . Every man must in his station do that portion of duty which God requires of him , and then he shall be taught of God all that is fit for him to learn : there is no other way for him but this . The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , and a good understanding have all they that do thereafter . And so said David of himself , I have more understanding then my Teachers ; because I keep thy Commandements . And this is the only way which Christ hath taught us : if you ask , What is truth ? you must not doe as Pilate did , ask the Question , and then go away from him that only can give you an answer ; for as God is the author of Truth , so he is the teacher of it ; and the way to learn it is this of my Text : For so saith our blessed Lord , If any man will do his will , he shall know of the Doctrine , whether it be of God or no. My Text is simple as Truth it self , but greatly Comprehensive , and contains a truth that alone will enable you to understand all Mysteries , and to expound all Prophecies , and to interpret all Scriptures , and to search into all Secrets , all ( I mean ) which concern our happinesse and our duty : and it being an affirmative hypotheticall , is plainly to be resolved into this Proposition , The way to judge of Religion is by doing of our duty , and Theology is rather a Divine life then a Divine knowledge . In Heaven indeed we shall first see , and then love ; but here on Earth we must first love , and love will open our eyes as well as our hearts , and we shall then see and perceive and understand . In the handling of which Proposition I shall first represent to you that the certain causes of our Errors are nothing but direct sins , nothing makes us Fools and Ignorants but living vicious lives ; and then I shall proceed to the direct demonstration of the Article in question , that Holinesse is the only way of truth and understanding . 1. No man understands the Word of God as it ought to be understood , unlesse he layes aside all affections to Sin : of which because we have taken very little care , the product hath been that we have had very little wisdom , and very little knowledge in the wayes of God. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said Aristotle , Wickedness does corrupt a mans reasoning , it gives him false principles and evil measures of things : the sweet Wine that Ulysses gave to the Cyclops put his eye out ; and a man that hath contracted evil affections , and made a League with sin , sees only by those measures . A Covetous man understands nothing to be good that is not profitable ; and a Voluptuous man likes your reasoning well enough if you discourse of Bonum jucundum , the pleasures of the sense , the ravishments of lust , the noises and inadvertencies , the mirth and songs of merry Company . But if you talk to him of the melancholy Lectures of the Cross , the content of Resignation , the peace of Meeknesse , and the Joyes of the holy Ghost , and of rest in God ; after your long discourse and his great silence he cryes out , What 's the matter ? He knows not what you meane . Either you must fit his humour , or change your discourse . I remember that Arianus tells of a Gentleman that was banished from Rome , and in his sorrow visited the Philosopher , and he heard him talk wisely , and believed him , and promised him to leave all the thoughts of Rome and splendours of the Court , and retire to the course of a severe Philosophy : but before the good mans Lectures were done , there came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , letters from Caesar to recall him home , to give him pardon , and promise him great Imployment . He presently grew weary of the good mans Sermon , and wished he would make an end , thought his discourse was dull and flat ; for his head and heart were full of another storie and new principles ; and by these measures he could heare only and he could understand . Every man understands by his Affections more then by his Reason : and when the Wolfe in the Fable went to School to learn to spell , whatever letters were told him , he could never make any thing of them but Agnus ; he thought of nothing but his belly : and if a man be very hungry , you must give him meate before you give him counsell . A mans mind must be like your proposition before it can be entertained : for whatever you put into a man it will smell of the Vessell : it is a mans mind that gives the emphasis , and makes your argument to prevail . And upon this account it is that there are so many false Doctrines in the only Article of Repentance . Men know they must repent , but the definition of Repentance they take from the convenience of their own affaires : what they will not part with , that is not necessary to be parted with , and they will repent , but not restore : they will say nollem factum , they wish they had never done it ; but since it is done , you must give them leave to rejoyce in their purchase : they will ask forgivenesse of God ; but they sooner forgive themselves , and suppose that God is of their mind . If you tye them to hard termes , your Doctrine is not to be understood , or it is but one Doctors opinion , and therefore they will fairly take their leave , and get them another Teacher . What makes these evil , these dangerous and desperate Doctrines ? not the obscurity of the thing , but the cloud upon the heart ; for say you what you will , He that hears must be the expounder , and we can never suppose but a man will give sentence in behalf of what he passionately loves . And so it comes to pass that , as Rabbi Moses observ'd that God for the greatest Sin imposed the least Oblation , as a she-Goat for the sin of Idolatry ; for a woman accused of Adultery , a Barly-cake : so do most men ; they think to expiate the worst of their sins with a trifling , with a pretended , little , insignificant repentance . God indeed did so , that the cheapnesse of the oblation might teach them to hope for pardon ; not from the Ceremony , but from a severe internal repentance . But men take any argument to lessen their repentance , that they may not lessen their pleasures or their estates , and that Repentance may be nothing but a word , and Mortification signifie nothing against their pleasures , but be a term of Art only , fitted for the Schools or for the Pulpit , but nothing relative to practice , or the extermination of their sin . So that it is no wonder we understand so little of Religion : it is because we are in love with that which destroyes it ; and as a man does not care to hear what does not please him , so neither does he believe it ; he cannot , he will not understand it . And the same is the Case in the matter of Pride ; the Church hath extremely suffer'd by it in many ages . Arius missed a Bishoprick , and therefore turned Heretick ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith the story , he disturb'd and shaked the Church ; for he did not understand this Truth [ That the peace of the Church was better then the satisfaction of his person , or the promoting his foolish Opinion . ] And do not we see and feel that at this very day the Pride of men makes it seem impossible for many persons to obey their Superiors ? and they do not see what they can read every day , that it is a sin to speak evill of Dignities . A man would think it a very easie thing to understand the 13. Chapter to the Romans , Whosoever resisteth the power , resisteth the Ordinance of God : and yet we know a generation of men to whom these words were so obscure , that they thought it lawfull to fight against their King. A man would think it easie to believe that those who were in the gain-saying of Corah , who rose up against the high Priest , were in a very sad condition : and yet there are too many amongst us who are in the gain-saying of Corah , and think they do very well ; that they are the Godly party , and the good people of God. Why ? what 's the matter ? In the world there can be nothing plainer then these words , Let every soul the subject to the higher powers , and that you need not make a scruple who are these higher powers , it is as plainly said , there is no power but of God ; all that are set over you by the Laws of your Nation , these are over you in the Lord : and yet men will not understand these plain things ; they deny to doe their notorious duty , and yet believe they are in the right , and if they sometimes obey for wrath , they oftner disobey for Conscience sake . Where is the fault ? The words are plain , the duty is certain , the Book lyes open ; but , alas ! it is Sealed within , that is , men have eyes and will not see , eares and will not heare . But the wonder is the lesse ; for we know when God said to Jonas , doest thou well to be angry ? he answered God to his face , I do well to be angry even unto the death . Let God declare his mind never so plainly , if men will not lay aside the evil principle that is within , their open love to their secret sin , they may kill an Apostle , and yet be so ignorant as to think they do God good service ; they may disturb Kingdomes , and break the peace of a well-ordered Church , and rise up against their Fathers , and be cruell to their Brethren , and stir up the people to Sedition ; and all this with a cold stomach and a hot liver , with a hard heart and a tender Conscience , with humble carriage and a proud spirit . For thus men hate Repentance , because they scorn to confesse an Errour ; they will not return to Peace and Truth , because they feare to lose the good opinion of the people whom themselves have couzened ; they are afraid to be good , lest they should confess they have formerly done amisse : and he that observes how much evil is done , and how many Heresies are risen , and how much obstinacy and unreasonable perseverance in folly dwells in the World upon the stock of Pride , may easily conclude that no learning is sufficient to make a proud man understand the truth of God , unless he first learn to be humble . But Obedite & intelligetis ( saith the Prophet ) obey and be humble , leave the foolish affections of sin , and then ye shall understand . That 's the First particular : All remaining affections to sin hinder the learning and understanding of the things of God. 2. He that means to understand the will of God and the truth of Religion must lay aside all inordinate affections to the world . 2 Cor. 3.14 . S. Paul complained that there was at that day a veile upon the heart of the Jews in the reading of the Old Testament : they looked for a Temporall Prince to be their Messias , and their affections and hopes dwelt in secular advantages ; and so long as that veile was there , they could not see , and they would not accept the poore despised JESUS . For the things of the world , besides that they entangle one another , and make much business , and spend much time , they also take up the attentions of a mans mind , & spend his faculties , and make them trifling and secular with the very handling and conversation . And therefore the Pythagoreans taught their Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a separation from the things of the body , if they would purely find out truth and the excellencies of wisdom . Had not he lost his labour that would have discoursed wisely to Apicius , and told him of the books of Fate and the secrets of the other World , the abstractions of the Soul and its brisker Immortality , that Saints and Angels eate not , and that the Spirit of a man lives for ever upon wisdom and holinesse and contemplation ? The fat Glutton would have stared a while upon the Preacher , and then have fallen asleep . But if you had discoursed well and knowingly of a Lamprey , a large Mullet , or a Boare , animal propter Convivia natum , and have sent him a Cook from Asia to make new Sawces , he would have attended carefully , and taken in your discourses greedily . And so it is in the Questions and secrets of Christianity : which made St. Paul , when he intended to convert Felix , discourse first with him about Temperance , Righteousnesse and Judgement to come . He began in the right point ; he knew it was to no purpose to preach Jesus Christ crucified to an intemperate person , to an Usurper of other mens rights , to one whose soul dwelt in the World , and cared not for the sentence of the last day . The Philosophers began their Wisdom with the meditation of death , and St. Paul his with a discourse of the day of Judgment : to take the heart off from this world and the amabilities of it , which dishonour and baffle the understanding , and made Solomon himself become a child and fool'd into Idolatry , by the prettinesse of a talking woman . Men now-a-dayes love not a Religion that will cost them deare . If your Doctrine calls upon men to part with any considerable part of their estates , you must pardon them if they cannot believe you ; they understand it not . I shall give you one great instance of it . When we consider the infinite unreasonableness that is in the Popish Religion , how against Common sense their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is , how against the common Experience of humane nature is the Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility , how against Scripture is the Doctrine of Indulgences and Purgatory ; we may well think it a wonder that no more men are perswaded to leave such unlearned follies . But then on the other side , the wonder will cease , if we mark how many temporal ends are served by these Doctrines . If you destroy the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences you take away the Priests Income , and make the See Apostolic to be poor ; if you deny the Popes Infallibility , you will despise his Authority , and examine his Propositions , and discover his Failings , and put him to answer hard Arguments , and lessen his Power : and indeed , when we run through all the Propositions of difference between them and us , and see that in every one of them they serve an end of money or of power ; it will be very visible that the way to confute them is not by learned disputations , ( for we see they have been too long without effect , and without prosperity ) the men must be cured of their affections to the World , ut nudi nudum sequantur crucifixum , that with naked and devested affections they might follow the naked Crucified Jesus , and then they would soone learne the truths of God , which till then will be impossible to be apprehended . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Men ( as St. Basil sayes ) when they expound Scripture , alwayes bring in something of themselves : but till there be ( as one said ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a rising out from their own seats ; untill they go out from their dark dungeons , they can never see the light of Heaven . And how many men are there amongst us who are therefore enemies to the Religion , because it seems to be against their profit ? The argument of Demetrius is unanswerable ; by this craft they get their livings : leave them in their Livings , and they will let your Religion alone ; if not , they think they have reason to speak against it . When mens souls are possessed with the World , their souls cannot be invested with holy Truths . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as St. Isidor said : the Soul must be informed , insoul'd , or animated with the propositions that you put in , or you shall never do any good , or get Disciples to Christ. Now because a man cannot serve two Masters ; because he cannot vigorously attend two objects ; because there can be but one soul in any living Creature ; if the World have got possession , talk no more of your Questions , shut your Bibles , and read no more of the words of God to them , for they cannot tell of the Doctrine , whether it be of God , or of the World. That is the Second particular : Worldly affections hinder true understandings in Religion . 3. No man , how learned soever , can understand the Word of God , or be at peace in the Questions of Religion , unless he be a Master over his Passions . Tu quoque si vis Lumine claro Cernere verum , Gaudia pelle , Pelle Timorem : Nubila mens est Vinctáque fraenis Haec ubi regnant . said the wise Boethius . A man must first learn himself before he can learn God. Tua te fallit Imago : nothing deceives a man so soon as a mans self ; when a man is ( that I may use Plato's expression ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mingled with his nature and his Congeniall infirmities of anger and desire , he can never have any thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a knowledge partly moral and partly naturall : his whole life is but Imagination ; his knowledge is Inclination and opinion ; he judges of Heavenly things by the measures of his feares and his desires , and his Reason is half of it sense , and determinable by the principles of sense . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions . Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion : and let men pretend to as much learning as they please , they must begin again at Christs Crosse ; they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires , before they can be good Scholars in Christs School , or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion , or profit in spirituall understanding . It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews , In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat , the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion . Truth enters into the heart of Man when it is empty and cleane and still ; but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storme , you can never heare the voyce of the Charmer , though he charm very wisely : and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytic Arme. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be , as Plato sayes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason , not invested with Passion : to him that is otherwise , things are but in the dark , his notion is obscure and his sight troubled ; and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools , yet we seldom or never heare of a very passionate wise man. I have now done with the First part of my undertaking , and proved to you that our evill life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in the Religion of the things of God. You see what hinders us from becoming good Divines . But all this while we are but in the preparation to the Mysteries of Godlinesse . When we have thrown off all affections to sin ; when we have stript our selves from all fond adherencies to the things of the world , and have broken the chains and dominion of our Passions ; then we may say with David , Ecce paratum est Cormeum , Deus ; My heart is ready , O God , my heart is ready : then we may say , Speak , Lord , for thy servant heareth : but we are not yet instructed . It remaines therefore that we enquire what is that immediate principle or meanes by which we shall certainly and infallibly be led into all truth , and be taught the mind of God , and understand all his secrets : and this is worth our knowledge . I cannot say that this will end your labours , and put a period to your studies , and make your learning easie : it may possibly increase your labour , but it will make it profitable ; it will not end your Studies , but it will direct them ; it will not make humane Learning easie , but will make it wise unto salvation , and conduct it into true notices and wayes of wisdom . I am now to describe to you the right way of knowledge . Qui facit voluntatem Patris mei ( saith Christ ) that 's the way : do Gods will , and you shall understand Gods Word . And it was an excellent saying of St. Peter , Add to your faith Vertue , &c. If these things be in you and abound , ye shall not be unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in this case it is not enough that all our hinderances of knowledge are removed ; for that is but the opening of the covering of the Book of God : but when it is opened , it is written with a hand that every eye cannot read . Though the windowes of the East be open , yet every eye cannot behold the glories of the Sun. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith Plotinus ; the eye that is not made Solar cannot see the Sun ; the eye must be fitted to the splendor : and is not the wit of the man , but the spirit of the man ; not so much his head as his heart , that learnes the Divine Philosophy . 