WATERS OF MARAH, AND MERIBAH OR, THE SOURCE OF BITTERNESS, AND STRIFE, SWEETENED AND ALLAYED, By way of Advice, Refutation, Censure, Against The Pseudo-zelots of our Age: By HUMPHREY SYDENHAM, Master of Arts, late Fellow of Wadham College in OXFORD. Disposui nasum secare faetentem, timeat qui criminosus est; quid ad te, qui te intelligis innocentem? De te dictum puta in quodcunque vitium stili mei mucro contorquetur. HIERON. ad MARCELLINUM. LONDON, Printed by Elizabeth Allde, for Nathaniel Butter. An. Dom. 1630. TO THE FRIENDS INDEED, both of my Name, and Fortunes, Sir Ralph Sydenham, and Edward Sydenham Esquire, Servants to his Sacred Majesty. My dear honoured, WHilst I labour to join you so closely in my respects, let me not sunder you in your own, like two great-men, who the nearer they are in place, the farther off in Correspondence. I presume 'tis no Solecism to link you together in one Dedication, whom Nature hath twisted so fast in one Blood, and Education in one virtue, and Familiarity, (a knot, I hope, indissoluble) in one heart; It is not my lowest glory, that I can boldly, and in a breath, speak Kinsman and Friend, and Patron, and these three in two, and these two, but one; A rare harmony, where Affections are so strung, that touch them, how, and where, and when you please, they are still unisons. I have hitherto found them so in all my ways, both of Advancement and Repute; and these set me up in a double gratulation, and applause; in my Hosannas, for you to my God, and then in my Reports to men. This is my All of requital yet, and yours (I believe) of expectation, which looks no farther than an ingenuous acknowledgement of your Favours, such as the proclivity of your own worth hath suggested, not any industrious proseqution of mine, which could have been contented to have worn an obscurer Title, but that it must now vaunt in a Rich one, That of Your Servant Kinsman, HUM: SYDENHAM. WATERS OF MARAH, AND MERIBAH. TEXT, Rom. 12.1. I Beseech you, Brethren, by the mercies of God, to offer up your Bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service, THe Text hath a double forehead, one looks towards the Letter, the other, the Allegory; that of the Letter glances on the Legal Sacrifice, by the jew; that of the Allegory, on the Spiritual, by the Christian; the one was a carnal oblation of the Body only, the other a Mystical, of the Affections; That spoke in the rough Dialect of the Law; Horror, Blood, and Death; This, in the sweet language of the Gospel, Brethren, and Beseeching, and Mercies of God. Here then is no Hecatomb or slaughter of the Beast, no Bullock or Ram, or Goat slain for immolation, as of old; but the Sacrifice required here, must be Living; 'tis a Body must be offered, and not a Carcase: here's no death but of in bred corruptions; no slaughter, but of carnal lusts, and concupiscences. Affections must be mortified, and not the Body; that subdued only, and chastised, not slain; and yet still a Sacrifice, a Living Sacrifice, a Sacrifice so living, that 'tis both Holy and Acceptable to God, and so acceptable to him that he accounts it not only a Sacrifice, but a Reasonable Service. The words then, as they lie in their mass and bulk, are a Pathetical persuasion & incitement to the mortification of the old man; pressed on by an Apostolical power & jurisdiction & that of the great Doctor of the Gentiles, Paul; Where you may observe, first, his manner of persuading, I Beseech; Secondly, the Parties to be persuaded, jew and Gentile, under an affectionate, and charitable compellation, Brethren; Thirdly, the Argument or motive, by which he doth persuade, By the Mercies of God; Fourthly, the Substance or Matter of that which he labours to persuade, To offer up your Bodies a Sacrifice to God; Fifthly, the Modus or manner of it; that's various, expressed by a threefold Epithet; Living, Holy, Accepble, Lastly, the Antithesis, in the words following, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reasonable Service. These are the Parts offered to my difcourse, which upon the first perusal and Survey, I thought particularly to have insisted on; But finding that I had grasped more Materials, than I could sow and scatter in the Circuit of an hour, I was enforced to bond my Meditations for the present with the two former, leaving the remainder, till a second opportunity should invite me hither; And at this time only, I beseech you Brethren. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Original, not Obsecro, Pars prima. as the vulgar reads, but, Exhortor: Beseeching is too Calm and Gentle, and therefore rather, I Exhort, * Obsecro nonsatis aptè. Annot. Beza in cap. 12. Rom. v. 1. saith Beza: But Exhortor used only in this place, elsewhere, Precamur, & that from the same Idiom, by the same Translator. And indeed, Fairly and Plausibly to exhort, is in a manner to beseech: * Hortamur etiam sponte facientes, quod decet. Bez. ibid. For not only the Refractory, but the facile, & spontaneous, the volunteer in goodness, we Exhort, and Beseech in the same Word. And if Multitude or Number, do not too much alter the nature and signification of things or Language, we shall make Beza's Exhortor, and Ierome's Obsecro, all one by the same Pen, and Dialect; For in this place to the Romans, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Singular, (which is rendered by Exhortor) to the Thessalonians, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Plural, is translated, Precamur, by the same Beza, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we beseech you, brethren, 1 Thes. Vide Bez. ibid. ot in cap. 12. Rom. v. 2. 