1. Now in this inquiry I must take one thing for a praecognitum , that every good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he is taught of God : and indeed unless he teach us , we shall make but ill Scholars our selves , and worse guides to others . Nemo potest Deum scire , nisi à Deo doceatur , said St. Jrenaeus , ( lib. 6. c. 14. ) If God teaches us , then all is well : but if we do not learn wisdom at his feet , from whence should we have it ? it can come from no other spring . And therefore it naturally follows , that by how much nearer we are to God , by so much better we are like to be instructed . But this being supposed , as being most evident , we can easily proceed by wonderfull degrees and steps of progression in the Oeconomy of this Divine Philosophy . For , 2. There is in every righteous man a new vital principle : the Spirit of Grace is the spirit of Wisdome , and teaches us by secret inspirations , by proper arguments , by actuall perswasions , by personall applications , by effects and energies : and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vitall operations , so is the Spirit of God the life of that life , and the cause of all actions and productions Spirituall . And the consequence of this is what St. Iohn tells us of ; Ye have received the Unction from above : and that anoynting teacheth you all things . All things of some one kind : that is , certainly , all things that pertain to life and Godlinesse ; all that by which a man is wise and happy . We see this by common experience . Unlesse the soul have a new life put into it , unlesse there be a vital principle within , unlesse the spirit of life be the Informer of the spirit of the man , the Word of God will be as dead in the operation as the body in its powers and possibilities . Sol & Homo generant hominem , saith our Philosophy . A Man alone does not beget a man ; but a Man and the Sun : for without the influence of the Celestiall bodyes all natural actions are ineffective : and so it is in the operations of the Soul. Which principle divers Fanatics , both amongst us and in the Church of Rome , misunderstanding , look for new Revelations , and expect to be conducted by ecstasy , and will not pray but in a transfiguration , and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations , and separate themselves from the conversation of men by affectations , by new measures and singularities , and destroy order and despise Government , and live upon illiterate phantasmes and ignorant discourses . These men do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they bely the holy Ghost : For the Spirit of God makes men wise ; it is an evil Spirit that makes them Fools . The Spirit of God makes us Wise unto Salvation , it does not spend its holy influences in disguises and convulsions of the understanding . Gods spirit does not destroy Reason , but heightens it : he never disorders the beauties of Government , but is a God of Order ; it is the spirit of Humility , and teaches no Pride : he is to be found in Churches and Pulpits , upon Altars and in the Doctors Chaires ; not in Conventicles and mutinous corners of a house : he goes in company with his own Ordinances , and makes progressions by the measures of life : his infusions are just as our acquisitions , and his Graces pursue the methods of nature : that which was imperfect he leads on to perfection , and that which was weake he makes strong : he opens the heart , not to receive murmurs , or to attend to secret whispers , but to hear the Word of God ; and then he opens the heart , and creates a new one ; and without this new creation , this new principle of life , we may heare the Word of God , but we can never understand it ; we heare the sound , but are never the better ; unlesse there be in our hearts a secret conviction by the spirit of God , the Gospel it self is a dead Letter , and worketh not in us the light and righteousness of God. Do not we see this by a daily experience ? Even those things which a good man and an evil man know , they do not know them both alike . A wicked man does know that good is lovely , and sin is of an evill and destructive nature ; and when he is reproved , he is convinced ; and when he is observed , he is ashamed ; and when he hath done , he is unsatisfied ; and when he pursues his sin , he does it in the dark . Tell him he shall dye , and he sighs deeply , but he knows it as well as you : proceed , and say that after death comes Judgement , and the poor man believes and trembles . He knows that God is angry with him ; and if you tell him that for ought he knows he may be in Hell to morrow , he knows that it is an intolerable truth , but it it also undeniable . And yet after all this he runs to commit his sin with as certain an event and resolution , as if he knew no argument against it . These notices of things terrible and true passe through his understanding as an Eagle through the Air : as long as her flight lasted , the Air was shaken ; but there remains no path behind her . Now since at the same time we see other persons , not so learned it may be , not so much versed in Scriptures , yet they say a thing is good and lay hold of it , they believe glorious things of Heaven , and they live accordingly , as men that believe themselves ; halfe a word is enough to make them understand ; a nod is a sufficient reproof ; the Crowing of a Cock , the singing of a Lark , the dawning of the day , and the washing their hands are to them competent memorialls of Religion and warnings of their duty : What is the reason of this difference ? They both read the Scriptures , they read and heare the same Sermons , they have capable understandings , they both believe what they heare and what they read , and yet the event is vastly different . The reason is that which I am now speaking of : the one understands by one Principle , the other by another ; the one understands by Nature , and the other by Grace ; the one by humane Learning , and the other by Divine ; the one reads the Scriptures without , and the other within ; the one understands as a son of man , the other as a son of God ; the one perceives by the proportions of the World , and the other by the measures of the Spirit ; the one understands by Reason , and the other by Love ; and therefore he does not only understand the Sermons of the Spirit , and perceives their meaning , but he pierces deeper , and knows the meaning of that meaning , that is , the secret of the Spirit , that which is spiritually discerned , that which gives life to the Proposition , and activity to the Soul. And the reason is , because he hath a Divine principle within him , and a new understanding : that is plainly , he hath Love , and that 's more then Knowledge ; as was rarely well observed by St. Paul , Knowledge puffethup , but Charity edifieth ; that is , Charity makes the best Scholars . No Sermons can edify you , no Scriptures can build you up a holy building to God , unlesse the love of God , be in your hearts ; and purifie your souls from all filthinesse of the Flesh and spirit . But so it is in the regions of Starrs , where a vast body of fire is so divided by excentric motions , that it looks as if Nature had parted them into Orbes and round shells of plain and purest materialls : but where the cause is simple and the matter without variety , the motions must be uniforme ; and in Heaven we should either espy no motion , or no variety . But God , who designed the Heavens to be the causes of all changes and motions here below , hath placed his Angels in their houses of light , and given to every one of his appointed officers a portion of the fiery matter to circumagitate and roll ; and now the wonder ceases : for if it be enquired why this part of the fire runs Eastward and the other to the South , they being both indifferent to either , it is because an Angel of God sits in the Centre , and makes the same matter turne , not by the bent of its own mobility and inclination , but in order to the needs of Man and the great purposes of God ; and so it is in the understandings of men : When they all receive the same notions , and are taught by the same Master , and give full consent to all the propositions , and can of themselves have nothing to distinguish them in the events , it is because God hath sent his Divine spirit , and kindles a new fire , and creates a braver capacity , and applies the actives to the passives , and blesses their operation . For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea , and an indisposition to holy flames , like as in the cold Rivers in the North , so as the fires will not burn them , and the Sun it self will never warme them , till Gods holy Spirit does from the Temple of the new Ierusalem bring a holy flame , and make it shine and burn . The Naturall man ( saith the holy Apostle ) cannot perceive the things of the Spirit : they are foolishnesse unto him ; for they are spiritually discerned . For he that discourses of things by the measures of sense , thinks nothing good but that which is delicious to the palat , or pleases the brutish part of man ; and therefore while he estimates the secrets of Religion by such measures , they must needs seeme as insipid as Cork , or the uncondited Mushrom ; for they have nothing at all of that in their constitution . A voluptuous person is like the Dogs of Sicily , so fill'd with the deliciousnesse of Plants that grow in every furrow and hedge , that they can never keep the sent of their game . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said St. Chrysostome : the fire and water can never mingle ; so neither can sensuality and the watchfulnesse and wise discerning of the spirit . Pilato interroganti de veritate , Christus non respondit : When the wicked Governour asked of Christ concerning truth , Christ gave him no answer . He was not fit to heare it . He therefore who so understands the Words of God , that he not only believes , but loves the proposition ; he who consents with all his heart , and being convinced of the truth does also apprehend the necessity , and obeys the precept , and delights in the discovery , and layes his hand upon his heart , and reduces the notices of things to the practice of duty ; he who dares trust his proposition , and drives it on to the utmost most issue , resolving to goe after it whithersoever it can invite him ; this Man walks in the spirit : at least thus far he is gone towards it , his Understanding is brought in obsequium Christi , into the obedience of Christ. This is a loving God with all our mind ; and whatever goes less then this , is but Memory , and not Understanding ; or else such notice of things by which a man is neither the wiser nor the better . 3. Sometimes God gives to his choicest , his most elect and precious Servants , a knowledge even of secret things , which he communicates not to others . We find it greatly remark'd in the case of Abraham , Gen. 18.17 . And the Lord said , Shall I hide from Abraham that thing that I do ? Why not from Abraham ? God tells us v. 19. For I know him , that he will command his Children and his houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to doe justice and judgement . And though this be irregular and infrequent , yet it is a reward of their piety , and the proper increase also of the spirituall man. We find this spoken by God to Daniel , and promised to be the lot of the righteous man in the dayes of the Messias ; Many shall be purified and made white and tryed ; but the wicked shall do wickedly : and what then ? None of the wicked shall understand ; but the wise shall understand . Where besides that the wise man and the wicked are opposed , plainly signifying that the wicked man is a Fool and an Ignorant : it is plainly said that None of the wicked shall understand the wisdome and mysteriousnesse of the Kingdome of the Messias . 4. A good life is the best way to understand Wisdome and Religion ; because by the experiences and relishes of Religion there is conveyed to them such a sweetnesse , to which all wicked men are strangers : there is in the things of God to them which practice them a deliciousnesse that makes us love them , and that love admits us into Gods Cabinet , and strangely clarifies the understanding by the purification of the heart . For when our reason is raised up by the spirit of Christ , it is turned quickly into experience : when our Faith relyes upon the principles of Christ , it is changed into vision : & so long as we know God only in the wayes of man , by contentious Learning , by arguing and dispute , we see nothing but the shadow of him , and in that shadow we meet with many dark appearances , little certainty and much conjecture : But when we know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with the eyes of holinesse and the intuition of gracious experiences , with a quiet spirit and the peace of Enjoyment ; then we shall heare what we never heard , and see what our eyes never saw ; then the mysteries of Godlinesse shall be opened unto us , and cleare as the windows of the morning . And this is rarely well expressed by the Apostle , If we stand up from the dead and awake from sleep , then Christ shall give us light . For although the Scriptures themselves are written by the Spirit of God , yet they are written within and without : and besides the light that shines upon the face of them , unlesse there be a light shining within our hearts , unfolding the leaves and interpreting the mysterious sense of the spirit , convincing our Consciences and preaching to our hearts ; to look for Christ in the leaves of the Gospell , is to look for the living amongst the dead . There is a life in them , but that life is ( according to St. Paul's expression ) hid with Christ in God : and unlesse the spirit of God be the Promo-condus , we shall never draw it forth . Humane Learning brings excellent ministeries towards this : it is admirably usefull for the reproof of Heresies , for the detection of Fallacies , for the Letter of the Scripture , for Collateral testimonies , for exterior advantages ; but there is something beyond this , that humane Learning without the addition of Divine can never teach . Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians ; and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order , motion and influences of the Heaven : but besides all this , they were taught of God something far beyond these prettinesses . Pythagoras read Moses's Books , and so did Plato ; and yet they became not Proselytes of the Religion , though they were learned Scholars of such a Master . The reason is , because that which they drew forth from thence was not the life and secret of it . Tradidit arcano quodcunque Volumine Moses . There is a secret in these Books , which few men , none but the Godly , did understand : and though much of this secret is made manifest in the Gospel , yet even here also there is a Letter and there is a Spirit : still there is a reserve for Gods secret ones , even all those deep mysteries which the old Testament covered in Figures , and stories , and names , and prophesies , and which Christ hath , and by his Spirit will yet reveale more plainly to all that will understand them by their proper measures . For although the Gospel is infinitely more legible and plain then the obscurer Leaves of the Law , yet there is a seale upon them also : which Seale no man shall open hut he that is worthy . We may understand something of it by the three Children of the Captivity ; they were all skil'd in all the wisdom of the Chaldees , and so was Daniel : but there was something beyond that in him ; the wisdom of the most high God was in him , and that taught him a learning beyond his learning . In all Scripture there is a spirituall sense , a spirituall Cabala , which as it tends directly to holiness , so it is best and truest understood by the sons of the Spirit , who love God , and therefore know him . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , every thing is best known by its own similitudes and analogies . But I must take some other time to speak fully of these things . I have but one thing more to say , and then I shall make my Applications of this Doctrine , and so conclude . 5. Lastly , there is a sort of Gods deare Servants who walk in perfectnesse , who perfect holinesse in the feare of God ; and they have a degree of Clarity and divine knowledge more then we can discourse of , and more certain then the Demonstrations of Geometry , brighter then the Sun , and indeficient as the light of Heaven . This is called by the Apostle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is this brightnesse of God , manifested in the hearts of his dearest servants . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — But I shall say no more of this at this time , for this is to be felt and not to be talked of ; and they that never touched it with their finger , may secretly perhaps laugh at it in their heart , and be never the wiser . All that I shall now say of it is , that a good man is united unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as a flame touches a flame , and combines into splendor and to glory : so is the Spirit of a man united unto Christ by the spirit of God. These are the friends of God , and they best know Gods mind , and they only that are so know how much such men do know . They have a special Unction from above . So that now you are come to the top of all : this is the highest round of the Ladder , and the Angels stand upon it : they dwell in love and Contemplation , they worship and obey , but dispute not ; and our quarrels and impertinent wranglings about Religion are nothing else but the want of the measures of this State. Our light is like a Candle , every wind of vain Doctrine blows it out , or spends the wax , and makes the light tremulous ; but the lights of Heaven are fixed and bright , and shine for ever . But that we may speak not only things mysterious , but things intelligible ; how does it come to passe , by what means and what Oeconomy is it effected , that a holy life is the best determination of all Questions , and the surest way of knowledge ? Is it to be supposed that a Godly man is better enabled to determine the Questions of Purgatory or Transubstantiation ? is the gift of Chastity the best way to reconcile Thomas and Scotus ? and is a temperate man alwayes a better Scholar then a Drunkard ? To this I answer , that in all things in which true wisdom consists , Holinesse , which is the best wisdom , is the surest way of understanding them . And this 1. Is effected by Holinesse as a proper and natural instrument : for naturally every thing is best discerned by its proper light and congenial instrument . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as the eye sees visible objects , and the understanding perceives the Intellectual ; so does the spirit the things of the Spirit . The naturall man ( saith St. Paul , ) knows not the things of God , for they are Spiritually discerned : that is , they are discovered by a proper light , and concerning these things an unsanctified man discourses pittifully , with an imperfect Idea , as a blind man does of Light and Colours which he never saw . A good man , though unlearned in secular notices , is like the windows of the Temple , narrow without and broad within : he sees not so much of what profits not abroad ; but whatsoever is within , and concerns Religion and the glorifications of God , that he sees with a broad inspection . But all humane learning without God is but blindnesse and ignorant folly . But when it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , righteousnesse dipt in the wells of Truth , it is like an eye of Gold in a rich Garment , or like the light of Heaven , it shews it self by its own splendor . What Learning is it to discourse of the Philosophy of the Sacrament , if you do not feel the virtue of it ? and the man that can with eloquence and subtilty discourse of the intrumentall efficacy of Baptismal waters , talkes ignorantly in respect of him who hath the answer of a good Conscience within , and is cleansed by the purifications of the Spirit . If the Question concern any thing that can perfect a man and make him happy , all that is the proper knowledge and notice of the good man. How can a wicked man understand the purities of the heart ? and how can an evil and unworthy Communicant tell what it is to have received Christ by faith , to dwell with him , to be united to him , to receive him in his heart ? The good man only understands that : the one sees the colour , and the other feels the substance ; the one discourses of the Sacrament , and the other receives Christ ; the one discourses for or against Transubstantiation , but the good man feels himself to be changed and so joyn'd to Christ , that he only understands the true sense of Transubstantiation , while he becomes to Christ bone of his bone , flesh of his flesh , and of the same spirit with his Lord. We talk much of Reformation , and ( blessed be God ) once we have felt the good of it : But of late we have smarted under the name and pretension . The Woman that lost her groate , everrit domum , not evertit ; she swept the house , she did not turn the house out of doors . That was but an ill Reformation that untiled the Roof , and broak the Walls , and was digging down the Foundation . Now among all the pretensions of Reformation , who can tell better what is , and what is not , true Reformation , then he that is truly Reform'd himself ? He knows what pleases God , and can best tell by what instruments he is reconciled . The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom ; and the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable , saith Solomon . He cannot be cousen'd by names of things , and feels that Reformation to be Imposture that is Sacrilegious : himself is humble and obedient , and therefore knows that is not Truth that perswades to Schisme and Disobedience : and most of the Questions of Christendom are such which either are good for nothing , and therefore to be layd aside ; or if they be complicated with action , and are ministeries of practice , no man can judge them so well as the spirituall man. That which best pleases God , that which does good to our Neighbour , that which teaches sobriety , that which combines with Government , that which speaks honour of God and does him honour , that only is Truth . Holinesse therefore is a proper and naturall instrument of Divine knowledge , and must needs be the best way of instruction in the Questions of Christendom , because in the most of them a Duty is complicated with the Proportion . No man that intends to live holily can ever suffer any pretences of Religion to be made to teach him to fight against his King. And when the men of Geneva turned their Bishop out of doors , they might easily have considered that the same person was their Prince too ; and that must needs be a strange Religion that rose up against Moses and Aaron at the same time : but that hath been the method ever since . There was no Church till then was ever Governed without an Apostle or a Bishop : and since then , they who go from their Bishop have said very often to their King too , Nolumus hunc regnare : and when we see men pretending Religion , and yet refuse to own the Kings Supremacy , they may upon the stock of holinesse easily reprove their own folly ; by considering that such recusancy does introduce into our Churches the very worst , the most intolerable parts of Popery . For perfect submission to Kings is the glory of the , Protestant cause : and really the reproveable Doctrines of the Church of Rome are by nothing so much confuted , as that they destroy good life by consequent and evident deduction ; as by an Induction of particulars were easie to make apparent , if this were the proper season for it . 2. Holinesse is not only an advantage to the learning all wisdom and holinesse , but for the discerning that which is wise and holy from what is trifling and uselesse and contentious : and to one of these heads all Questions will return : and therefore in all , from Holinesse we have the best Instructions . And this brings me to the next Particle of the generall Consideration . For that which we are taught by the holy Spirit of God , this new nature , this vital principle within us , it is that which is worth our learning ; not vaine and empty , idle and insignificant notions , in which when you have laboured till your eyes are fixed in their Orbes and your flesh unfixed from its bones , you are no better and no wiser . If the Spirit of God be your Teacher , he will teach you such truths as will make you know and love God , and become like to him , and enjoy him for ever , by passing from similitude to union and eternal fruition . But what are you the better if any man should pretend to teach you whether every Angel makes a species ? and what is the individuation of the Soul in the state of separation ? what are you the wiser if you should study and find out what place Adam should for ever have lived in if he had not fallen ? and what is any man the more learned if he heares the disputes , whether Adam should have multiplied Children in the state of Innocence , and what would have been the event of things if one Child had been born before his Fathers sin ? Too many Scholars have lived upon Air and empty notions for many ages past , and troubled themselves with tying and untying Knots , like Hypochondriacs in a fit of Melancholy , thinking of nothing , and troubling themselves with nothing , and falling out about nothings , and being very wise and very learned in things that are not and work not , and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God. Mens notions are too often like the Mules , begotten by aequivocall and unnaturall Generations ; but they make no species : they are begotten , but they can beget nothing : they are the effects of long study , but they can do no good when they are produced : they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae , the way of understanding . If the Spirit of God be our Teacher , we shall learn to avoid evil , and to do good , to be wise and to be holy , to be profitable and carefull : and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences , more skill in the Scriptures , more satisfaction in their doubts , then can be obtain'd by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world . And if the holy spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things , he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions , to disturb the Church for interest or pride , to resist Government in things indifferent , to spend the peoples zeale in things unprofitable , to make Religion to consist in outsides , and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards . No , no , the Man that is wise , he that is conducted by the Spirit of God , knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist , then to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety ; for what ? for Religion ? no : for the body of Religion ? not so much : for the garment of the body of Religion ? no , not for so much : but for the Fringes of the garment of the Body of Religion ; for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren ; they are things , or rather Circumstances and manners of things , which the Soul and spirit is not at all concerned . 3. Holinesse of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding ; not only as a Naturall medium , nor only as a prudent medium , but as a means by way of Divine blessing . He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them , he it is that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father , and I will love him , and will manifest my self to him . Here we have a promise for it ; and upon that we may rely . The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recitall of his Creed , found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner , and by a very plain instrument : it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to doe : and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men . For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jewes , revealing them to Babes , not because they had less learning , but because they had more love ; they were children and Babes in Malice , they loved Christ , and so he became to them a light and a glory . St. Paul had more learning then they all ; and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians : yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth , he was also the wisest , and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent , he had a divine light and excellent wisdome superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings . And St. Paul , though he went very far to the knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning , yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new lesson in a new School , at the feet of one greater then his Gamaliel : his learning grew much greater , his notions brighter , his skill deeper , by the love of Christ , and his desires , his passionate desires after Jesus . The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of , are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah , 29.11 , 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed , which men deliver to one that is learned , saying , Read this , I pray thee : and he saith , I cannot , for it is seal'd . And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned , saying Read this , I pray thee : and he saith , I am not learned . He that is no learned man , who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets , cannot read Gods Book for want of learning . For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision ; not the only one indeed , but the common gate . But beyond this , there must be another learning ; for he that is learned , bring the Book to him , and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it , if the Book be sealed , if his eyes be closed , if his heart be not opened , if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline . Humane learning is an excellent Foundation ; but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God. For we may further observe , that blindnesse , errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men . Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem & vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime ostenderit , was St. Austin's expression . The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us , by reason of our demerits : our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us . And St. Paul observes , that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts , God gave them over to strong delusions , and to believe a Lie. But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight , wisdom and knowledge and joy , said the wise Preacher . But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament , and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death . The Comforter , which is the Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my name , he shall teach you all things . Well : there 's our Teacher told of plainly . But how shall we obtain this teacher , and how shall we be taught ? v. 15 , 16 , 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit . That 's well : but shall all Christians have the spirit ? Yes , all that will live like Christians : for so said Christ , If ye love me , keep my Commandements ; and I will pray the Father , and he will give you another Comforter , that may abide with you for ever ; even the spirit of truth , whom the World cannot receive , because it seeth him not , neither knoweth him . Mark these things . The Spirit of God is our teacher : he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher : he will teach us all things ; but how ? if ye love Christ , if ye keep his Commandments , but not else : if ye be of the World , that is , of worldly affections , ye cannot see him , ye cannot know him . And this is the particular I am now to speak to , The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse . Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus , Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House , saith the Jewish Proverb . Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge , that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the height of all that is to be taught or learned . Love is Obedience , and we learn his words best when we practise them : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said Aristotle : those things which they that learn ought to practise , even while they practise they will best learn. Quisquis non venit , profectò nec didicit : Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam , ut quod quisque didicerit , non tantum cognoscendo videat , sed etiam volendo appetat & agedo perficiat . St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ , we shall never learn : for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit , that what any one learns , he not only sees it by knowledge , but desires it by choice , and perfects it by practice . 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience , we find not only in things of practise , but even in deepest mysteries , not only the choicest and most eminent Saints , but even every good man can best tell what is true , and best reprove an error . He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity , and does it by words and names of mans invention , or by such which signifie contingently , if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers , by the Cabala of Letters , by the distinctions of the School , and by the weak inventions of disputing people ; if he only talks of Essences and existencies , Hypostases and personalities , distinctions without difference , and priority in Coequalities , and unity in Pluralities , and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects , may amuse himself , and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration : he may build three Tabernacles in his head , and talke something , but he knows not what . But the good man that feels the power of the Father , and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom , Righteousnesse , Sanctification , and Redemption ; he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread , to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost , the Comforter ; this man , though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible , yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity . No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy , Blessed and Undivided Trinity , but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life , the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith , and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God. He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father , and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ , strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings , and from thence is become an old Disciple , and strong and grown old in Religion , and the conversation of the Spirit ; this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie , he feels this unintelligible mysterie , and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express , and his Metaphysics can never prove . In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge , and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and if the Kingdom of God be in us , then we know God , and are known of him : and when we communicate of the Spirit of God , when we pray for him , and have received him , and entertained him , and dwelt with him , and warmed our selves by his holy fires , then we know him too . But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this : And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically , there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known , but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God. But in this case Experience is the best learning , and Christianity is the best institution , and the Spirit of God is the best teacher , and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome ; and he that sins most is the most Ignorant , and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar . For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit , and will not enter into a polluted Soul : But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof , and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom , said the wise Ben-Sirach . And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you , and so I shall dismisse you from this attention . Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion , and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective . Let us now try Gods Method , let us betake our selves to live holily , and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth . And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of , if he be a Villaine ; the opinion of his Sect , as it will not save his Soul , so neither will it do good to the publick . But this is a sure Rule ; If the holy man best understands Wisdom and Religion , then by the proportions of holinesse we shall best measure the Doctrines that are obtruded to the disturbance of our peace , and the dishonour of the Gospell . And therefore 1. That is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any duty of Religion . He that shall maintain it to be lawfull to make a War for the defence of his Opinion be it what it will , his Doctrine is against Godlinesse . Any thing that is proud , any thing that is peevish and scornful , any thing that is uncharitable , is against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that forme of sound Doctrine which the Apostle speaks of . And I remember that Ammianus Marcellinus telling of George a proud and factious Minister , that he was an Informer against his Brethren , he sayes , he did it oblitus professionis suae , que nil nisi justum suadet & lene ; He forgot his profession , which teaches nothing but justice and meekness , kindnesses and charity . And however Bellarmine and others are pleased to take but indirect and imperfect notice of it , yet Goodnesse is the best note of the true Church . 2. It is but an ill sign of Holinesse when a man is busie in troubling himself and his Superior in little Scruples and Phantastick Opinions about things not concerning the life of Religion , or the pleasure of God , or the excellencies of the Spirit . A good man knows how to please God , how to converse with him , how to advance the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus , to set forwards Holinesse and the love of God and of his Brother ; and he knows also that there is no Godliness in spending our time and our talk , our heart and our spirits , about the garments and outsides of Religion . And they can ill teach others , that do not know that Religion does not consist in these things ; but Obedience may , and reductively that is Religion ; and he that for that which is no part of Religion destroys Religion directly , by neglecting that duty that is adopted into Religion , is a man of fancy and of the World : but he gives but an ill account that he is a man of God , and a son of the Spirit . Spend not your time in that which profits not ; for your labour and your health , your time and your studies are very valuable ; and it is a thousand pitties to see a diligent and a hopefull person spend himself in gathering Cockle-shells and little pebbles , in telling Sands upon the shores , and making Garlands of uselesse Daisies . Study that which is profitable , that which will make you useful to Churches and Common-wealths , that which will make you desirable and wise . Onely I shall add this to you , That in Learning there are variety of things as well as in Religion : there is Mint and Cummin , and there are the weighty things of the Law ; so there are studies more and lesse usefull , and every thing that is usefull will be required in its time : and I may in this also use the words of our blessed Saviour , These things ought you to look after , and not to leave the other unregarded . But your great care is to be in the things of God and of Religion , in holiness and true wisdom , remembring the saying of Origen , that the knowledge that arises from goodnesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , something that is more certain and more divine then all demonstration , then all other Learnings of the World. 3. That 's no good Religion that disturbs Governments , or shakes a foundation of publick peace . Kings and Bishops are the foundations and the great principles of unity , of peace and Government ; like Rachel and Leah they build up the house of Israel : and those blind Samsons that shake these Pillars intend to pull the house down . My Son , fear God and the King , saith Solomon ; and meddle not with them that are given to change . That is not Truth that loves changes : and the new-nothings of Heretical & Schismatical Preachers are infinitely far from the blessings of Truth . In the holy Language Truth hath a Mysterious Name , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet ; it consists of three Letters , the first and the last and the middlemost of the Hebrew Letters : implying to us that Truth is first , and will be last , and it is the same all the way , and combines and unites all extreams ; it tyes all ends together . Truth is lasting , and ever full of blessing . For the Jews observe that those Letters which signifie Truth , are both in the figure and the number Quadrate , firme and cubical ; these signifie a foundation , and an abode for ever . Whereas on the other side ; the word which in Hebrew signifies a lye , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secher , is made of Letters whose numbers are imperfect , and their figure pointed and voluble : to signifie that a Lye hath no foundation . And this very observation will give good light in our Questions and disputes . And I give my instance in Episcopal Government , which hath been of so lasting an abode , of so long a blessing , hath its firmament by the principles of Christianity , hath been blessed by the issues of that stabiliment , it hath for sixteen hundred yeares combined with Monarchy , and hath been taught by the spirit which hath so long dwelt in Gods Church , and hath now ( according to the promise of Jesus , that sayes the gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church ) been restored amongst us by a heap of Miracles ; and as it went away , so now it is returned againe in the hand of Monarchy , and in the bosome of our Fundamental Laws . Now that Doctrine must needs be suspected of Error and an intolerable Lye that speaks against this Truth , which hath had so long a testimony from God , and from the wisdome and experience of so many ages , of all our Ancestors , and all our Lawes . When the Spirit of God wrote in Greek , Christ is call'd Α and Ω : if he had spoken Hebrew , he had been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet , he is Truth , the same yesterday and to day and for ever : and whoever opposes this holy Sanction which Christs Spirit hath sanctifyed , his word hath warranted , his blessings have endeared , his promises have ratifyed , and his Church hath alwayes kept , he fights against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet , and Secher is his portion ; his Lot is a Lie , his portion is there where holiness can never dwell . And now to conclude , to you Fathers and Brethren , you who are , or intend to be of the Clergie ; you see here the best Compendium of your Studies , the best abbreviature of your labours , the truest method of wisdom , and the infallible , the only way of judging concerning the Disputes and Questions in Christendom . It is not by reading multitude of Books , but by studying the truth of God : it is not by laborious Commentaries of the Doctors that you can finish your work , but by the expositions of the Spirit of God : it is not by the Rules of Metaphysics , but by the proportions of Holinesse : and when all Books are read , and all Arguments examined , and all Authorities alledged , nothing can be found to be true that is unholy . Give your selves to reading , to exhortation , and to Doctrine , saith St. Paul. Read all good Books you can : but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument , and the best teacher of true Doctrine , of that which is according to Godlinesse . And let me tell you this , The great learning of the Fathers was more owing to their piety then to their skill ; more to God then to themselves : and to this purpose is that excellent ejaculation of St. Chrysostome , with which I will conclude . O blessed and happy men , whose names are in the Book of life , from whom the Devils fled and Heretics did feare them , who ( by Holinesse ) have stopp'd the mouthes of them that spake perverse things ! But I , like David , will cry out , Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old ? Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors , who shined like lights in the World , and contained the Word of Life ? Dulce est meminisse ; their very memory is pleasant . Where is that Evodias , the sweet savour of the Church , the successor and imitator of the holy Apostles ? where is Ignatius , in whom God dwelt ? where is St. Dionysius the Areopagite , that Bird of Paradise , that celestial Eagle ? where is Hippolytus , that good man , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that gentle sweet person ? where is great St. Basil , a man almost equall to the Apostles ? where is Athanasius , rich in vertue ? where is Gregory Nyssen , that great Divine ? and Ephrem the great Syrian , that stirred up the sluggish , and awakened the sleepers , and comforted the afflicted , and brought the yong men to discipline , the Looking-glasse of the religious , the Captain of the Penitents , the destruction of Heresies , the receptacle of Graces , and the habitation of the holy Ghost ? These were the men that prevailed against Error , because they lived according to Truth : and whoever shall oppose you and the truth you walk by , may better be confuted by your lives then by your disputations . Let your adversaries have no evil thing to say of you , and then you will best silence them . For all Heresies and false Doctrines are but like Myron's counterfeit Cow , it deceived none but Beasts ; and these can cozen none but the wicked and the negligent , them that love a lye and live according to it . [ But if ye become burning and shining lights ; if ye do not detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse ; if ye walk in light and live in the Spirit ; your Doctrines will be true , and that Truth will prevaile . ] But if ye live wickedly and scandalously , every little Schismatick shall put you to shame , and draw Disciples after him , and abuse your flocks , and feed them with Colocynths and Hemlock , and place Heresie in the Chaires appointed for your Religion . I pray God give you all grace to follow this Wisdom , to study this Learning , to labour for the understanding of Godlinesse : so your time and your studies , your persons and your labours will be holy and useful , sanctified and blessed , beneficiall to men and pleasing unto God , through him who is the wisdom of the Father , who is made to all that love him Wisdom and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption : To whom with the Father , &c. FINIS . Imprimatur , M. FRANCK , S.T.D. R sso . in X to . P. ac D no. D. GILB . Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. A SERMON Preached in Christs-Church Dublin , July 16. 1663. AT THE FUNERAL Of the most Reverend Father in God , JOHN , Late Lord Archbishop of Armagh , and Primate of all Ireland : WITH A succinct Narrative of his whole Life . The third Edition , enlarged . By the Right Reverend Father in God , JEREMY , Lord Bishop of Down and Connor . LONDON : Printed by J. G. for Richard Royston , Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty , 1663. 