5.14. So that 'tis probable, the Greecke word signifies Both, but, here more openly to Beseech, then to Exhort, For Obsecro comes nearer to Misericordia, in the Text, then Exhortor doth, we Beseech ever by the mercies of God; but, sometimes we exhort by his justice; And in this sense, the Miracle of the Greek Church, Saint chrysostom, Chrys. Aquin. Estius in cap. 12. Rom v. 1. will interpret it, and that for three Reasons, here Aquinas tells me; first, to specify and open our Apostles humility (for so the Wise man) Cum obsecrationibus loquitur pauper. The Rich man answereth roughly, v. 23. But, the poor man useth entreaties, Pro 18. Entreaties, not for his own sake, but for Gods, And therefore Obsecrare (saith he) is nothing but, Aquin. utsupra. Ob sacra contestari. Secondly, that He might rather out of love, move them by gentleness and request, then, out of fear, command them by his power. And this is not only his practice, but his precept, You that are spiritual, restore him that is fallen, v. 1. by the spirit of meekness, Gal. 6. Thirdly, for the reverence he owed to the Roman jurisàiction, the great Senate to which he wrote (where there was both gravity and State,) which he labours to win by persuasion, and not by violence. And this also is not only his Custom, but his Advice; Rebuke not an Elder, but Beseech him as a Father, v. 1 Tim. 5. So that whether in matters natural, or Civil, or Apostolical, the Obsecro is both opportune and necessary: But in this last more especially: For I Beseech you; is more insinuative, than I Exhort; and I Exhort, then, I Command; And yet (as Aretius pathetically) In Apostolo obsecrante, In cap. 12. Rom. v. 1. Deus est mandans, & obsecrans: In that the Apostle beseeches, God both commands and beseeches too; not immediately, but by way of a Substitute: so Saint Paul testifies of himself, We are Ambassadors for Christ, 2 Cor. 5.20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, As though God did beseech you by us. We are the Instruments, He, the mover; we but the pipes and Convoy, He, the Source and Cistern: The waters of Life run from him, by us; not by him. And therefore the Greek text hath the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Quasi, as it were, Bez Annot. in 12. Rom. v. 1. because God doth not really beseech us, but As it were beseech us in the Person of his Ambassadors, for so it follows, We pray you in Christ's stead, 2 Cor. 5.20. So that there are Two here which beseech; God, and his Apostle. Either had lawful authority to command; He, as a Creator in full right: This, Aret. utsupra. as a Legate in his name; but they had rather win fairly by a compassionate persuasion, then harshly induce by a rigorous command. And this way of instruction best suits with the staidness & temper of God's Ministers. Ne pro imperio dictatoriè prae ipiant, & rigidè postulent, quod lenitate, & precibus facilius obtinent ab auditoribus. So Pareus. 'Tis true, In cap. 12. Rom. v. 1. that the Law, and the Interpreters of it, the Prophets, not only not Beseech, but Command and terrify; and 'twas the way then; for stiffe-neckes and stony hearts, (as the jews had) required both the Yoke, Pet. Mart. in locum. and the Hammer, Neither did Christ himself (for any light we have from the Evangelists) ever use this humility of Language. For He taught as one that had authority (says the text) and not as the Scribes But after Christ, the Apostles; Mar. 1.22. and after them the Fathers made it their Rhetoric, the chief Engine of their persuasion thorough the general Current of their Epistles: And indeed, a true Servant of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, must not strive: Non oportet litigare, Vide Bez. Annot. in 2 Tim. 2.24. says the vulgar, Non pugnare, Beza, Must be no Wrangler, nor fighter. 2 Tim. 2.24. A striker in the Church is dangerous: dangerous? into lerable, no less than He that is contentious; For certainly they are Both of an Alliance, Graee. Interpr. Qui litigat verbis, pugnat: there is as well a striking with the Tongue, as with the Hand, and sometimes a Word is smarter than a Blow, especially if it do proceed from a mouth enured to bark, which can nought but rail, when it should beseech; A Servant you know, should imitate his Lord: Now, the Lord is not the God of Tumult, but of Peace, 1 Cor. 14.33. And therefore, his sincere and faithful Servant Saint Paul beautafies with a threefold Epithet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Tim. 2.24. Gentle to all men, apt to teach, patiented; Rare eminencies, & in that Orb they move, spangle, & shine gloriously; He must be gentle, not to some only, but to all (so says the text) to all, of all sorts, not the particulars of his own Cut and Garb, but even to those Without. Next Teaching and not barely so, but Apt to Teach, Estius in cap. 2. Epist. 