1 Cor. 15.23 . But every Man in his own order : Christ the first fruits ; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming . THe Condition of Man in this world is so limited and depressed , so relative and imperfect , that the best things he does he does weakly , and the best things he hath are imperfections in their very constitution . I need not tell how little it is that we know ; the greatest indication of this is , That we can never tell how many things we know not : and we may soon span our own Knowledge , but our Ignorance we can never fathom . Our very Will , in which Mankind pretends to be most noble and imperial , is a direct state of imperfection ; and our very liberty of Chusing good and evil is permitted to us , not to make us proud , but to make us humble ; for it supposes weakness of Reason and weakness of Love. For if we understood all the degrees of Amability in the Service of God , or if we had such love to God as he deserves , and so perfect a conviction as were fit for his Services , we could no more Deliberate : For Liberty of Will is like the motion of a Magnetick Needle toward the North , full of trembling and uncertainty till it were fixed in the beloved Point ; it wavers as long as it is free , and is at rest when it can chuse no more . And truly what is the hope of Man ? It is indeed the resurrection of the Soul in this world from sorrow and her saddest pressures , and like the Twilight to the Day , and the Harbinger of joy ; but still it is but a conjugation of Infirmities , and proclaims our present calamity , onely because it is uneasie here , it thrusts us forwards toward the light and glories of the Resurrection . For as a Worm creeping with her belly on the ground , with her portion and share of Adam's , curse , lifts up its head to partake a little of the blessings of the air , and opens the junctures of her imperfect body , and curles her little rings into knots and combinations , drawing up her tail to a neighbourhood of the heads pleasure and motion ; but still it must return to abide the fate of its own nature , and dwell and sleep upon the dust : So are the hopes of a mortal Man ; he opens his eyes and looks upon fine things at distance , and shuts them again with weakness , because they are too glorious to behold ; and the Man rejoyces because he hopes fine things are staying for him ; but his heart akes , because he knows there are a thousand wayes to fail and miss of those glories ; & though he hopes , yet he enjoys not ; he longs , but he possesses not , and must be content with his portion of dust ; and being a worm and no Man must lie down in this portion , before he can receive the end of his hopes , the Salvation of his Soul in the resurrection of the dead . For as Death is the end of our lives , so is the Resurrection the end of our hopes ; and as we die daily , so we daily hope : but Death , which is the end of our life , is the enlargement of our Spirits from hope to certainty , from uncertain fears to certain expectations , from the death of the body to the life of the soul ; that is , to partake of the light and life of Christ , to rise to life as he did ; for his Resurrection is the beginning of ours : He died for us alone , not for himself ; but he rose again for himself and us too . So that if he did rise , so shall we ; the Resurrection shall be universal ; good and bad ; all shall rise , but not altogether . First Christ , then we that are Christs ; and yet there is a third Resurrection , though not spoken of here ; but thus it shall be . The dead in Christ shall rise first ; that is , next to Christ ; and after them the wicked shall rise to condemnation . So that you see here is the summe of affairs treated of in my Text ; Not whether it be lawful to eat a Tortoise or a Mushrome , or to tread with the foot bare upon the ground within the Octaves of Easter . It is not here inquired whether Angels be material or immaterial ; or whether the dwellings of dead Infants be within the Air or in the regions of the Earth ; the inquiry here is whether we are to be Christians or no ? whether we are to live good lives or no ? or whether it be permitted to us to live with Lust or Covetousness acted with all the daughters of rapine and ambition ? whether there be any such thing as sin , any judicatory for Consciences , any rewards of Piety , any difference of Good and Bad , any rewards after this life ? This is the design of these words by proper interpretation : for if Men shall die like Dogs and sheep , they will certainly live like Wolves and Foxes : but he that believes the Article of the Resurrection , hath entertained the greatest Demonstration in the world , That nothing can make us happy but the Knowledge of God , and Conformity to the life and death of the holy Jesus . Here therefore are the great Hinges of all Religion : 1. Christ is already risen from the dead . 2. We also shall rise in Gods time and our order . Christ is the first fruits . But there shall be a full harvest of the Resurrection , and all shall rise . My Text speaks onely of the Resurrection of the just , of them that belong to Christ ; explicitely I say of these ; and therefore directly of Resurrection to life eternal . But because he also sayes there shall be an order for every man ; and yet every man does not belong to Christ ; therefore indirectly also he implies the more universal Resurrection unto judgment . But this shall be the last thing that shall be done ; for , according to the Proverb of the Jews , Michael flies but with one wing , and Gabriel with two ; God is quick in sending Angels of peace , and they flye apace ; but the messengers of wrath come slowly : God is more hasty to glorifie his servants then to condemn the wicked . And therefore in the story of Dives and Lazarus we find that the beggar died first ; the good man Lazarus was first taken away from his misery to his comfort , and afterwards the rich man died : and as the good many times die first , so all of them rise first , as if it were a matter of haste : And as the mothers breasts swell and shoot and long to give food to her babe ; so Gods bowels did yearn over his banish'd children , and he longs to cause them to eat and drink in his Kingdom . And at last the wicked shall rise unto condemnation , for that must be done too ; every man in his own order : first Christ , then Christs servants , and at last Christs enemies . The first of these is the great ground of our faith , the second is the consummation of all our hopes : the first is the foundation of God that stands sure , the second is that superstructure that shall never perish : by the first we believe in God unto righteousness , by the second we live in God unto salvation : But the third , for that also is true & must be consider'd , is the great affrightment of all them that live ungodly . But in the whole Christs Resurrection and ours is the Α and Ω of a Christian ; that as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day , and the same for ever ; so may we in Christ , become in the morrow of the Resurrection the same or better then yesterday in our natural life ; the same body and the same soul tied together in the same essential union , with this onely difference , that not Nature but Grace and Glory with an Hermetick seal give us a new signature , whereby we shall no more be changed , but like unto Christ our head we shall become the same for ever . Of these I shall discourse in order . 1. That Christ , who is the first fruits , is the first in this order : he is already risen from the dead . 2. We shall all take our turns , we shall all die , and as sure as death we shall all rise again . And 3. This very order is effective of the thing it self . That Christ is first risen , is the demonstration and certainty of ours , for because there is an order in this oeconomy , the first in the kind is the measure of the rest . If Christ be the first fruits , we are the whole vintage , and we shall all die in the order of Nature , and shall rise again in the order of Christ : They that are Christ's , and are found so at his coming , shall partake of his resurrection . But Christ first , then they that are Christ's : that 's the order . 1. Christ is the first fruits ; he is already risen from the dead . For he alone could not be held by death . Free among the dead . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; Death was Sins eldest daughter , and the Grave-clothes were her first mantle ; but Christ was conquerour over both , and came to take that away , and to disarm this . This was a glory fit for the head of mankind , but it was too great and too good to be easily believ'd by incredulous and weak-hearted Man. It was at first doubted of by all that were concerned ; but they that saw it had no reason to doubt any longer . But what 's that to us who saw it not ? Yes , very much . Valde dubitatum est ab illis , ne dubitaretur à nobis , saith S. Augustine . They doubted very much , that by their confirmation we might be established and doubt no more . Mary Magdalene saw him first , and she ran with joy and said she had seen the Lord , and that he was risen from the dead ; but they believed her not . After that divers women together saw him , and they told it , but had no thanks for their pains , and obtain'd no credit among the Disciples . The two Disciples that went to Emaus saw him , talk'd with him , eat with him , and they ran and told it : they told true , but nobody believ'd them . Then S. Peter saw him , but he was not yet got into the Chair of the Catholick Church , they did not think him i●fallible , and so they believ'd him not at all . Five times in one day he appear'd ; for after all this he appear'd to the Eleven ; they were indeed transported with joy and wonder , but they would scarce believe their own eyes , and though they saw him they doubted . Well , all this was not enough ; he was seen also of James , and suffered Thomas to thrust his hand into his side , and appeared to S. Paul , and was seen by five hundred brethren at once . So that there is no capacity of mankind , no time , no place , but had an ocular demonstration of his Resurrection . He appeared to Men and Women , to the Clergy and the Laity , to sinners of both sexes ; to weak men and to criminals , to doubters and deniers , at home and abroad , in publick and in private , in their houses and their journeys , unexpected and , by appointment , betimes in the morning and late at night , to them in conjunction and to them in dispersion , when they did look for him and when they did not ; he appeared upon earth to many , and to S. Paul and S. Stephen from heaven . So that we can require no greater testimony then all these are able to give us , and they saw for themselves and for us too , that the Faith and certainty of the Resurrection of Jesus might be conveyed to all that shall die and follow Christ in their own order . Now this being matter of fact , cannot be suppos'd infinite , but limited to time and place , and therefore to be prov'd by them who at that time were upon the place ; good men and true , simple and yet losers by the bargain , many and united , confident and constant , preaching it all their life , and stoutly maintaining it at their death . Men that would not deceive others , and Men that could not be deceiv'd themselves in a matter so notorious and so prov'd , and so seen : and if this be not sufficient credibility in a matter of Fact as this was , then we can have no story credibly transmitted to us , no Records kept , no Acts of Courts , no narratives of the dayes of old , no traditions of our Fathers , no memorials of them in the third generation . Nay , if from these we have not sufficient causes and arguments of Faith , how shall we be able to know the will of Heaven upon Earth ? unless God do not only tell it once , but alwayes , and not only alwayes to some Men , but alwayes to all Men : for if some Men must believe others , they can never do it in any thing more reasonably than in this ; and if we may not trust them in this , then without a perpetual miracle , no Man could have Faith : for Faith could never come by hearing ; by nothing but by seeing . But if there be any use of History , any Faith in Men , any honesty in manners , any truth in humane entercourse ; if there be any use of Apostles or Teachers , of Embassadors , or Letters , of ears or hearing ; if there be any such thing as the Grace of Faith , that is less than demonstration or intuition , then we may be as sure that Christ the first Fruits is already risen , as all these credibilities can make us . But let us take heed ; as God hates a lie , so he hates incredulity ; an obstinate , a foolish and pertinacious understanding . What we do every minute of our lives in matters of title and great concernment , if we refuse to do it in Religion , which yet is to be conducted as all humane affairs are , by humane instruments and arguments of perswasion proper to the nature of the thing , it is an obstinacy as cross to humane reason , as it is to Divine Faith. But this Article was so clearly prov'd , that presently it came to pass that Men were no longer asham'd of the Cross , but it was worn upon breasts , printed in the air , drawn upon foreheads , carried upon Banners , put upon crowns Imperial , presently it came to pass that the Religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail : a Religion that taught Men to be meek and humble , apt to receive injuries , but unapt to do any ; a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful , in a time when riches were ador'd , and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all Mankind ; a Religion that would change the face of things , and the hearts of Men , and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel ; that such a Religion , in such a time by the Sermons and Conduct of Fishermen , Men of mean breeding and illiberal Arts , should so speedily triumph over the Philosophy of the World , and the arguments of the subtil , and the Sermons of the Eloquent ; the Power of Princes and the Interests of States , the inclinations of Nature , and the blindness of zeal , the force of custom , and the sollicitation of passions , the pleasures of sin and the busie Arts of the Devil ; that is , against Wit and Power , Superstition and Wilfulness , Fame and Money , Nature and Empire , which are all the causes in this World that can make a thing impossible ; this , this is to be ascrib'd to the power of God , and is the great demonstration of the Resurrection of Jesus . Every thing was an Argument for it , and improv'd it ; no Objection could hinder it , no Enemies destroy it ; whatsoever was for them , it made the Religion to increase ; whatsoever was against them , made it to increase ; Sun-shine and Storms , Fair Weather or Foul , it was all one as to the event of things : for they were instruments in the hands of God , who could make what himself should chuse to be the product of any cause ; So that if the Christians had peace , they went abroad and brought in Converts ; if they had no peace , but persecution ; the Converts came in to them . In prosperity they allur'd and intic'd the World by the beauty of holiness ; in affliction and trouble they amaz'd all men with the splendour of their Innocence , and the glories of their patience ; and quickly it was that the World became Disciple to the glorious Nazarene , and men could no longer doubt of the Resurrection of Jesus , when it became so demonstrated by the certainty of them that saw it , and the courage of them that died for it , and the multitude of them that believ'd it ; who by their Sermons , and their Actions , by their publick Offices and Discourses , by Festivals and Eucharists , by Arguments of Experience and Sense , by Reason and Religion , by perswading rational Men , and establishing believing Christians , by their living in the obedience of Jesus , and dying for the testimony of Jesus , have greatly advanc'd his Kingdom , and his Power , and his Glory , into which he entred after his Resurrection from the dead . For he is the first fruits ; and if we hope to rise through him , we must confess that himself is first risen from the dead . That 's the first particular . 2. There is an order for us also . We also shall rise again . Combustúsque senex tumulo procedit adultus , Consumens dat membra rogus ; — The ashes of old Camillus shall stand up spritely from his Urne ; and the Funeral fires shall produce a new warmth to the dead bones of all those who died under the arms of all the Enemies of the Roman greatness . This is a less wonder than the former : for admonetur omnis aetas jam fieri posse quod aliquando factum est . If it was done once , it may be done again ; for since it could never have been done , but by a power that is infinite , that infinite must also be eternal and indeficient . By the same Almighty power which restor'd life to the dead body of our living Lord , we may all be restor'd to a new life in the Resurrection of the dead . When Man was not , what power , what causes made him to be ? whatsoever it was , it did then as great a work as to raise his body to the same being again ; and because we know not the method of Natures secret changes , and how we can be fashioned beneath in secreto terrae , and cannot handle and discern the possibilities and seminal powers in the ashes of dissolved bones , must our ignorance in Philosophy be put in balance against the Articles of Religion , the hopes of Mankind , the Faith of Nations and the truth of God ? and are our Opinions of the power of God so low , that our understanding must be his measure ; and he shall be confessed to do nothing , unless it be made plain in our Philosophy ? Certainly we have a low Opinion of God unless we believe he can do more things then we can understand . But let us hear S. Paul's demonstration : If the Corn dies and lives again ; if it layes its body down , suffers alteration , dissolution and death , but at the spring rises again in the verdure of a leaf , in the fulness of the ear , in the kidneys of wheat ; if it proceeds from little to great , from nakedness to ornament , from emptiness to plenty , from unity to multitude , from death to life : be a Sadducee no more , shame not thy understanding , and reproch not the weakness of thy Faith , by thinking that Corn can be restor'd to life and Man cannot ; especially since in every creature the obediential capacity is infinite , and cannot admit degrees ; for every Creature can be any thing under the power of God , which cannot be less than infinite . But we find no obscure foot-steps of this mystery even amongst the Heathens . Pliny reports that Appion the Grammarian by the use of the plant 0siris call'd Homer from his grave ; and in Valerius Maximus we find that Aelius Tubero return'd to life when he was seated in his Funeral pile ; and in Plutarch , that Soleus after three dayes burial did live , and in Valerius that Aeris Pamphilius did so after ten dayes . And it was so commonly believ'd , that Glaucus who was choked in a vessel of honey did rise again , that it grew to a Proverb ; Glaucus poto melle resurrexit ; Glaucus having tasted honey , died and liv'd again . I pretend not to believe these stories true ; but from these instances it may be concluded that they believ'd it possible that there should be a Resurrection from the dead ; and natural reason , and their Philosophy did not wholly destroy their hopes and expectation to have a portion in this Article . For God knowing that the great hopes of Man , that the biggest endearment of Religion , the sanction of private Justice , the band of Piety and holy Courage , does wholly derive from the Article of the Resurrection , was pleased not onely to make it credible , but easie and familiar to us ; and we so converse every night with the Image of death , that every morning we find an argument of the Resurrection . Sleep and Death have but one mother , and they have one name in common . Soles occidere & redire possunt , Nobis cum semel occidit lux brevis , Nox est perpetua una dormienda . Catul. Charnel-houses are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cemeteries or sleeping-places , and they that die are fallen asleep , and the Resurrection is but an awakening and standing up from sleep : but in sleep our Senses are as fast bound by Nature , as our Joynts are by the grave-clothes ; and unless an Angel of God awaken us every morning , we must confess our selves as unable to converse with Men , as we now are afraid to die and to converse with Spirits . But however Death it self is no more ; it is but darkness and a shadow , a rest and a forgetfulness . What is there more in death ? what is there less in sleep ? For do we not see by experience that nothing of equal loudness does awaken us sooner then a Mans voice , especially if he be call'd by name ? and thus also it shall be in the Resurrection . We shall be awakened by the voice of a Man , and he that call'd Lazarus by name from his grave , shall also call us : for although S. Paul affirms , that the trumpet shall sound , and there shall be the voice of an Archangel ; yet this is not a word of Nature , but of Office and Ministry : Christ himself is that Archangel , and he shall descend with a mighty shout , ( saith the Apostle ) and all that are in the grave shall hear his voice , saith S. John : So that we shall be awakened by the voice of a Man , because we are onely fallen asleep by the decree of God ; and when the Cock and the Lark call us up to prayer and labour , the first thing we see is an argument of our Resurrection from the dead . And when we consider what the Greek Church reports , That amongst them the bodies of those that die Excommunicate will not return to dust till the Censure be taken off ; we may with a little faith and reason believe , that the same power that keeps them from their natural Dissolution , can recall them to life and union . I will not now insist upon the story of the Rising Bones seen every year in Egypt , nor the pretences of the Chymists , that they from the ashes of Flowers can re-produce from the same materials the same beauties i● colour and figure ; for he that proves a certain Truth from an uncertain Argument , is like him that wears a Wooden leg when he hath two sound legs already ; it hinders his going , but helps him not : The Truth of God stands not in need of such supporters , Nature alone is a sufficient preacher : Quae nunc herba fuit , lignum jacet , berba futura , Aeriae nudantur aves cum penna vetusta , Et nova subvestit reparatas pluma volucres . Night and Day , the Sun returning to the same point of East , every change of Species in the same matter , Generation and Corruption , the Eagle renewing her youth and the Snake her skin ; the Silk-worm and the Swallows the care of posterity and the care of an immortal name , Winter and Summer , the Fall and Spring , the Old Testament and the New , the words of Job , and the Visions of the Prophets , the prayer of Ezekiel for the resurrection of the men of Ephraim , and the return of Jonas from the Whales belly , the histories of the Jews and the Narratives of Christians , the Faith of Believers and the Philosophy of the reasonable ; all joyn in the verification of this Mystery . And amongst these heaps it is not of the least consideration that there was never any good man , who having been taught this Article , but if he serv'd God , he also relied upon this . If he believ'd God , he believ'd this ; and therefore S. Paul sayes that they who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , were also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they who had no hope ( meaning of the Resurrection ) were also Atheists , and without God in the world . And it is remarkable what S. Augustine observes , That when the World saw the righteous Abel destroyed , and that the murderer out-liv'd his crime , and built up a numerous family , and grew mighty upon Earth , they neglected the Service of God upon that account , till God in pity of their prejudice and foolish arguings took Enoch up to heaven to recover them from their impieties , by shewing them that their bodies and souls should be rewarded for ever in an eternal union . But Christ the first fruits is gone before , and himself did promise that when himself was lifted up he would draw all men after him . Every man in his own order ; first Christ , then they that are Christ's at his coming . And so I have done with the second Particular , not Christ onely , but we also shall rise in Gods time and our order . But concerning this order I must speak a word or two , not only for the fuller handling t●e Text , but because it will be matter of application of what hath been already spoken of the Article of the Resurrection . 