2. ad Tim. v. 24. Apt as well for Ability, as Will; and to Teach, not to Compel; and sometimes to learn too, as well as to Teach. Sic etiam Aug. lib. 5. de Bap. cont. Donat. cap. 29. So Saint Cyprian tells Pompeianus, Oportet Episcopum non tantum Docere, sed & Discere, quia ille Melius Docet, qui Discendo proficit. Lastly, Patient; patiented two ways; in respect of Occurrences and Men: of occurrences, first; Persecutions, Scoffs, Detractions, are the Liveries of the Multitude, which He wears with as much humility, as peace; 2 Cor. 4.12. and of This, our Apostle, I know not whether Complains, or Glories, Maledicimur & Benedicimus, We are reviled, and yet we bless, which some Translations read, Vide Pet. Mart. in cap. Rom. v. 1. Blasphemamur & Obsecramus, We are blasphemed, and yet beseech; So that Reviling, it seems, is a kind of Blasphemy, and Beseeching, a kind of blessing, He that reviles a good man, blasphemes him, & he that beseeches an evil, in some sort blesses him. Patient next, in respect of men; not only of the Good, for they seldom provoke distaste, but even of the wicked and malicious, Non ut vitia palpet, aut dissimulet sed ut eos quamuis à veritate proteruos, & alienos, Estius in 2. Tim. 2.24. mansuetudine vincat; Not that He should dissemble or bolster vice, but that the Strag gling and Perverse he might reclaim with more facility and meekness. Thus the Intelligent man ever applies his Sails unto the wind, and as that turns, and blows, so He steers. And this was the Spiritual policy of Our great Doctor, Factus sum infirmus infirmis, ut infirmos lucrifacerem, 1 Cor. 9.22. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; not weak indeed, (though the two Fathers, Cyprian, and Augustine read it so,) but weak, Cyp. in Epist. ad Antoninum. Aug. Hpist. 9 ad Hieronym. that is, As weak, the Original using the adverb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Tanquam, as though weak. For weak really he was not; So he professes of himself, We that are strong, aught to bear the infirmities of the weak, Rom. 15.1. Ambros. in Psal. 104. Strong there; and yet, weak again, 2 Cor. 11. with a Quis infirmatur, & ego non infirmor? Who is weak, and I am not weak, who is angry, and I burn not; But this Infirmor hatha Tanquam too, Estius in Epist. 1. ad Co cap. 9 v. 22. as well as the former, or whether it have or no, it Matters not, seeing the sense is one; For He says, He became weak unto the weak; or else, as it were weak, that is, like unto the weak; Like two ways; In mind and work; In mind, by an Affect of Commiseration; In work, by a Similitude of Action; as a Nurse doth with her Child, or a Physician with his Patient; And in this sense, his Omnibus omnia factus sum, is to be understood also, I am made all unto all, 1 Cor. 9.22. All unto All? how? not that he did Idot it with the Superstitious, or Lewd it with the Profane, played the Cretian, with the Cretian, or the jew, with the jew; Estius, utsupra. But, He was made all unto All, partly by commiserating them, partly by doing something like Theirs, which (notwithstanding) did not oppose the Law of God, or else, (as Saint Augustine paraphrases it) Compassione misericordiae, non similitudine fall aciae, or else, Non mentientis actu, sed compatientis affectu, Augusi. ctiam, lib q. 83. q. in his ninth Epistle to Jerome, and more voluminously, in his book contra mendaeium, 12. v. 1. chapter. Neither was he all, to All, in way of Conversation only, but also, in matters of Discipline, and Advice; in which he deals with the Delinquent, as a disereet Husbandman with a tender plant, or tree; He waters it, and digs about it; and, if then it leaf, and bud only, and not fructify, He puts his Axe unto it; not to root and fell it, but to prune it; He lops off a sprig, or a branch, but He preserves the body; Thus, the Inordinate must be admonished only, not threatened; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (saith the Greek;) not, Corripite, or, Castigate (as Castellie, and Erasmus would have it) but, Monete, saith Beza, Eez. Annot. in 2. Thes. 5.14. warn them that are unruly, 1. Thess. 5.14. So also, the Feeble-minded must be solaced, and encouraged, not rebuked; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Consolamini; Comfort the Feeble-minded, the same chapter and verse. Lastly, the Weak must not be depressed but supported; Support those that are weak among you; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sublevate; hold up, Sustinete, infirmu-opitulamini; sic ex Ambros & Tertul. Bez. ut supra. as a Crutch doth a Body that is lame, or a Beam a house that is ruined; which word hath reference to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Acts, Suscipere Infirmos, or Sustinere; I have showed you all things, how that so labouring, ye ought to Support the weak, Act. 20.35. Here then are Weak, and Feeble-minded, and unruly; and these must be supported, and comforted, and warned; no