3. First Christ and then we . And we therefore because Christ is already risen . But you must remember , that the Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ was the reward of his perfect obedience and purest holiness ; and he calling us to an imitation of the same obedience , and the same perfect holiness , prepares a way for us to the same Resurrection . If we by holiness become the Sons of God as Christ was , we shall also as he was become the Sons of God in the Resurrection : But upon no other terms . So said our blessed Lord himself : Ye which have followed me in the regeneration , when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory , ye also shall sit upon thrones judging the tribes of Israel . For as it was with Christ the first fruits , so it shall be with all Christians in their own order : as with the Head , so it shall be with the Members . He was the Son of God by love and obedience , and then became the Son of God by Resurrection from the dead to life Eternal , and so shall we ; but we cannot be so in any other way . To them that are Christ's , and to none else shall this be given . For we must know that God hath sent Christ into the World to be a great example and demonstration of the Oeconomy and Dispensation of Eternal life . As God brought Christ to glory , so he will bring us , but by no other method . He first obeyed the will of God , and patiently suffered the will of God ; he died , and rose again , and entered into glory ; and so must we . Thus Christ is made Via , Veritas , & Vita , the Way , the Truth , and the Life ; that is , the true way to Eternal life : He first trode this Wine-press , and we must insist in the same steps , or we shall never partake of this blessed Resurrection . He was made the Son of God in a most glorious manner , and we by him , by his merit , and by his grace , and by his example : but other then this there is no way of Salvation for us . That 's the first and great effect of this glorious order . 4. But there is one thing more in it yet , Every Man in his own order . First Christ , and then Christ's . But what shall become of them that are not Christ's ? why there is an order for them too . First , they that are Christ's ; and then they that are not his . * Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection . There is a first and a second Resurrection even after this life . The dead in Christ shall rise first . Now blessed are they that have their portion here ; for upon these the second death shall have no power . As for the recalling the wicked from their graves , it is no otherwise in the sense of the Spirit to be called a Resurrection , then taking a Criminal from the Prison to the Bar is a giving of liberty . When poor Attilius Aviola had been seized on by an Apoplexy , his friends supposing him dead carried him to his Funeral pile ; but when the fire began to approch , and the heat to warm the body , he reviv'd , and seeing himself incircled with Funeral flames , call'd out aloud to his friends to rescue , not the dead , but the living Aviola from that horrid burning . But it could not be . He onely was r●stor'd from his sickness to fall into death , and from his dull disease to a sharp and intolerable torment . Just so shall the wicked live again ; they shall receive their souls , that they may be a portion for Devils ; they shall receive their bodies , that they may feel the everlasting burning ; they shall see Christ , that they may look on him whom they have pierced ; and they shall hear the voice of God passing upon them the intolerable sentence ; they shall come from their graves , that they may go into hell ; and live again , that they may die for ever . So have we seen a poor condemned Criminal , the weight of whose sorrows sitting heavily upon his soul hath benummed him into a deep sleep , till he hath forgotten his grones , and laid aside his deep sighings ; but on a sudden comes the messenger of death , and unbinds the Poppy garland , scatters the heavy cloud that incircled his miserable head , and makes him return to acts of life , that he may quickly descend into death and be no more . So is every sinner that lies down in shame , and makes his grave with the wicked ; he shall indeed rise again , and be called upon by the voice of the Archangel , but then he shall descend into sorrows greater then the reason and the patience of a man , weeping and shrieking louder then the grones of the miserable children in the Valley of Hinnon . These indeed are sad stories , but true as the voice of God and the Sermons of the holy Jesus . They are Gods words and Gods decrees ; and I wish that all who profess the belief of these , would consider sadly what they mean. If ye believe the Article of the Resurrection , then you know that in your body you shall receive what you did in the body , whether it be good or bad . It matters not now very much whether our bodies be beauteous or deformed ; for if we glorifie God in our bodies , God shall make our bodies glorious . It matters not much whether we live in ease and pleasure , or eat nothing but bitter herbs : the body that lies in dust and ashes , that goes stooping and feeble , that lodges at the foot of the Cross and dwells in discipline , shall be feasted at the eternal supper of the Lamb. And ever remember this , that beastly pleasures , and lying lips , and a deceitful tongue , and a heart that sendeth forth proud things , are no good dispositions to a blessed Resurrection . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . It is not good that in the body we live a life of Dissolution , for that 's no good harmony with that purpose of glory which God designs the body . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said Phocyllides ; for we hope that from our beds of darkness we shall rise into Regions of light , and shall become like unto God : They shall partake of a Resurrection to life ; and what this can infer is very obvious . For if it be so hard to believe a Resurrection from one death , let us not be dead in trespasses and sins , for a Resurrection from two deaths will be harder to be believ'd , and harder to be effected . But if any of you have lost the life of Grace , and so forfeited all your title to a life of Glory , betake your selves to an early and an entire piety , that when by this first Resurrection you have made this way plain before your face , you may with confidence expect a happy Resurrection from your graves . For if it be possible that the spirit , when it is dead in sin , can arise to a life of righteousness ; much more it is easie to suppose that the body after death is capable of being restor'd again . And this is a consequent of S. Pauls argument , If when ye were enemies ye were reconciled by his death , much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life ; plainly declaring that it is a harder and more wonderful thing for a wicked man to become the friend of God , then for one that is so , to be carried up to heaven and partake of his glory . The first Resurrection is certainly the greater miracle : But he that hath risen once , may rise again ; and this is as sure as that he that dies once , may die again , and die for ever . But he who partakes of the death of Christ by Mortification , and of his Resurrection by holiness of life and a holy Faith , shall , according to the expression of the Prophet Isaiah , Enter into his chamber of death ; when Nature and Gods decree shall shut the doors upon him , and there he shall be hidden for a little moment : But then shall they that dwell in dust awake and sing , with Christs dead body shall they arise : all shall rise , but every man in his own order , Christ the first fruits , then they that are Christs at his coming . Amen . I have now done with my Meditation of the Resurrection ; but we have a new and a sadder subject to consider : It is glorious and brave when a Christian contemplates those glories which stand at the foot of the Account of all God's Servants ; but when we consider , that before all or any thing of this happens every Christian must twice exuere hominem , put off the Old man , and then lie down in dust and the dishonours of the Grave , it is Vinum Myrrhatum , there is Myrrhe put into our Wine ; it is wholsom , but it will allay all our pleasures of that glorious expectation . But no man can escape it . After that the Great Cyrus had rul'd long in a mighty Empire ; yet there came a Message from Heaven , not so sad it may be , yet as decretory as the Hand-writing on the wall that arrested his Successor Darius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Prepare thy self , O Cyrus , and then go unto the Gods ; he laid aside his Tiar and his beauteous Diadem , and cover'd his face with a cloth , and in a single Linen laid his honour'd head in a poor humble Grave ; and none of us all can avoid this sentence . For if Wit and Learning , great Fame and great Experience , if wise Notices of things , and an honourable Fortune , if Courage and Skill , if Prelacy and an honourable Age , if any thing that could give Greatness and Immunity to a wise and prudent man , could have been put in bar against a sad day , and have gone for good plea , this sad Scene of Sorrows had not been the entertainment of this Assembly . But tell me , where are those great Masters , who while they liv'd flourish'd in their studies ? Jam eorum praebendas alii possident , & nescio utrum de iis cogitant ; Other men have got their Prebends and their Dignities , and who knows whether ever they remember them or no ? While they liv'd they seem'd nothing , when they are dead , every man for a while speaks of them what they please , and afterwards they are as if they had not been . But the piety of the Christian Church hath made some little provision towards an artificial Immortality for brave and worthy persons ; and the Friendships , which our dead contracted while they were alive , require us to continue a fair memory as long as we can ; but they expire in monethly minds , or at most in a faint and declining Anniversary ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . And we have great reason so to do in this present sad accident of the death of our late most Reverend Primate , whose death the Church of Ireland hath very great reason to deplore ; and we have great obligation to remember : his very many worthy Deeds done for this poor afflicted and despised Church . S. Paul made an excellent Funeral Oration , as it were instituting a Feast of All Saints , Who all died having obtained a good report ; and that excellent Preacher in the 11. chap. of the Hebrews made a Sermon of their Commemoration . For since good men , while they are alive , have their conversation in Heaven ; when they are in Heaven 't is also fit that they should in their good names live upon Earth . And as their great Examples are an excellent Sermon to the living , and the praising them when Envy and Flattery can have no Interest to interpose , as it is the best and most vigorous Sermon and Incentive to great things ; so to conceal what good God hath wrought by them , is great unthankfulness to God and to good men . When Dorcas died the Apostle came to see the dead Corps , and the friends of the deceased expressed their grief and their love by shewing the Coats that she , whilest she lived , wrought with her own hands . She was a good Needle-woman and a good Huswife , and did good to Mankind in her little way , and that it self ought not to be forgotten , and the Apostle himself was not displeased with their little Sermons , and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the women made upon that sad interview . But if we may have the same liberty to record the worthy things of this our most venerable Father and Brother , and if there remains no more of that Envy which usually obscures the splendour of living Hero's , if you can with your charitable though weeping eyes behold the great gifts of God with which he adorned this great Prelate , a●d not object the failings of Humanity to the participation of the Graces of the Spirit , or think that Gods gifts are the lesse because they are born in Earthen Vessels , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for all men bear Mortality about them , and the Cabinet is not beauteous as the Diamond that shines within its bosom ; then we may without interruption pay this duty to Piety , and Friendship , and Thankfulness , and deplore our sad loss by telling a true and sad story of this great man , whom God hath lately taken from our eyes . He was bred in Cambridge in Sidney-college under Mr. Hulet , a grave and a worthy man , and he shewed himself not onely a fruitful Plant by his great progress in his Studies , but made him another return of gratitude , taking care to provide a good Imployment for him in Ireland , where he then began to be greatly interested . It was spoken as an honour to Augustus Caesar , that he gave his Tutor an honourable Funeral ; and Marcus Antoninus erected a Statue unto his ; and Gratian the Emperour made his Master Ausonius to be Consul : And our worthy Primate , knowing the Obligation which they pass upon us , who do Obstetricari gravidae animae , help the parturient Soul to bring forth fruits according to its seminal powers , was careful not onely to reward the industry of such persons so useful to the Church in the cultivating infantes palmarum , young Plants , whose joynts are to be stretch'd and made streight ; but to demonstrate that his Scholar knew how to value Learning , when he knew so well how to reward the Teacher . Having pass'd the course of his studies in the University , and done his Exercise with that Applause which is usually the reward of pregnant Wits and hard study , he was remov'd into York-shire ; where first in the City of York he was an assiduous Preacher , but by the disposition of the Divine Providence he happened to be engaged at North-Alerton in Disputation with three pragmatical Romish Priests of the Jesuits Order , whom he so much worsted in the Conference , and so shamefully disadvantaged by the evidence of Truth , represented wisely and learnedly , that the famous Primate of York , Archbishop Matthews , a learned and an excellent Prelate , and a most worthy Preacher , hearing of that Triumph , sent for him and made him his Chaplain ; in whose service he continued till the death of the Primate , but in that time had given so much testimony of his great Dexterity in the Conduct of Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs , that he grew dear to his Master . In that Imployment he was made Prebendary of York , and then of Rippon ; the Dean of which Church having made him his Sub-Dean , he managed the affairs of that Church so well , that he soon acquir'd a greater fame , and entered into the possession of many hearts , and admiration to those many more that knew him . There and at his Parsonage he continued long to do the duty of a learned and good Preacher , and by his Wisdom , Eloquence and Deportment , so gain'd the affections of the Nobility , Gentry and Commons of that Countrey , that as at his return thither upon the blessed Restauration of His most Sacred Majesty he knew himself oblig'd enough , and was so kind as to give them a Visit ; so they by their coming in great numbers to meet him , their joyful Reception of him , their great Caressing of him when he was there , their forward hopes to enjoy him as their Bishop , their trouble at his Departure , their unwillingness to let him go away , gave signal testimonies that they were wise and kind enough to understand and value his great worth . But while he lived there he was like a Diamond in the dust , ( or Lucius Quinctius at the plough ) his low Fortune covered a most valuable person , till he became observ'd by Sir Thomas Wentworth Lord President of York , whom we all knew for his great Excellencies , and his great but glorious Misfortunes . This rare person espied the great abilities of Doctor Bramhall , and made him his Chaplain , and brought him into Ireland as one whom he believ'd would prove the most fit instrument to serve in that design , which for two years before his arrival here he had greatly meditated and resolved , the Reformation of Religion and the Reparation of the broken Fortunes of the Church : The Complaints were many , the Abuses great , the Causes of the Church vastly numerous , but as fast as they were brought in , so fast they were by the Lord Deputy referred back to Dr. Bramhall , who by his indefatigable Pains , great Sagacity , perpetual Watchfulness , daily and hourly Consultations , reduc'd things to a more tolerable condition then they had been left in by the Schismatical principles of some , and the unjust Prepossessions of others , form any years before . For at the Reformation the Popish Bishops and Priests seemed to conform , and did so , that keeping their Bishopricks they might enrich their Kindred and dilapidate the Revenues of the Church ; which by pretended Offices , false Informations , Fee-farms at contemptible Rents , and ungodly Alienations , were made low as Poverty it self , and unfit to minister to the needs of them that serv'd the Altar , or the noblest purposes of Religion . For Hospitality decayed , and the Bishops were easie to be oppressed by those that would ; and they complained , but for a long time had no helper , till God raised up that glorious Instrument the Earl of Strafford , who brought over with him as great affections to the Church and to all publick Interests , and as admirable Abilities , as ever before his time did invest and adorn any of the Kings Vicegerents : and God fitted his hand with an Instrument good as his skill was great . For the first Specimen of his Abilities and Diligence in recovery of some lost Tithes being represented to His late Majesty of blessed and glorious memory , it pleased His Majesty upon the death of Bishop Downham to advance the Doctor to the Bishoprick of D●rry ; which he not onely adorned with an excellent spirit and a wise Government , but did more then double the Revenue , not by taking any thing from them to whom it was due , but by resuming something of the Churches Patrimony , which by undue means was detained in unfitting hands . But his care was beyond his Diocese , and his zele broke out to warm all his Brethren ; and though by reason of the Favour and Piety of King James the escheated Counties were well provided for their Tithes , yet the Bishopricks were not so well till the Primate , then Bishop of Derry , by the favour of the Lord Lieutenant and his own incessant and assiduous labour and wise conduct , brought in divers Impropriations , cancell'd many unjust Alienations , and did restore them to a condition much more tolerable ; I say much more tolerable ; for though he rais'd them above contempt , yet they were not near to envy ; but he knew there could not in all times be wanting too many that envied to the Church every degree of prosperity : so Judas did to Christ the expence of Oyntment , and so Dyonisius told the Priest , When himself stole the golden Cloak from Apollo , and gave him one of Arc●dian home-spun , that it was warmer for him in Winter and cooler in Summer . And forever , since the Church by God's blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes , and Pious Nobility , hath been endowed with fair Revenues ; inimicus homo , the Enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away God's portion from the Church , as if his Word were intended as an instrument to rob his Houses . But when the Israelites were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and God was their King , and Moses his Lieutenant , and things were of his management , he was pleas'd by making great Provisions for them that ministred in the service of the Tabernacle to consign this truth for ever , That Men , as they love God , at the same rate are to make provisions for his Priests . For when himself did it , he not only gave the 48. Cities , with a mile of Glebe round about their City every way , and yet the whole Country was but 140. miles long , or thereabouts , from Dan to Beersheba ; but besides this they had the tithe of a●l increase , the first fruits , offerings , vows , redemptions , and in short , they had 24. sorts of Dues , as Buxtorf relates ; and all this either brought to the Barn home to them without trouble , or else , as the nature of the thing required , brought to the Temple ; the first to make it more profitable , and the second to declare that they received it not from the People but from God , not the Peoples kindness but the Lords inheritance ; insomuch that this small Tribe of Levi , whic● was not the 40th . part of the People , as the Scripture computes them , had a Revenue almost treble to any of the largest of the Tribes . I will not insist on what Villalpandus observes , it may easily be read in the 45. of Ezekiel concerning that portion which God reserves for himself and his service , but whatsoever it be this I shall say , that it is confessedly a Prophecy of the Gospel ; but this I adde , that they had as little to do , and much less than a Christian Priest , and yet in all the 24. courses the poorest Priest amongst them might be esteemed a Rich man. I speak not this to upbraid any man or any thing but Sacrilege and Murmur , nor to any other end but to represent upon what great and Religious grounds the then Bishop of Derry did with so much care and assiduous labour endeavour to restore the Church of Ireland to that splendor and fulness ; which as it is much conducing to the honour of God and of Religion , God himself being the Judge , so it is much more necessary for you than it is for us , and so this wise Prelate rarely well understood it ; and having the same advantage and blessing as we now have , a Gracious King , and a Lieutenant Patron of Religion , and the Church , he improv'd the deposita pietatis , as Origen calls them , the Gages of Piety , which the Religion of the ancient Princes and Nobles of this Kingdom had bountifully given to such a comfortable competency , that though there be place left for present and future Piety to inlarge it self , yet no man hath reason to be discourag'd in his duty ; insomuch that as I have heard from a most worthy hand , that at his going into England he gave account to the Archbishop of Canterbury of 30000 l. a year , in the recovery of which he was greatly and principally instrumental . But the goods of this World are called waters by Solomon . Stollen waters are sweet , and they are too unstable to be stopt : some of these waters did run back from their proper chanel , and return to another course than God and the Laws intended , yet his labours and pious Counsels were not the less acceptable to God and good men , and therefore by a thankful and honourable recognition the Convocation of the Church of Ireland hath transmitted in Record to posterity their deep resentment of his singular services and great abilities in this whole affair . And this honour will for ever remain to that Bishop of Derry ; he had a Zerubbabel who repair'd the Temple and restor'd its beauty , but he was the Joshuah , the High-priest , who under him ministred this blessing to the Congregations of the Lord. But his care was not determin'd in the exteriour part onely , and Accessaries of Religion ; he was careful , and he was prosperous in it , to reduce that Divine and excellent Service of our Church to publick and constant Exercise , to Unity and Devotion ; and to cause the Articles of the Church of England to be accepted as the Rule of publick confessions and perswasions here , that they and we might be Populus unius labii , of one heart and one lip , building up our hopes of heaven on a most holy Faith ; and taking away that Shibboleth which made this Church lisp too undecently , or rather in some little degree to speak the speech of Ashdod , and not the language of Canaan ; and the excellent and wise pains he took in this particular no man can dehonestate or reproch , but he that is not willing to confess that the Church of England is the best Reformed Church in the world . But when the brave Roman Infantry under the Conduct of Manlius ascended up to the Capitol to defend Religion and their Altars from the fury of the Gauls , they all pray'd to God , Ut quemadmodum ipsi ad defendendum templum ejus concurrissent , ita ille virtutem ecrum numine suo tueretur : That as they came to defend his Temple by their Arms , so he would defend their Persons and that Cause with his Power and Divinity . And this excellent