more; I find no authority for Indignation; I do, for patience; for patience to all these; nay, to all men; in the heel and close of the same verse, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Be patiented towards all men, 1. Thes. 5.14. and not only so, but to all men, with all patience too; so Timothy is advised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Exhort with all long suffering, and Doctrine, 2. Tim. 4.2. And indeed this Doctrine of Long suffering, is a Merciful Doctrine; we seldom find true patience without Commiseration; Mercy is the badge and Cognizance of a Christian; It marks him from a Cannibal, or a Pagan; And doubtless, Those that have not this tenderness of Affection, whether in the Natural, or in the Spiritual Man, are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of Savage and barbarous Condition, Tigers, and not Men; And therefore as Mercy divides a Man from a Beast, so doth it a Christian from a mere Man. He must be Merciful, Mar. 6. as his Father which is in Heaven is Merciful. O how beautiful upon the Mountains (says that great Oracle of God) are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings of good things, Esay 52.7. that preacheth peace, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth? Esay 52.7. Those were said to have beautiful feet amongst the Hebrews, whose Messages were shod with loy, Estius in Rom. cap. 10. vers. 15. who spoke comfort to the people, and not Terror. Now, what such joy and Comfort to the Children of Zion, as the glad tidings of good things, those excellent good things, Preaching of Peace, & Publishing of Salvation? How beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of him that doth it? Aug. lib. 32. contra Faust. c. 10. Quam speciosi pedes? (as Augustine reads it) how Precious? or, Quàmtempestivi & Maturi? (as Tertullian) how Mature and timely? Tertul. lib. 5. contra Marcionem. cap. 2. & 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Septuagint, Quàm pulchri? quàm decori? how Fair, and Comely? which some of the Ancients, (and with them, Leo Castrensis in Esay 52.7. S. Jerome) have read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (cutting off the three latter vowels) which they expound sicut Hora, that is (as they say) sicut tempus opportunum, or, tempus vernum, as the Spring time, when all things flourish; so that (making the Text, mutilated, and impersect) they would have the words run thus: Scholar Roman. sequens septuagint. Sicut horaa super montes, sic Pedes Euangelizantis Pacem: As the Spring upon the mountains, so are the feet of him that preacheth peace; where all things are green, and fragrant, when we are led into fresh, and sweet, and pleasing pastures, the pastures of the Spirit; the Staff and Rod of the Lord to comfort us, his Peace, and his Salvation, whereby we may walk cheerfully in the paths of Righteousness, and so following the great Shepherd of our Souls (who will feed us as his chosen flock) we shall graze at length upon the Mountains, the ever-springing mountains, the Mountains of Israel. And are the feet of him that preacheth peace, that publisheth salvation, so beautiful? beautiful on the mountains too? what shall we think then of the feet of those, the Black feet of those, who, like the possessed man in the Gospel, Mark 5.2. still keep among the Tombs? tread nothing but destruction, and the grave? and as if they still walked in the vale of darkness, and the shadow of death, beat nothing but Hell unto their Auditors, which by continual thundering of judgements, so shake the foundations of a weake-built faith, that they sometimes destroy the Temple they should build up; and in this harsh and austere manner of proceeding, they oftentimes exceed their Commission, when pressing too fare the rigour of the Law, they trench on the liberty of the Gospel, as the Disciples did, Luke 9.55. who requiring fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, they text it with the severity of Eliah: 2. King. 1.10. As Eliah did unto the Moabites. But the Lord of mercy is so fare from approving this fiery zeal, that He not only rebukes it, but the spirit that suggested it. You know not of what spirit ye are, for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, Luk. 9.56. And doubtless, the destroying spirit is not the right Spirit: The Holy Ghost (you know) appeared in the form of a Dove: and as the Dove is without gall, so should the Organ of the Spirit be, the Preacher. Detrabendum est aliquid seuer itati (saith Augustine to Boniface) ut maioribus malis sanandis, Aug. add Bonifacde Cor. Donat. charitas sincera subveniat. Who would not tax it in a judge as a crime and custom too unjust, to be moved to choler against a Delinquent or Malefactor, when charity should guide him, and not passion? He doubles the offence, that doth both exaggerate, and punish it; That Divine labours too preposterously the reformation of his hearer, that chides bitterly, when he should but admonish, and admonish, Isid. lib. 3. de sum bone. cap. 2. when he should Beseech. Qui veracitèr fraternam vule corripere infirmitatem, talemse praestare fraternae