man in the Cause of Religion found the like blessing which they prayed for ; God by the prosperity of his labours and a blessed effect gave testimony not onely of the Piety and Wisdom of his purposes , but that he loves to bless a wise Instrument when it is vigorously imployed in a wise and religious labour . He overcame the difficulty in defiance of all such pretences as were made even from Religion it self to obstruct the better procedure of real and material Religion . These were great things and matter of great envy , and like the fiery eruptions of Vesuvius might with the very ashes of Consumption have buried another man. At first indeed , as his blessed Master the most holy Jesus had , so he also had his Annum acceptabilem . At first the product was nothing but great admiration at his stupendious parts , and wonder at his mighty diligence and observation of his unusual zele in so good and great things ; but this quickly pass'd into the natural daughters of Envy , Suspicion and Detraction , the spirit of Obloquy and Slander . His zele for recovery of the Church-revenues was call'd Oppression and Rapine , Covetousness and Injustice ; his care of reducing Religion to wise and justifiable principles was called Popery and Arminianism , and I know not what names , which signifie what the Authors are pleased to mean , and the People to conster and to hate . The intermedial prosperity of his Person and Fortune , which he had as an Earnest of a greater reward to so well-meant labours , was suppos'd to be the production of Illiberal Arts and ways of getting ; and the necessa●y refreshment of his wearied spirits , which did not alwayes supply all his needs , and were sometimes less then the permissions even of prudent charity , they call'd Intemperance : Dederunt enim malum M●t●lli Naevio poetae ; their own surmises were the Bills of Accusation , and the splendour of his great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Doing of good works , was the great probation of all their Calumnies . But if Envy be the accuser , what can be the defences of Innocence ? Saucior invidiae morsu , quaerenda medela est , Dic quibus in terris sentiet aeger opem ? Our B.S. knowing the unsatisfiable angers of men if their Money or Estates were medled with , refus'd to divide an Inheritance amongst Brethren ; it was not to be imagin'd that this great person ( invested , as all his Brethren were , with the infirmities of Mortality , and yet imployed in dividing and recovering and apportioning of Lands ) should be able to bear all that reproch which Jealousie and Suspicion , and malicious Envy , ●ould invent against him . But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said Sophocles : And so did he ; the Affrightments brought to his great Fame and Reputation made him to walk more warily , and do justly , and act prudently , and conduct his affairs by the measures of Laws , as far as he understood , and indeed that was a very great way : but there was Aperta justitia , Clausa manus , Justice was open , but his Hand was shut ; and though every Slanderer could tell a story , yet none could prove that ever he received a Bribe to blind his eyes to the value of a Pair of Gloves . It was his own Expression , when he gave glory to God who had preserv'd him innocent . But because every mans Cause is right in his own eyes , it was hard for him so to acquit himself , that in the Intriques of Law and difficult Cases some of his Enemies should not seem ( when they were heard alone ) to speak reason against him . But see the greatness of Truth and Prudence , and how greatly God stood with him . When the numerous Armies of vexed people , Turba gravis paci , placidaeque inimica quieti , heap'd up Catalogues of Accusations , when the Parliament of Ireland imitating the violent procedures of the then disordered English , when his glorious Patron was taken from his head , and he was disrobed of his great defences ; when Petitions were invited and Accusations furnished , and Calumny was rewarded and managed with art and power , when there were above 200. Petitions put in against him , and himself denied leave to answer by word of mouth ; when he was long imprison'd , and treated so that a guilty man would have been broken into affrightment and pitiful and low considerations ; yet then he him self standing almost alone , like Callimachus at Marathon invested with enemies and covered with arrows , defended himself beyond all the powers of guiltiness , even with the defences of Truth and the bravery of Innocence , and answered the Petitions in writing , sometimes twenty in a day , with so much clearness , evidence of truth , reality of Fact and Testimony of Law , that his very Enemies were asham'd and convinc'd ; they found they had done like Aesops Viper , they licked the file till their tongues bled ; but himself was wholly invulnerable . They were therefore forc'd to leave their muster-rolls and decline the particulars , and fall to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to accuse him for going about to subvert the fundamental Laws ; the way by which great Strafford and Canterbury fell ; which was a device , when all reasons fail'd , to oppress the Enemy by the bold affirmation of a Conclusion they could not prove , they did like those Gladiatores whom the Romans call'd Retiaries , when they could not stab their Enemies with their daggers , they threw nets over him , and cover'd him with a general mischief . But the Martyr King Charles the First , of most glorious and Eternal Memory ; seeing so great a Champion likely to be oppress'd with numbers and despair , sent what rescue he could , his Royal Letter for his Bail , which was hardly granted to him , and when it was , it was upon such hard terms , that his very delivery was a persecution . So necessary it was for them , who intended to do mischief to the publick , to take away the strongest pillars of the house . This thing I remark to acquit this great man from the tongue of slander , which had so boldly spoken , that it was certain something would stick , yet was so impotent and unarm'd , that it could not kill that great fame which his greater worthiness had procur'd him . It was said of Hippasus the Pythagorean , that being ask'd how and what he had done : He answer'd , Nondum nihil , neabque ; enim adhuc mihi invidetur ; I have done nothing yet , for no man envies me . He that does great things , cannot avoid the tongues and teeth of Envy ; but if calumnies must pass for evidences , the bravest Hero's must alwayes be the most reproched Persons in the World. Nascitur Aetolicus , pravum ingeniosus ad omne ; Qui facere assuerat , patriae non degener artis , Candida de nigris , & de candentibus atra . Every thing can have an ill name and an ill sense put upon it ; but God , who takes care of reputations as he does of lives , by the orders of his providence confutes the slander , ut memoria justorum sit in benedictionibus , that the memory of the righteous man might be emba●m'd with honour : And so it hapned to this great man ; for by a publick Warranty , by the concurrent consent of both Houses of Parliament , the Libellous Petitions against him , the false Records and publick Monuments or injurious shame were cancell'd , and he was restor'd in integrum to that fame where his great labours and just procedures had first estated him ; which , though it was but justice , yet it was also such honour , that it is greater then the virulence of tongues , which his worthiness and their envy had arm'd against him . But yet the great scene of the troubles was but newly open'd . I shall not refuse to speak yet more of his troubles , as remembring that St. Paul , when he discourses of the glories of the Saints departed , he tells more of their sufferings than of their prosperities , as being that Laboratory and Crysable in which God makes his Servants vessels of honour to his glory . The storm quickly grew high ; & transitum est à linguis ad gladios , and that was indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Iniquity had put on arms ; when it is armata nequitia , then a man is hard put to it . The Rebellion breaking out the Bishop went to his charge at Derry , and , because he was within the defence of Walls , the execrable Traitor Sir Phelim ô Neale laid a snare to bring him to a dishonourable death . For he wrote a Letter to the Bishop , pretended Intelligence between them , desir'd that according to their former agreement such a Gate might be deliver'd to him . The messenger was not advis'd to be cautious , not at all instructed in the art of Secrecy , for it was intended that he should be search'd , intercep●ed and hang'd for ought they car'd : but the Arrow was shot against the Bishop , that he might be accused for base Conspiracy , and die with shame and sad dishonour . But here God manifested his mighty care of his Servants ; he was pleas'd to send into the heart of the messenger such an affrightment , that he directly ran away with the Letter , and never durst come near the Town to deliver it . This story was publish'd by Sir Phelim himself , who added , That if he could have thus ensnar'd the Bishop , he had good assurance the Town should have been his own : Sed bonitas Dei praevalitura est super omnem malitiam hominis , The goodness of God is greater then all the malice of Men ; and nothing could so prove how dear that sacred Life was to God , as his rescue from the dangers . Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deos : To have kept him in a warm house had been nothing , unless the roof had fallen upon his head , that rescue was a remark of Divine favour and Providence . But it seems Sir Phelim's Treason against the Life of this worthy Man had a Correspondent in the Town ; and it broke out speedily ; for what they could not effect by malicious stratagem , they did in part by open force ; they turn'd the Bishop out of the Town , and upon trifling and unjust pretences search'd his Carriages , and took what they pleas'd , till they were asham'd to take more : they did worse then divorce him from his Church , for in all the Roman Divorces they said , Tuas tibi res habeto , Take your goods and be gone ; but Plunder was Religion then . However , though the usage was sad , yet it was recompenc'd to him by his taking Sanctuary in Oxford , where he was graciously receiv'd by that most incomparable and divine Prince ; but having served the King in Yorkshire by his Pen , and by his Counsels , and by his Interests , return'd back to Ireland , where under the excellent conduct of his Grace the now Lord Lieutenant , he ran the risque and fortune of oppressed Vertue . But God having still resolv'd to afflict us , the good man was forc'd into the fortune of the Patriarchs , to leave his Countrey and his Charges , and seek for safety and bread in a strange Land ; for so the Prophets were us'd to do , wandring up and down in sheeps-clothing , but poor as they were the world was not worthy of them ; and this worthy man , despising the shame , took up his Cross and followed his Master . Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri , Et desiderium dulce levat patriae . He was not asham'd to suffer where the Cause was honourable and glorious ; but so God provided for the needs of his banished , and sent a man who could minister comfort to the afflicted , and courage to the persecuted , and resolutions to the tempted , and strength to that Religion for which they all suffered . And here this great man was indeed triumphant ; this was one of the last and best scenes of his life : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , The last dayes are the best witnesses of a man. But so it was , that he stood up in publick and brave defence for the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England ; First , by his Sufferings and great Example , for Verbis tantùm philosophari non est Doctoris sed Histrionis , To talk well and not to do bravely is for a Comedian , not a Divine : But this great man did both ; he suffered his own Calamity with great courage , and by his wise Discourses strengthened the hearts of others . For there wanted not diligent Tempters in the Church of Rome , who ( taking advantage of the Afflictions of His Sacred Majesty , in which state Men commonly suspect every thing , and like men in sickness are willing to change from side to side , hoping for ease and finding none ) flew at Royal Game , and hop'd to draw away the King from that Religion which His most Royal Father , the best Man and the wisest Prince in the world , had seal'd with the best Bloud in Christendom ; and which Himself suck'd in with His Education , and had confirm'd by Choice and Reason , and confess'd publickly and bravely , and hath since restor'd prosperously . M●llitie●e was the man , witty and bold enough to a●tempt a zelous and a foolish undertaking , and address'd himself with ignoble indeed but witty arts to perswade the King to leave what was dearer to Him then His Eyes . It is true , it was a Wave dash'd against a Rock , and an Arrow shot against the Sun , it could not reach him ; but the Bishop of Derry turn'd it al●o , and made it to fall upon the shooters head ; for he made so ingenious , so learned and so accute Reply to that book , he so discover'd the Errors of the Roman Church , retorted the Arguments , stated the Questions , demonstrated the Truth , and sham'd their Procedures , that nothing could be a greater argument of the Bishops Learning , great Parts , deep Judgment , Quickness of Apprehension , and Sincerity in the Catholick and Apostolick Faith , or of the Follies and Prevarications of the Church of Rome . He wrote no Apologies for himself ; though it were much to be wish'd that , as Junius wrote his own Life , or Moses his own story , so we might have understood from himself how great things God had done for him and by him ; but all that he permitted to God , and was silent in his own Defences ; Gloriosius enim est injuriam tacendo fugere , quàm respondendo superare . But when the Honour and Conscience of his King , and the Interest of a true Religion , was at stake , the fire burn'd within him , and at last he spake with his tongue ; he cried out like the son of Croesus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Take heed and meddle not with the King ; His Person is too sacred , and Religion too dear to Him to be assaulted by Vulgar hands . In short , he acquited himself in this affair with so much Truth and Piety , Learning and Judgment , that in those Papers his memory will last unto very late succeeding Generations . But this most Reverend Prelate found a nobler adversary and a braver scene for his contention . He found that the Roman Priests being wearied and baffled by the wise Discourses and pungent Arguments of the English Divines , had studiously declined any more to dispute the particular Questions against us , but fell at last upon a general Charge , imputing to the Church of England the great crime of Schism ; and by this they thought they might with most probability deceive unwary and unskilful Readers ; for they saw the Schism , and they saw we had left them , and because they consider'd not the Causes , they resolv'd to out-face us in the Charge . But now it was that dignum nactus argumentum , having an Argument fit to imploy his great abilities , Consecrat hic praesul calamum calamíque labores Ante aras Domino laeta trophaea suo ; the Bishop now dedicates his labours to the service of God and of his Church , undertook the Question , and in a full Discourse proves the Church of Rome , not only to be guilty of the Schism by making it necessary to depart from them , but they did actuate the Schisms , and themselves made the first separation in the great point of the Popes Supremacy , which was the Palladium for which they principally contended . He made it appear that the Popes of Rome were Usurpers of the rights of Kings and Bishops , that they brought in new Doctrines in every Age , that they impos'd their own devices upon Christendom as Articles of Faith , that they prevaricated the Doctrines of the Apostles , that the Church of England only return'd to her Primitive purity , that she joyn'd with Christ and his Apostles , that she agreed in all the Sentiments of the Primitive Church . He stated the questions so wisely , and conducted them so prudently , and handled them so learnedly , that I may truly say , they were never more materially confuted by any man , since the questions have so unhappily disturbed Christendom . Verum hoc eos malè ussit : and they finding themselves smitten under the fifth rib , set up an old Champion of their own , a Goliah to fight against the Armies of Israel ; the old Bishop of Chalcedon , known to many of us , replied to this excellent Book ; but was so answer'd by a Rejoynder made by the Lord Bishop of Derry , in which he so press'd the former Arguments , refuted the Cavils , brought in so many impregnable Authorities and Probations , and added so many moments and weights to his discourse , that the pleasures of reading the Book would be the greatest , if the profit to the Church of God were not greater . Flumina tum lactis , tum flumina nectaris ibant , Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella . For so Sampson's riddle was again expounded ; Out of the strong came meat , and out of the eater came sweetness ; his Arguments were strong , and the Eloquence was sweet and delectable ; and though there start up another combatant against him , yet he had onely the honour to fall by the hands of Hector : still haeret lateri lethalis arundo ; the headed arrow went in so far , that it could not be drawn out , but the barbed steel stuck behind . And whenever men will desire to be satisfied in those great questions , the Bishop of Derry's book shall be his Oracle . I will not insist upon his other excellent writings ; but it is known every where with what Piety and acumen he wrote against the Manichean Doctrine of Fatal necessity , which a late witty man had pretended to adorn with a new Vizor ; but this excellent person wash'd off the Cerusse and the meretricious Paintings , rarely well asserted the oeconomy of the Divine Providence , and having once more triumph'd over his Adversary , plenus victoriarum & trophaeorum betook himself to the more agreeable attendance upon Sacred Offices , and having usefully and wisely discours'd of the sacred Rite of Confirmation , impos'd hands upon the most Illustrious Princes , the Dukes of York and Gloucester , and the Princess Royal , and ministred to them the promise of the holy Spirit , and ministerially establish'd them in the Religion and Service of the holy Jesus . And one thing more I shall remark , that at his leaving those Parts upon the Kings Return , some of the Remonstrant Ministers of the Low-Countries coming to take their leaves of this great man , and desiring that by his means the Church of England would be kind to them , he had reason to grant it , because they were learned men , and in many things of a most excellent belief ; yet he reprov'd them , and gave them caution against it , that they approched too near and gave too much countenance to the great and dangerous errors of the Socinians . He thus having serv'd God and the King abroad , God was pleas'd to return to the King and to us all , as in the dayes of old , and we sung the song of David . In convertendo captivitatem Sion : When King David and all his servants returned to Jerusalem , this great person having trode in the Wine-press was called to drink of the Wine , and as an honorary Reward of his great services and abilities was chosen Primate of this National Church : In which time we are to look upon him , as the King and the Kings great Vicegerent did , as a person concerning whose abilities the World had too great testimony ever to make a doubt . It is true , he was in the declension of his age and health ; but his very Ruines were goodly ; and they who saw the broken heaps of Pompey's Theatre , and the crushed Obelisks , and the old face of beauteous Philaenium , could not but admire the disordered glories of such magnificent structures , which were venerable in their very dust . He ever was us'd to overcome all difficulties , onely Mortality was too hard for him ; but still his Vertues and his Spirit was immortal , he still took great care , and still had new and noble designs , and propos'd to himself admirable things . He govern'd his Province with great justice and sincerity ; Unus amplo consulens pastor gregi , Somnos tuetur omnium solus vigil . And had this remark in all his Government , that as he was a great hater of Sacrilege , so he professed himself a publick enemy to Non-residence , and often would declare wisely and religiously against it , allowing it in no case but of Necessity or the greater good of the Church . There are great things spoken of his Predecessor S. Patrick , that he founded 700. Churches and Religious Convents , that he ordain'd 5000. Priests , and with his own hands consecrated 350. Bishops . How true the story is I know not ; but we were all witnesses that the late Primate , whose memory we now celebrate , did by an extraordinary contingency of Providence in one day consecrate two Archbishops and ten Bishops ; and did benefit to almost all the Churches in Ireland , and was greatly instrumental to the Re-endowments of the whole Clergy ; and in the greatest abilities and incomparable industry was inferiour to none of his most glorious Antecessours . Since the Canonization of Saints came into the Church , we find no Irish Bishop canoniz'd except S. Laurence of Dublin , and S. Malachias of Down ; indeed Richard of Armagh's Canonization was propounded , but not effected ; but the Character which was given of that learned Primate by Trithemius does exactly fit this our late Father ; Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditus , secularis Philosophiae jurisque Canonici non ignarus , clarus ingenio , sermone scholasticus , in declamandis sermonibus ad populum excellentis industriae : He was learned in the Scriptures , skill'd in secular Philosophy , and not unknowing in the Civil and Canon Laws , ( in which studies I wish the Clergy were with some carefulness and diligence still more conversant ) he was of an excellent spirit , a scholar in his discourses , an early and industrious Preacher to the people . And as if there were a more particular sympathy between their souls , our Primate had so great a Veneration to his memory , that he purpos'd , if he had liv'd , to have restor'd his Monument in Dundalke , which Time , or Impiety , or Unthankfulness had either omitted or destroyed . So great a lover he was of all true and inherent worth , that he lov'd it in the very memory of the dead , and to have such great Examples transmitted to the intuition and imitation of posterity . At his coming to the Primacy he knew he should at first espy little besides the Ruines of Discipline , a Harvest of Thorns , and Heresies prevailing in the hearts of the People , the Churches possess'd by Wolves and Intruders , Mens hearts greatly estranged from true Religion ; and therefore he set himself to weed the fields of the Church ; he treated the Adversaries sometimes sweetly , sometimes he confuted them learnedly , sometimes he rebuk'd them sharply . He visited his Charges diligently , and in his own person , not by Proxies and instrumental Deputations : Quaerens non nostra , sed nos , & quae sunt Jesu Christi ; he design'd nothing that we knew of but the Redintegration of Religion , the Honour of God and the King , the