studeat utilitati, ut quem corripere cupit, humili corde admoneat, saith Isidore, Sweet and mild persuasions, and the admonitions of an humble heart, work deeper in the affections of men, than all the batteries of virulence, and Inuection. Oil (you know) will sink into a solid and stiff matter, when a dry and harder substance lies without, and can neither pierce, nor sosten it; That which cannot be compa'st by the smother insinuations of Advice and Reason, shall never be done by force, or if it be, 'tis not without a tang of baseness: There is Something that is servile in Rigour and Constraint, Char. lib. 3. and takes off from the Prerogative and freedom of humane will. The Stoic tells us, Facilius ducitur, quàm trahitur. Seneca. there is a kind of generousness in the mind of man, and is more easily led, then drawn; impulsion is the child of Tyranny, and holds neither with the laws of Nature, nor of Grace. Deus non necessitat, sed facilitat. God doth not necessitate, or if necessitate, not compel man to particular actions, but supples and faciles him to his Commands. And (doubtless) he that would captivated the affections of his hearers, and smooth and make passable what he labours to persawde in the hearts of others, must so modify and temper his discourse, that it prove not bitter or distasteful; like a skilful Apothecary, who to make his Confections more palatesome, and yet more operative, qualifies the malignity of Simples, by preparing them, makes poison not only medicinable, but delightful, and so both cures and pleases. I writ not these things (saith Saint Paul to his Corinthians) to shame you, 1. Cor. 4.14. but as my beloved sons, I warn you. He will not shame them, and at roughest, He will but warn them, & that as Sons too, as beloved Sons; And if this will not suffice, he will beseech them also: 1. Cor. 4.16. I beseech you be followers of me, as I am of Christ, in the 16. verse of the same chapter. Calmer admonitions are for the most part seasonable, when reproofs over-rough and blustering, not only not conform the hearer, but exasperated him; and therefore what our Apostle advised the natural parents, I may without prejudice, the spiritual. Parents, ne provocetis ad iracundiam filios vestros: ne despondeant animum: Parents, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged, Coloss. 3. For certainly, words are the image of the soul, and if they flow from a gentle and meek mind, they produce the like effects, Gentleness, and Meekness; But from a swelling and tempestuous spirit, they recoil, as a piece that's over charged, and start back as a broken Bow; They provoke, nay, they discourage, and find no better entertainment than the strokes of a hammer upon an anvil, which the more violently they are laid on, the more violently it rebounds: and therefore Saint Patol is so fare from obiurgation, Philem. 7.8. or menacing, that he will not so much as enjoin his Philemon, but labours with an Obsecro, when he might have used a Mando: Though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee, yet for love's sake, jorather beseceh thee, Phil. 7.8. So that where Love is, there is still an Obsecro, & where it is not, there is commonly a Damno. Hence 'tis, that the Pulpit is so often the Mount of Terror and of Vengeance, the Throne of personal ejaculations, the Altar, where some belch nothing but fire and brimstone, vomit the Ite maledicti too uncharitably, and (which is worst) too particularly; who scare and terrify, when they should entreat, and in stead of Beseeching fall to Reviling; Rom. 12.11. who under a pretence of fervency of the Spirit, and serving the Lord sincerely, ransack Gods dreadful Artillery, and call out all his Instruments of justice to assist them; his furbisht sword, and glittering spear, his bow of steel, and sharpe-set arrows, his horse with warlike trappings, neighing for the battle, his smoking jealousy, and devouring pestilence, his flaming metecrs and horrid earthquakes, his storm, his whirlwind, and his tempest, floods and billows, and boilings of the deep, his cup of displeasure, and vials of indignation, his dregs of fury, and bosom of destruction, his hail stones and his lightnings, his coals of juniper, and hot thunderbolts. Thus in fearful harness having mustered up all God's judgements in a full volley, they (at once) discharge them against the pretended corruptions of particular men, whom their vivulence labours rather to traduce, than their Devotions to reform; And this is but a spiritual distraction, a devout frenzy, a holy madness, through which (like the Lunatic in the Gospel) they fall sometimes into the water, Mark 9.22. sometimes into the fire; Nothing will satisfy them, but floods and flames; floods to overwhelm the sinner, or flames to martyr him; But Quis furor, o ciues; quae tanta dementia? Public reproofs, when they are clothed with Terror, not only disparage, but dishearten; They break the bruizedreede, Esay 42.3. and quench the smoking flax, run many on the shelves of despair, where they make an unhappy shipwreck of their faith; and not of their faith only, but of their body also, exposing it to poison, or the knife, to strangling, or to the flood; to the wilful precipitation of some Tower or Cliff, or the unnatural butchery of their own hands; and so tormenting the body for the soul, by a temporal death, at length they feel the torments both of soul and body by an eternal death. Thus if Incisions be made too deep in the ulcers of the Soul, and the spiritual wound searched too roughly, it more relishes of cruelty, then of Love; and he that doth it, rather preaches his own sin, than endeavours to cure another's, Qui delinquentem superbo vel odioso animo corrigit, non omendat, sed percutit: Jsid. lib. 3. de summo Bone. cap. 51. Rebukes which taste of envy or superciliousness, do not reform, but wound, and in stead of lenitying and making more tractable indifferent dispositions, they stubborn them, knowing that reproofs too tartly seasoned: are the services of Spleen, and not of Zeal: 'tis called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Zeal, from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the seething and boiling of a pot; Now, a pot (you know) not temperately fired, boyles over; and certainly if Moderation sometimes blow not the Coal, but we make virulence the bellowes of our zeal, it not only seethes and rises to passion and distemper, but boyles over to Envy and Uncharitableness, And therefore our Apostle (deviding the properties of true Charity from a false zeal) makes this one Symptom of that great virtue, Charitas non aemulatur, Eslius in 1. Cor. cap. 13.3. Cyplib. de zelo & Livore. 1 Cor. 13.3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original, non zelat: That is (as Cyprian reads) non invidet, envies not; for zeal in her perfection, and as it leans to virtue, is but emulation, but screwed up to vice, 'tis envy; Envy? Nay 'tis fury: Isid. lib. 3. de summo Bono. cap. 91. Quicquid proteruus vel indignans animus protulerit, obiurgantis furor est, non dilectio corrigentis, saith the Father: what in way of Admonishment passion produces, is Reviling, and not admonishment, and doth not touch so properly on sincerity, as malice; And therefore Envies and Evil speakings, are linked with Guile and Hypocrisy. By Saint Peter, Lay aside all guile, Hypocrisies, and Envies, and evil speakings, 1 Pet. 2.1. A temperate reproof will mould and work us to reformation, when an Inuective fires us: In cap. 5. Luae. Ill a pudorem ineutit, Haec indignationem movet; faith Ambrose: That touches us with remorse, and slumbers, and becalms all passion; This kindles our Indignation, and with that, our stubbonrnesse, For certainly harsh speeches do not so properly move, as startle us, and are like sharp sauces to the stomach, which though they sometimes stir the appetite, yet they gnaw; And for this Error, some have censured Saint chrysostom himself, That if He could have moderated his zeal, and tempered his reproofs with a little mildness, (especially to the Empress Eudoxia) He might have done more service to his Church, and refcued his honour from the stain both of Imprisonment and Exile. I press not this so fare (Beloved) to fat and pamper vice, or rock and lull men in a careless sensuality; Though I do Beseech, yet I would not fawn: This were to kill our young with coling them, and with the ivy, barren and dead that tree which we embrace. I know, a Boanerges is sometimes as well required, as a Barnabas, a son of Thunder, as of Consolation; But these have their vicissitudes, and seasons. There is an uncircumcised heart, and there is a Broken Spirit: There is a deaf Adder that will not be charmed; and there are good Sheep that will hear Christ's voice, For these, there is the spirit of Meekness; for the other, loud and sharp Reproofs; If Nabals heart. be stony, the Word is called a Hammer, let that batter it. If Israel have a heart that is contrite and wounded, Gilead hath Balm in it, and there is oil of comfort for him that mourns in Zion. Thus, as our Infirmities are diverse, so are the cures of the Spirit, sometimes it terrifies, sometimes it Commands, sometimes it Beseeches; But let not us terrify when we should but Command, nor Command when we should Beseech, lest we make this Liberty a Cloak for our Maliciousness. 1. Pet 2.16. In all exhortations, first make use of the still voice; and if that prevail not, Cry aloud unto the Trumpet; and if that be not shrill enough, raise the Thunderclap; Aug. l b 2. de sermote Domini in monte se m 1. But this latter, Rarò & magna niece ssitate (saith Augustine) seldom, and upon great necessity; It a tamèn, ut in ipsis etiam obiurgationibus non nobis, sed Deo seruiatur intestinus; If we must needs lighten and thunder, let it be as from God, not us, who are to scourge the sin, not the person, except upon capital offences, open blasphemies, Acts 15. wilful profanations. Saint Paul then may call Elymas the Sorcerer, the child of the Devil, and Peter say to Simon Magus, Thou art in the gall of Bitterness, and the very bond of Iniquity. Rebukes (I confess) too merciful for the grand Disciples of Sorcery, and Magic, and yet sour enough for those other Novices and Babes in the school of Christ; Though such also are not only open to the Check, but to the Rod, Vultis ut in virga veniam? Shall I come to you with the Rod, or in Love? 1 Cor. 4.21. To wound and offend a little, to profit much, is to love sound; Habet & amor plagas suas, Ambros su●er 1. cap. ad Cor. quae dulciores sunt cùm amarius inferuntur: Love itself hath her whips and thorns, and the more they are laid on, the less they wound, to our Ruin, though not our Smart. There is a sharpness of speech used to Edification, not to Destruction, (saith Saith Paul,) 2. Cor. 13.10. A religious chastisement, sometimes more profits, than a partial connivance or remission; This may perchance soften and melt a perverse nature, The other skums' it; There is as well a Cruel mercy in remitting offences which should be punished, as a merciless Cruelty in over-punishing others which might have been remitted; And therefore 'tis an Euangelic all Commandment, Sipeccaver it in te frater tuus, corripe eum, If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him; Reprove him? how? openly? No, Secretò corripe (saith Augustine) Reprove secretly. Aug de Verbis Domini super illa verba, Sipetaveriit te frater suus. For if thou art knowing his offence, and by way of a taunt or exprobratio dost diwlge and blazon it, Non es Corector, sed proditor, (says the Father) Thou art not a Corrector, but a Betrayer; or as Origen aggravates it, Non reprehendentis hoc, sed infamantis, Orig. in Levit. cap. 23. This is no part of Reproose, but of Defamation. A wholesome holy Reprehension may be viciously applied, especially not ballaced by those two great weights, Charity, and judgement: judgement to mould it, and Charity to sweeten it, otherwise we may Wound perchance, when we desire to Heale, and in stead of reproving others, condemn ourselves; And therefore that of Saint Augustine is very energetical, Cogitemus cum aliquom reprehendere nos necessitas coegerit, Aug. lib. de fermon. Domini in monte. ser. 1. utrum tale sit vitium quod nunquàm habuimus, & tuunc cogitemus nos hon. ines esse, & habere potuisse; vel quòd tale habuimus, & iam non habemus, & nunc tangat memoriam communis fragilitatis, ut ill am correctionem, non odium, sed misericordia praecedat When necessity impels us to reprehend another (as the Father will have no reprehension without necessity,) let us consider, whether it be such a vice as we never had, and then, weigh that we are but men, and might have had it; or whether such a one as once we had, and now have not, and then let it whisper to us the common frailty of mankind, that so Mercy and not Hatred may be the Pule and platform of our Reproof. 'Tis true, the words of the Wiseman are compared to Goads and Nails; and the Reason, or Moral rather, Greg. Home 6. supper Euang. in illa zerbae. Gregory affords, Culpas delinquentium nesciunt calcare, sed pungere: Lapses and depravations, they will prick, and not smother. But take heed how they prick too fare, left bleeding them, they rankle. Applications come too late, when the part gins to gangrene; And therefore sometimes our Balsams are opportune, sometimes our Corrasives; How to time, and qualify them, the Divine Moralist will prescribe you, Greg. Moral. lib. 29. Regat Disciplinae vigor mansuetudinem, & mansuetudo ornet vigorem, & sic alterum commendetur, ex altero, ut nec vigor sit rigidus, nec mansuetudo dissoluta: Discretion must be the Guide to decline hatred, and avoid negligence, to blunt and meeken Rigour, and to edge and embolden Softness; that so we may not only rebuke Delinquents, as men merely, but sometimes encourage them as Christians, and not always terrify them, as Aliens and enemies to the Church, but, now and then Beseech them as our Brethren; so the Charity of our Apostle runs in the words following, I beseech you Brethren. Brethren? how? by Nature? or Country? Pars 2. or Alliance? Neither; For the Roman Church was then a mixed Church, Aquin. part 3. q. 28. Art. 3. ad 5. a Throng of jews and Gentiles promiscuously; And these could not be properly his Brethren, either in respect of Parents, or Nation, or Consanguinity; and therefore, Brethren, by Affection, Singulari affectu, Aretius' in cap: 12. Rom. Pareus Ibid. (saith Aretius,) And so Pareus too, Fratres compellat, ut de amore eius frater no non dubitet, He uses this sweet Compellation, Brethren, not (perchance) that they were so, either by Grace, or Nature; but, Brethren, that they might not distrust his brotherly affection; For though of old the word Fratres was a common Attribute and name to all Believers; yet, not used to the Romans (here) because, Believers, Sed ut fraternam benevolentiam, Carthus. in cap 12. Rom. v. 1. & charitatem, in illis declaret suam, saith Carthusian; Not so much to manifest their faith, as his Charity; For though many of them were strangers to him, and some his sworn enemies, yet notwithstanding their extremity of hatred, he would not refuse to call them Brethren, that would be his Executioners; Nay, such were his overflowings of Zeal and Love; Love towards them, for God's sake; and Zeal towards God, for theirs, that he will not only expose his Body to tortures for