Restoring of collapsed Discipline , and the Renovation of Faith and the Service of God in the Churches . And still he was indefatigable , and , even as the last scene of his life , intended to undertake a a Regal Visitation . Quid enim vultis me otiosum à Domino comprehendi ? said one ; he was not willing that God should take him unimployed : But , good man , he felt his Tabernacle ready to fall in pieces , and could go no further , for God would have no more work done by that hand ; he therefore espying this , put his house in order , and had lately visited his Diocese , and done what he then could to put his Charge in order ; for he had a good while since receiv'd the sentence of death within himself , and knew he was shortly to render an account of his stewardship ; he therefore upon a brisk alarm of death , which God sent him the last January , made his Will ; in which , besides the prudence and presence of spirit manifested in making just and wise settlement of his Estate , and provisions for his Descendants ; at midnight , and in the trouble of his sickness and circumstances of addressing death , still kept a special sentiment and made confession of Gods admirable mercies , and gave thanks that God had permitted him to live to see the blessed Restauration of His Majesty and the Church of England , confess'd his Faith to be the same as ever , gave praises to God that he was born and bred up in this Religion , and prayed to God and hop'd he should die in the Communion of this Church , which he declar'd to be the most pure and Apostolical Church in the whole world . He prayed to God to pardon his frailties and infirmities , relied upon the mercies of God and the merits of Jesus Christ , and with a singular sweetness resign'd up his soul into the hands of his Redeemer . But God , who is the great Choragus and Master of the Scenes of Life and Death , was not pleas'd then to draw the Curtains ; there was an Epilogue to his Life yet to be acted and spoken . He return'd to actions and life , and went on in the methods of the same procedure as before ; was desirous still to establish the affairs of the Church , complain'd of some disorders which he purpos'd to redress , girt himself to the work ; but though his spirit was willing , yet his flesh was weak ; and as the Apostles in the Vespers of Christs Passion , so he in the Eve of his own Dissolution was heavy , not to sleep , but heavy unto death , and look'd for the last warning , which seiz'd on him in the midst of business ; and though it was sudden , yet it could not be unexpected , or unprovided by surprize , and therefore could be no other then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Augustus us'd to wish unto himself , a civil and well-natur'd death , without the amazement of troublesom circumstances , or the great cracks of a falling house , or the convulsions of impatience . Seneca tells that Bassus Aufidius was wont to say , Sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu , si tamen esset , habere aliquantum in ipsa brevitate solatii : He hop'd that the pains of the last Dissolution were little or none ; or if they were , it was full of comfort that they could be but short . It happened so to this excellent Man ; his Passive Fortitude had been abundantly tried before , and therefore there was the less need of it now ; his active Graces had been abundantly demonstrated by the great and good things he did , & therefore his last scene was not so laborious , but God call'd him away something after the manner of Moses , which the Jews express by Osculum oris Dei , The Kiss of Gods mouth ; that is , a death indeed foresignified , but gentle , and serene , and without temptation . To summe up all ; He was a wise Prelate , a learned Doctor , a just Man , a true Friend , a great Benefactour to others , a thankful Beneficiary where he was oblig'd himself . He was a faithful Servant to his Masters , a Loyal Subjest to the King , a zelous Assertor of his Religion against Popery on one side , and Fanaticism on the other . The practice of his Religion was not so much in Forms and exteriour Ministries , though he was a great observer of all the publick Rites and Ministries of the Church , as it was in doing good for others . He was like Myson , whom the Scythian Anarchasis so greatly prais'd , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he govern'd his family well , he gave to all their due of maintenance and duty , he did great benefit to mankind ; he had the fate of the Apostle S. Paul , he pass'd through evil report and good report , as a deceiver and yet true . He was a man of great business and great resort : Semper aliquis in Cydonis domo , as the Corinthian said ; There was alwayes somebody in Cydon's house . He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he divided his life into labour and his book ; he took care of his Churches when he was alive , and even after his death , having left 500 l. for the Repair of his Cathedral of Armagh and S. Peters Church in Drogheda . He was an excellent Scholar , and rarely well accomplish'd ; first instructed to great excellency by natural parts , and then consummated by study and experience . Melanchthon was us'd to say that himself was a Logician , Pomeranus a Grammarian , Justus Jonas an Orator , but that Luther was all these . It was greatly true of him , that the single perfections which make many men eminent , were united in this Primate and ma●e him illustrious . At , at , Quintilium perpetuus sopor Urget : cui pudor & justitiae soror Incorrupta fides , nudaque veritas Quando ullum invenient parem ? It will be hard to find his Equal in all things : Fortasse tanquam Phoenix anno quingentesimo nascitur , ( that I may use the words of Seneca ) nec est mirum ex intervallo magna generari mediocria & in turbam n●scentia saepe fortuna producit : eximia vero ipsa raritate commendat . For in him was visible the great lines of Hooker's Judiciousness , of Jewel's Learning , of the Accuteness of Bishop Andrews . He was skill'd in more great things then one ; and , as one said of Phidias , he could not onely make excellent statues of Ivory , but he could work in Stone and Brass . He shewed his Equanimity in Poverty , and his Justice in Riches ; he was useful in his Countrey , and profitable in his Banishment ; for , as Paraeus was at Anvilla , Luther at Wittenburg , S. Athanasius and S. Chrysostom in their Banishment , S. Hierom in his Retirement at Bethlehem , they were Oracles to them that needed it ; so was he in Holland and France , where he was abroad ; and , beside the particular endearments which his friends receiv'd from him , for he did do relief to his brethren that wanted , and supplied the Souldiers out of his store in York-shi●e , when himself could but ill spare it ; but he receiv'd publick thanks from the Convocation of which he was President , and publick Justification from the Parliament where he was Speaker ; so that although , as one said , Miraculi instar vitae iter , si longum , sine offensione percurrere ; yet no man had greater enemies , and no man had greater justifications . But God hath taken our Elijah from our heads this day . I pray God that at least his Mantle may be left behind , and that his spirit may be doubled upon his Successour ; and that we may all meet together with him at the right hand of the Lamb , where every man shall receive according to his deeds , whether they be good or whether they be evil . I conclude with the words of Caius Plinius , Equidem beatos puto quibus Deorum munere datum est , aut facere scribenda , aut scribere legenda . He wrote many things fit to be read , and did very many things worthy to be written ; which if we wisely imitate , we may hope to meet him in the Resurrection of the just , and feast with him in the eternal Supper of the Lamb , there to sing perpetual Anthems to the honour of God the Father , Son and Holy Ghost , to whom be all honour , &c. THE END . RULES AND ADVICES To the Clergy OF THE DIOCESSE OF DOWN and CONNER , For their Deportment in their Personal and Publick Capacities . Given by Jer. Taylor , Bishop of that Diocess , at the Visitation at LISNEGARVEY . The second Edition . LONDON : Printed by J. G. for Richard Royston , Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty , 1663. Rules and Advices to the Clergy . I. Personal Duty . II. Of Prudence required in Ministers . III. The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers , in their respective Cures . IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching . V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechisme . VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick. VII . Of ministring the Sacraments , publick Prayers , and other duties of Ministers . Rules and Advices to the CLERGY . I. Personall Duty . REmember that it is your great duty , and tied on you by many Obligations , that you be exemplar in your lives , and be Patterns and Presidents to your Flocks : lest it be said unto you , Why takest thou my Law into thy mouth , seeing thou hatest to be reformed thereby ? He that lives an idle life may preach with Truth and Reason , or as did the Pharisees ; but not as Christ , or as one having Authority . Every Minister in taking accounts of his life , must judge of his Duty by more strict and severer measures , than he does of his People ; and he that ties heavy burthens upon others , ought himself to carry the heaviest end : and many things may be lawful in them , which he must not suffer in himself . Let every Minister endeavour to be learned in all spiritual wisdome , and skilful in the things of God ; for he will ill teach others the way of godliness , perfectly , that is himself a babe and uninstructed . An ignorant Minister is an head without an eye ; and an evil Minister is salt that hath no favour . Every Minister , above all things , must be carefull that he be not a servant of passion , whether of anger or desire . For he that is not a master of his passions will alwayes be useless , and quickly will become contemptible and cheap in the eyes of his Parish . Let no Minister be litigious in any thing ; not greedy or covetous ; not insisting upon little things , or quarrelling for , or exacting of every minute portion of his dues ; but bountiful and easie ; remitting of his right , when to do so may be useful to his people , or when the contrary may do mischief , and cause reproach . Be not over-righteous ( saith Solomon ) that is , not severe in demanding , or forcing every thing , though it be indeed his due . Let not the name of the Church be made a pretence for personal covetousness ; by saying , you are willing to remit many things , but you must not wrong the Church : for though it be true , that you are not to do prejudice to succession , yet many things may be forgiven upon just occasions , from which the Church shall receive no incommodity ; but be sure that there are but few things which thou art bound to do in thy personal capacity , but the same also , and more , thou art obliged to perform , as thou art a publick person . Never exact the offerings , or customary wages , and such as are allowed by law , in the ministration of the Sacraments , nor condition for them , nor secure them before-hand ; but first doe your office , and minister the Sacraments purely , readily , and for Christs sake ; and when that is done , receive what is your due . Avoid all pride , as you would flee from the most frightful apparition , or the most cruel enemy ; and remember that you can never truly teach humility , or tell what it is , unless you practise it your selves . Take no measures of Humility , but such as are material and tangible ; such which consist not in humble words , and lowly gestures ; but what is first truly radicated in your Souls , in low opinion of your selves , and in real preferring others before your selves , & in such significations , which can neither deceive your selves nor others . Let every Curate of Souls strive to understand himself best ; and then to understand others . Let him spare himself least ; but most severely judge , censure , and condemn himself . If he be learned , let him shew it by wise teaching , and humble manners . If he be not learned , let him be sure to get so much knowledge as to know that , and so much humility , as not to grow insolent , and puffed up by his Emptiness . For many will pardon a good man that is less learned ; but if he be proud , no man will forgive him . Let every Minister be careful to live a life as abstracted from the Affairs of the world , as his necessity will permit him ; but at no hand to be immerg'd and principally imploy'd in the Affairs of the World : What cannot be avoyded , and what is of good report , and what he is oblig'd to by any personal or collateral Duty , that he may do , but no more . Ever remembring the Saying of our blessed Lord : In the world ye shall have trouble ; but in me ye shall have peace : and consider this also , which is a great Truth ; That every degree of love to the world , is so much taken from the Love of God. Be no otherwise sollicitous of your Fame and Reputation , but by doing your duty well and wisely : in other things refer your selfe to God : but if you meet with evil Tongues , be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately . Remember that no Minister can govern his people well , and prosperously , unless himself hath learn'd humbly and cheerfully to obey his Superiour . For every Minister should be like the good Centurion in the Gospel : himself is under authority , and he hath people under him . Be sure in all your Words and Actions to preserve Christian simplicity and ingenuity ; to do to others , as you would be done unto your self ; and never to speak what you doe not think . Trust to Truth , rather than to your Memory : for this may fail you , that will never . Pray much and very fervently , for all your Parishioners , and all men that belong to you , and all that belong to God ; but especially for the Conversion of Souls ; and be very zealous for nothing , but for Gods glory , and the salvation of the World , and particularly of your Charges : Ever remembring that you are by God appointed , as the Ministers of Prayer , and the Ministers of good things , to pray for all the World , and to heale all the World , as far as you are able . Every Minister must learn and practise patience , that by bearing all adversity meekly , and humbly , and cheerfully , and by doing all his duty with unwearied industry , with great courage , constancy , and Christian magnanimity , he may the better assist his people in the bearing of their crosses , and overcoming their difficulties . He that is holy , let him be holy still , and still more holy , and never think he hath done his work , till all be finished by perseverance , and the measures of perfection in a holy Life , and a holy Death : but at no hand must he magnifie himself by vain separations from others , or despising them that are not so holy . II. Of Prudence required in Ministers . REmember that Discretion is the Mistress of all Graces , and Humility is the greatest of all Miracles ; and without this , all Graces perish to a mans self ; and without that , all Graces are useless unto others . Let no Minister be governed by the opinion of his People , and destroy his duty , by unreasonable compliance with their humours , lest as the Bishop of Granata told the Governours of Leria and Patti , like silly Animals they take burdens upon their backs at the pleasure of the multitude , which they neither can retain with Prudence , nor shake off with Safety . Let not the Reverence of any man cause you to sin against God ; but in the matter of Souls , being well advis'd , be bold and confident ; but abate nothing of the honour of God , or the just measures of your duty , to satisfie the importunity of any man whatsoever , and God will bear you out . When you teach your people any part of their duty , as in paying their debts , their tithes and offerings , in giving due reverence and religious regards , diminish nothing of admonition in these particulars , and the like , though they object , That you speak for your selves , and in your own cases . For a counsel is not the worse , but the better , if it be profitable both to him that gives , and to him that takes it . Onely do it in simplicity , and principally intend the good of their souls . In taking accounts of the good Lives of your selves or others , take your measures by the express words of Scripture ; and next to them estimate them by their proportion and compliance with the publick measures , with the Laws of the Nation , Eccesiastical and Civil , and by the Rules of Fame , of publick honesty and good Report ; and last of all by their observation of the Ordinances and exteriour parts of Religion . Be not satisfied when you have done a good work , unless you have also done it well ; and when you have , then be carefull that vain-glory , partiality , self-conceit , or any other folly or indiscretion , snatch it not out of your hand , and cheat you of the reward . Be carefull so to order your self , that you fall not into temptation and folly in the presence of any of your Charges ; and especially that you fall not into chidings and intemperate talkings , and sudden and violent expressions : Never be a party in clamours and scoldings , lest your Calling become uselesse , and your person contemptible : Ever remembring that if you cheaply and lightly be engag'd in such low usages with any person , that person is likely to be lost from all possibility of receiving much good from your Ministry . The Rules and Measures of Government to be used by Ministers in their respective Cures . USe no violence to any man , to bring him to your opinion ; but by the word of your proper Ministry , by Demonstrations of the Spirit , by rational Discourses , by excellent Examples , constrain them to come in : and for other things they are to be permitted to their own liberty , to the measures of the Laws , and the conduct of their Governors . Suffer no quarrel in your Parish , and speedily suppress it when it is begun ; and though all wise men will abstain from interposing in other mens affairs , and especially in matters of Interest , which men love too well ; yet it is your duty Duty here to interpose , by perswading them to friendships , reconcilements , moderate prosecutions of their pretences ; and by all means you prudently can , to bring them to peace and brotherly kindness . Suffer no houses of Debauchery , of Drunkenness or Lust in your Parishes ; but implore the assistance of Authority for the suppressing of all such meeting-places and nurseries of Impiety : & as for places of publick Entertainment , take care that they observe the Rules of Christian Piety , and the allowed measures of Laws . If there be any Papists or Sectaries in your Parishes , neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit or meekness , and by the importunity of wise Discourses seeking to gain them . But stir up no violences against them ; but leave them ( if they be incurable ) to the wise and merciful disposition of the Laws . Receive not the people to doubtful Disputations : and let no names of Sects or differing Religions be kept up amongst you , to the disturbance of the publick peace and private Charity : and teach not the people to estimate their Piety by their distance from any Opinion , but by their Faith in Christ their Obedience to God and the Lawes , an● their love to all Christian people even though they be deceived . Think no man considerable upon the point or pretence of a tender Conscience , unless he live a good life , and in all things endeavour to approve himself void of offence both towards God and man : but if he be an humble person , modest and inquiring , apt to learn and desirous of information ; if he seeks for it in all wayes reasonable and pious , and is obedient to Laws , then take care of him , use him tenderly , perswade him meekly , reprove him gently , and deal mercifully with him , till God shall reveal that also unto him , in which his unavoidable trouble and his temptation lies . Mark them that cause Divisions among you , and avoid them : for such persons are by the Scripture called Scandals in the abstract ; they are Offenders and Offences too . But if any man have an Opinion , let him have it to himself , till he can be cur'd of his disease by time , and counsel , and gentle usages . But if he separates from the Church , or gathers a Congregation , he is proud , and is fallen from the communion of Saints , and the Unity of the Catholick Church . He that observes any of his people to be zealous , let him be carefull to conduct that zeal into such channels where there is least danger of inconveniency ; let him employ it in something that is good ; let it be press'd to fight against sin . For Zeal is like a Cancer in the Breast ; feed it with good flesh , or it will devour the Heart . Strive to get the love of the Congregation ; but let it not degenerate into popularity . Cause them to love you and revere you ; to love with Religion , not for your compliance ; for the good you do them , not for that you please them . Get their love by doing your duty , but not by omitting or spoiling any part of it : Ever remembring the severe words of our blessed Saviour , Wo be to you when all men speak well of you . Suffer not the common people to prattle about Religion and questions ; but to speak little , to be swift to hear , and slow to speak , that they learn to do good works for necessary uses , that they work with their hands , that they may have wherewithall to give to them that need ; that they study to quiet , and learn to do their own business . Let every Minister take care that he call upon his Charge , that they order themselves so , that they leave no void spaces of their time , but that every part of it be filled with usefull or innocent imployment . For where there is a space without business , that space is the proper time for danger and temptation ; and no man is more miserable than he that knows not how to spend his time . Fear no mans person in the doing of your duty wisely , and according to the Laws : remembring alwayes that a servant of God can no more be hurt by all the powers of wickedness , than by the noise of a Flies wing , or the chirping of a Sparrow . Brethren , do well for your selves : do well for your selves as long as you have time ; you know not how soon death will come . Entertain no persons into your Assemblies from other Parishes , unless upon great occasion , or in the destitution of a Minister , or by contingency and seldome visits , or with leave : lest the labour of thy brother be discouraged , and thy selfe be thought to preach Christ out of envy , and not of good will. Never appeal to the judgement of the people in matters of controversie ; teach them obedience , not arrogancy ; teach them to be humble , not crafty . For without the aid of false guides you will find some of them of themselves apt enough to be troublesome : and a question put into their heads , and a power of judging into their hands , is a putting it to their choice whether you shall be troubled by them this week or the next ; for much longer you cannot escape . Let no Minister of a Parish introduce any Ceremony , Rites or Gestures , though with some seeming Piety and Devotion , but what are commanded by the Church , and established by Law : and let these also be wisely and usefully explicated to the people , that they may understand the reasons and measures of obedience ; but let there