them, but (if it were possible) his very Soul; And left this should be thought a Flourish merely, He calls his own Conscience to witness it, My Conscience bearing me record, that I could wish, Rom. 9.8. that myself were accursed from Christ, for my Brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, Rom 9.3. Thus, the great Lamps and Beacons of the Church, as they have abounded ever in Grace, so in Love too; their Charity went hand in hand with their Zeal, and sometimes out-stept it; and indeed Charity is the very Salt of Religion, the seasoner of all our Spiritual and Moral Actions; without which, even our Devotions are unsavoury, our Orisons distasteful; and therefore to this great virtue, some have made three Stories or Ascents; Polan. Syrtag. lib. 9 cap. 10. Dilection, Love, Charity; Dilection at the foot; Love in the midway; Charity at top; That, the groundwork or foundation; Th'other, the walls and body, This, the roof and battlement; Dilection (say they) includes the judgement of the Chooser, and a separation of the thing chosen from others which are not; Love follows Dilection, by which we are united in affection to the thing we chose, and so love; But Charity is greater than both, by which we so embrace the thing loved, that we endeavour always to preserve it in our love Dilection is an Effeminate, light and transitory affection; Love more Masculine, though somewhat violent, and so unstable too; Charity, sober, and hung with gravity, and involues both strictness of Tie and inviolablenesse. Thus the Moralist will Cryticke on the words; the Divine is not so curious, But if he find any difference. He makes Love and Charity towards God, Polan. Syntag. lib. 9 cap. 10. the causes of Dilection, and This the effect of the other Two, so Polanus. But indeed Charity includes all, hath a divers Aspect, and casts every way, like a well-arted eye in a curious Statue, stand what side of it you please, It seems still to glance and dart upon you; Sometimes It looks ad nos, to us, and that is our home- Charity, Charity to ourselves; Sometimes supra nos, above us, and that's towards God; Sometimes praeter nos, beside us, and that's towards our enemies; Sometimes iuxta nos, with us, and that's towards our neighbour; Sometimes extra nos, Aug. lib. 1. de Doct. Christiana. cap. 23. without us, & that's towards the Infidel; Sometimes infra nos, below us, and that's towards the world. What? Charity towards our Neighbour, the unbeliever, and the world? and none towards the Text here, Our Brethren? Yes, Charity towards our Neighbour includes that; or if it did not, Charity towards God commands it, Hoc mandatum habemus à Domino, This command we have from God, that he that loveth God, should love his brother also, 1 john. 4.21. So that this Diligere Deum, presupposes diligere fratrem; and this diligere fratrem, diligere proximum; and this diligere proximum, diligere omnem hominem: so Saint Augustine, upon our Saviour's Diliges proximum tuum, thou shalt love thy neighbour, Manifestum est omnem hominem proximum esse deputandum, Aug. ut supra. 1. Book de doct. Christ. 30. cap. So that, to love God, doth insinuate to love every man by the rules of Charity; not every man for himself only, but for God, & therefore for himself, because for God; according to that of the same Saint Augustine, Charitas est motus animi ad fruendum Deo, propter ipsum, & see; atque proximo, Aug. lib. 3. de Doct. Christiana. cap. 10. propter Deum Charity is a motion of the mind, by which we enjoy God for himself, and ourselves, and our Neighbour for our God. Thou shalt love thy God (saith Christ) with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. As thyself? how is that? with all thy heart too: so that He shares in thy whole man, as well as God; but not so Extensively; God principally, thy Neighbour in Subordination to him. And questionless, Ratio diligendi proximum, Deus est; hoc enim in proximo debemus diligere, ut in Deo sit: God is the Reason why we love our Neighbour; for in this respect we ought to love our Neighbour, that he be in God; and therefore 'tis manifest that the same Act in Specie (saith Thomas) is, by which we love God, Aquin. secunda secundae. q. 25. Art. 1. Const. and by which we love our Neighbour, and so the very Habit of Charity must not only extend itself to the love of God, but to the love of our Neighbour also. Neither is this great virtue terminated here, but extendeth also to our very enemies; and that not only out of command, because God enjoines it, but out of Necessity, because Charity will enforce it. The very Laws of Charity will have us love our Enemies, but not merely, as our Enemies; for that were to love another's sin; but, in universali, as men, and partakers of our Nature; and, not only, in this Generality of love neither; Aquin. secunda secundae. q. 25. Art. 2. but sometimes, more personally, In articulo necessitatis, secundum praeparationem animi (as the Schools flourish it) In an Article of Necessity, by some mental preparation; To wit, That our mind should ever be so prepared, that if Necessity did comply, we could love our enemy in Singulari too