be no more introduc'd , lest the people be burdened unnecessarily , and tempted or divided . IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching . LEt every Minister be diligent in preaching the Word of God , according to the ability that God gives him ; ever remembring that to minister Gods Word unto the People is the one half of his great Office and Employment . Let ever Minister be carefull that what he delivers be indeed the Word of God : that his Sermon be answerable to the Text ; for this is Gods Word , the other ought to be according to it ; that although in it self it be but the word of Man , yet by the purpose , truth , and signification of it , it may in a secondary sense be the Word of God. Do not spend your Sermons in generall and indefinite things , as in Exhortations to the people to get Christ , to be united to Christ , and things of the like unlimited signification ; but tell them in every duty , what are the measures , what circumstances , what instruments , and what is the particular minute meaning of every general Advice . For Generals not explicated do but fill the peoples heads with empty notions , and their mouths with perpetual unintelligible talk : but their hearts remain empty , and themselves are not edified . Let not the humours and inclinations of the people be the measures of your Doctrines , but let your Doctrines be the measure of their perswasions . Let them know from you what they ought to do ; but if you learn from them what you ought to teach , you will give but a very ill account at the day of Judgement , of the souls committed to you . He that receives from the people what he shall teach them , is like a Nurse that asks of her Child what Physick she shall give him . Every Minister in reproofs of sin and sinners , ought to concern himself in the faults of them that are present , but not of the absent ; nor in reproofe of the times ; for this can serve no end but of Faction and Sedition , publick Murmur and private Discontent ; besides this , it does nothing but amuse the people in the faults of others , teaching them to revile their Betters , and neglect the dangers of their own souls . As it looks like flattery and design to preach nothing before Magistrates but the duty of their people and their own eminency ; so it is the beginning of Mutiny to preach to the people the duty of their Superiours and Supreme ; it can neither come from a good Principle , nor tend to a good End. Every Minister ought to preach to his Parish , and urge their duty : S. John the Baptist told the Souldiers what the Souldiers should do , but troubled not their heads with what was the duty of the Scribes and Pharisees . In the reproof of sins be as particular as you please , and spare no mans sin , but meddle with no mans person ; neither name any man , nor signifie him , neither reproach him , nor make him to be suspected ; he that doth otherwise makes his Sermon to be a Libel , and the Ministry of Repentance an instrument of Revenge ; and so doing he shall exasperate the man , but never amend the sinner . Let the business of your Sermons be to preach holy Life , Obedience , Peace , Love among neighbours , hearty love , to live as the old Christians did , and the new should ; to do hurt to no man , to do good to every man : For in these things the honour of God consists , and the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus . Press those Gr●ces most that do most good , and make the least noise ; such as giving privately and forgiving publickly , and prescribe the grace of Charity by all the measures of it which are given by the Apostle , 1 Cor. 13. For this grace is not finished by good words , nor yet by good works , but it is a great building , and many materials go to the structure of it . It is worth your study , for it is the fulfilling of the Commandements . Because it is impossible that Charity should live , unless the lust of the tongue be mortified , let every Minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers , detractors and backbiters ; for the Crime of backbiting is the poyson of Charity ; and yet so common , that it is pass'd into a Proverb , [ After a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours . ] Let every Minister be careful to observe , and vehement in reproving those faults of his Parishioners , of which the Lawes cannot or do not take cognizance , such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings , gluttony , riotous living , expences above their ability , pride , bragging , lying in ordinary conversation , covetousness , peevishness , and hasty anger , and such like . For the Word of God searches deeper then the Laws of men ; and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of Courts , which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the Guide of Souls . In your Sermons to the people , often speak of the four last things , of Death and Judgement , Heaven and Hell : of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ , of Gods Mercy to repenting sinners , and his Severity against the impenitent ; of the formable Examples of Gods anger pour'd forth upon Rebels , Sacrilegious , oppressors of Widows and Orphanes , and all persons guilty of crying Sins : These are useful , safe and profitable ; but never run into Extravagancies and Curiosities , nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious Secrets ; for there is more laid before you than you can understand ; and the whole duty of man is , To fear God and keep his commandements . Speak but very little of the secret and high things of God , but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of Christ. Be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation . It is enough that you reprove an Errour ; but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of Judgement , thou knowest not , and therefore pray for the erring person , and reprove him , but leave the sentence to his Judge . Let your Sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak ; and particularly take care of Servants and Hirelings , Merchants and Tradesmen , that they be not unskilful , nor unadmonished in their respective duties ; and in all things speak usefully and affectionately ; for by this means you will provide for all mens needs , both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding , and them that sin because they have evil , dull , or depraved affections . In your Sermons and Discourses of Religion , use primitive , known and accustomed words , and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms : Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day ; and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst Christians . For they that make a business of the wor●s of common use , and reform Religion by introducing a new word , intend to make a change but no amendment , they spend themselves in trifles , like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs , but store of Mushromes ; and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people , or else of a querulous nature ; and that they are ready to disturb the Church , if they could find occasion . Let every Minister in his charge , as much as he can , endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people , or others with whom they converse ; especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life : let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sense Christs active obedience is imputed to us ; let him make his people fear the deferring of their Repentance , and putting it off to their death-bed ; let him explicate the nature of Faith , so that it be an active and quickning principle of Charity ; let him , as much as he may , take from them all confidencies that slacken their obedience and diligence ; let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice , and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ; ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of Satan to hinder the increase of Christs Kingdome , by destroying those things in which it does consist , viz. Peace and Righteousness , Holiness and Mortification . Every Minister ought to be careful that he never expound Scriptures in publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church , and particularly of the Churches of England and Ireland , nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils ; for these , as they are measures of truth , so also of necessity ; that is , as they are safe , so they are sufficient ; and besides what is taught by these , no matter of belief is necessary to salvation . Let no Preacher bring before the people in his Sermons or Discourses , the Arguments of great and dangerous Heresies , though with a purpose to confute them ; for they will much easier retain the Objection than understand the Answer . Let not the Preacher make an Article of Faith to be a matter of dispute ; but teach it with plainness and simplicity , and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of Scripture , but without objection ; let them be taught to believe , but not to argue , lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person , it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry , than establish it by arguments too hard . Let the Preacher be careful that in his Sermons he use no light , immodest or ridiculous expressions , but what is wise , grave , usefull and for edification ; that when the Preacher brings truth and gravity , the people may attend with fear and reverence . Let no Preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience , or more fame in Preaching than himself ; let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly : for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down , is but a dwarf still ; and no man is the better for making his brother worse . In all things desire that Christ's Kingdom may be advanc'd ; and rejoice that he is served , whoever be the Minister ; that if you cannot have the fame of a great Preacher , yet you may have the reward of being a good man ; but it is hard to miss both . Let every Preacher in his Parish take care to explicate to the people the Mysteries of the great Festivals , as of Christmas , Easter , Ascension day , Whitsunday , Trinity Sunday , the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary ; because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith , will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people , and fix them in their memories , by the solemnity and circumstances of the day . In all your Sermons and Discourses speak nothing of God but what is honourable and glorious ; and impute not to him such things , the consequents of which a wise and good man will not own : never suppose him to be author of sin , or the procurer of our damnation . For God cannot be tempted , neither tempteth he any man. God is true , and every man a lyar . Let no Preacher compare one Ordinance with another ; as Prayer with Preaching , to the dispaparagement of either ; but use both in their proper seasons , and according to appointed Order . Let no man preach for the praise of men ; but if you meet it , instantly watch and stand upon your guard , and pray against your own vanity ; and by an express act of acknowledgement and adoration return the praise to God. Remember that Herod was for the omission of this smitten by an Angel ; and do thou tremble , searing lest the judgement of God be otherwise than the sentence of the people . V. Rules and Advices concerning Catechisme . EVery Minister is bound upon every Lords day before Evening Prayer , to instruct all young people in the Creed , the Lords Prayer , the Ten Commandements , and the Doctrine of the Sacraments , as they are set down and explicated in the Church Catechism . Let a Bell be tolled when the Catechising is to begin , that all who desire it may be present ; but let all the more ignorant , and uninstructed part of the people , whether they be old or young , be requir'd to be present : that no person in your Parishes be ignorant in the foundations of Religion : ever remembring , that if in these things they be unskilful , whatever is taught besides , is like a house built upon the sand . Let every Minister teach his people the use , practise , methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer . Let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it ; and furnish them with materials , concerning the life and death of the ever blessed Jesus , the greatness of God , our own meanness , the dreadful sound of the last Trumpet , the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday : let them be taught to consider what they have been , what they are , and what they shall be ; and above all things , what are the issues of eternity ; glories never to cease , pains never to be ended . Let every Minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins , and a declaration of the state of their Souls ; to a conversation with their Minister in spiritual things , to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty : for by preaching , and catechising , and private entercourse , all the needs of Souls can best be serv'd ; but by preaching alone they cannot . Let the people be exhorted to keep fasting days , and the feasts of the Church ; according to their respective capacities ; so it be done without burthen to them , and without becoming a snare ; that is , that upon the account of Religion , and holy desires to please God , they spend some time in Religion , besides the Lords-day : but be very careful that the Lords-day be kept Religiously , according to the severest measures of the Church , and the commands of Authority : ever remembring that as they give but little Testimony of Repentance and Mortification , who never fast ; so they give but small evidence of their joy in God and Religion , who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the Publick and Religious Joys of the Christian Church . Let every Minister be diligent in exhorting all Parents and Masters to send their Children and Servants to the Bishop at the Visitation , or other solemn times of his coming to them , that they may be confirm'd : And let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the Principles of Religion , their vow of Baptism , the excellency of Christian Religion , the necessity and advantages of it , and of living according to it , be fitted and disposed , and accordingly by them presented to the Bishop , that he may pray over them , and invocate the holy Spirit , and minister the holy Rite of Confirmation . VI. Rules and Advices concerning the Visitation of the Sick. EVery Minister ought to be careful in visiting all the Sick and Afflicted persons of his Parish : ever remembring , that as the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge , so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need . A Minister must not stay till he be sent for ; but of his own accord and care to go to them , to examine them , to exhort them to perfect their repentance , to strengthen their faith , to encourage their patience , to perswade them to resignation , to the renewing of their holy vows , to the love of God , to be reconcil'd to their neighbours , to make restitution and amends , to confess their sins , to settle their estate , to provide for their charges , to do acts of piety and charity ; and above all things , that they take care they do not sin towards the ●nd of their lives . For if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life ; what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed ? When you comfort the afflicted , endeavour to bring them to the true love of God ; for he that serves God for Gods sake , it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow . In answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people , consider not who asks , but what he asks ; and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul , than the conveniency of his estate ; for no flattery is so fatal as that of the Physician or the Divine . If the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul , he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd ; only he is to be called upon to finish his duty , to do all the good he can in that season , to pray for pardon and acceptance ; but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences ; neither cast him down in despair , nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences . But take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd . In order to these and many other good purposes , every Minister ought frequently to converse with his Parishioners ; to go to their houses , but alwayes publickly , with witness , and with prudence , lest what is charitably intended be scandalously reported : and in all your conversation be sure to give good example , and upon all occasions to give good counsel . VII . Of ministring the Sacraments , publick Prayers , and other duties of Ministers . EVery Minster is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the Common Prayers every day in the week , at Morning and Evening ; and in great Towns and populous places conveniently inhabited , it must be read in Churches , that the daily sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving may never cease . The Minister is to instruct the people , that the Baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next Sunday after the birth of the child ; lest importune and unnecessary delay , occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of God and the Religion of the Lord Jesus , before it be born again , admitted to the Promises of the Gospel , and reckon'd in the account of the second Adam . Let every Minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical communion , at the least three times in the year , at the great Festivals : but the devouter sort , and they who have leisure , are to be invited to a frequent Communion : and let it be given and received with great reverence . Every Minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his Office , in the Rubricks , the Canons , the Articles , and the Homilies of the Church , that he may do his duty readily , discreetly , gravely , and by the publick measures of the Laws . To which also it is very usefull that it be added , that every Minister study the ancient Canons of the Church , especially the Penitentials of the Eastern and Western Churches : let him read good Books , such as are approved by publick authority ; such which are useful , wise and holy ; not the scriblings of unlearned parties , but of men learned , pious , obedient and disinterested ; and amongst these , such especially which describe duty and good life , which minister to Faith and Charity , to Piety and Devotion ; Cases of Conscience , and solid expositions of Scripture . Concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted . Let not a Curate of Souls trouble himself with any studies , but such which concern his own or his peoples duty ; such as may enable him to speak well , and to do well ; but to meddle not with controversies , but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life . Be careful in all the publick adminstrations of your parish , that the poor be provided for . Think it no shame to beg for Christs poor members ; stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example . Let a collection be made every Lords day , and upon all solemn meetings , and at every Communion ; and let the Collection be wisely and piously administred : ever remembring , that at the day of Judgement nothing shall publickly be proclaimed , but the reward of alms and mercy . Let every Minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices , to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble ; let him study and heap together Instruments and Advices for the promoting of every virtue , and remedies and arguments against every vice ; let him teach his people to make acts of virtue not onely by external exercise , but also in the way of Prayer and internal meditation . In these and all things else that concern the Ministers duty , if there be difficulty you are to repair to your Bishop for further advice , assistance and information . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A63878-e1070 Heb. 7.19 . Gal. 3.3 . & Gal. 6.12.13 . Philip. 3.34 . Sed Belzebulis callida Commenta Christus destruit . Hos. 2.14 . De legibus l. scire . Prov. 28.14 . S. Hier. in comment . Isai. 8. Isidor , l. 13. Orig. cap. 13. Commen . in 12. Isai. & l. 6. in Ezek. cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Legat. pro Christianis . Notes for div A63878-e3900 Rom. 8.13 . Gal. 5.16 . Rom. 8.7 . 1 Joh. 3.9 . Matth. 7.18 . Heb. 12.1 . 1 Joh. 3.8 . 3 Joh. 4.4 . Mark 9.23 . Ille laudatur , qui ut caeperint statim interficit cogitata , & allidit ad petram . Notes for div A63878-e6240 * Rom. 3.28.4.5.5.1.10.10 . Gal. 2.16 . James 2.21 . 1 Cor. 13 : 2 : Tuscul. 1. James 2.14 . Gal. 5.6 . Gal. 6.15 . 1 Cor. 7.19 . Isa. 57.21 : Exod. 23.7 . Heb. 12.14 . Titus 3.8 . Heb. 6.1 . 1 John 3.8 . Eph. 5.25 . Tit. 2.11 . John 15.2 : Rom. 5. v. 8.10 . Rom. 8.28 . Rom. 4.25 . Ecclus. 31. Rom. 8.10 . Plaut . Captiv . Rom. 8.29 . Rom. 2.6 , 7 , 8. John 6.28.29 : 2 Pet. 1.5 . 2 Thes. 3.2 . 1 Tim. 5.8 . Heb. 11. Ecclus. 32.24 . Panar . lib. 1. edit . Basil. p. 8. l. 46. 2 Tim. 2.16 . Instit. l. 5. c. 9. Mark. 11.24 . Tit. 1.16 . 2 Thes. 2.12 : Lib. 3. Notes for div A63878-e9340 Ep. 69. Jerem. 9.1 . Esa. 26.12 . 2 Thes. 3.1 . Notes for div A63878-e9720 * Cap. 24.25 . Epist. 73. ad Jubaj . 1 Tim. 6.14 . * Rom. 12.6 . Ephe. 4 11. 1 Cor. 12.28 . * Acts 1.25 . 1 Tim. 5.19 . 1 Tit. 11. & 2 Titus 15. Cap. 2. V. 2. Gal. 1.19 . * 2 Cor. 8.23 . Philip. 2.25 . Psalm 45.16 . in 1 Cor. 12. in Psal. 44. Epist. 1. Simpronianum . Epist. 65. ad Rogat . Quaest. V. & N.T.q. 197. Isai. 60.17 . Hunc locum etiam citat S. Clemens . Ep. ad Cor. Neh. 11.10 . 2 Kin. 11.18 . Numb . 4.16 . Epist. 2. ad Nepot . Epistol . ad Evagrium . Heb. 13.17 . Acts. 1.25 . Isai. 60.17 . 1 Pet. 5.1 , 5. Luke 22.27 . Mark 10.43 . John 13.13 . Lib. 3. Tit. 1. 1 Tim. 1.19 . 2 Tim. 3.9 . in Cap. 2. Zeph. Lib. 1. Ep. 4. Dial. adv . Lucifer . Eccl. 45.26 . & 24. C. Concil . Antioch . 1 Cor. 4.1 , 2 , 3. Jer. 3.15 . Heb. 13.7 . Zech. 11.7 . Cap. 11. Prov. 6.3 , 4. D. Bernard . ad Henr. Episc . Senensem . 2 Tim. 2. Jer. 13.20 , 21. Notes for div A63878-e15200 Nullum malum majus aut infeliciter feracius quam inobedientia . Seneca . 1 Tim. 2 . 1● . Prov. 16.10 . L. 8. cod . de veteri jure enucleando . Petrus Cellensis lib. de Conscientia . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 12. ● , 7 , 8. Seneca . * Rom. 16.17 . Seneca . Prov. 24.34 . Notes for div A63878-e18420 Ecclus. 5.10 . Vulg. edit . Lat. Notes for div A63878-e18830 Psal. 111. ver . 10. Psal. 119. Nazianz. ad . Philagrium . 2 Pet. 1. 1 Joh. 2.27 . 1 Cor. 2.14 . Dan. 12.10 . Eph. 5.14 . Prov. 10.31 , 32. John 14.21 . Rom. 1.25 , 26. Eccl. 2.26 . John 14.26 . Lib. 2. Ethic. c. 1. Nullum bonum perfectè noscitur quod non perfecte amatur . Aug. lib. 83. qu. de gratia Christi . Ecclus. 21.11 . Lib. de Consummat . saeculi , inter opera Ephrem Syri . Notes for div A63878-e24950 Synes . hym . 6 1 Thes. 4.16 . John 5.28 . Dracuntius de opere Dei. Luk. 14.14 . * Rev. 20.6 . 1 Thes. 4.16 . Rom. 5.10 . Isa. 26.20 . Numb . 1.46.3.39 . Seld. Hist. of Tithes , c. 2. See Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tract . 25. in St. Matth. Pindar . De scriptor . Eccles. Epist. 30. Synes . ep . 57. Notes for div A63878-e29690 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Vide Rom. 16.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .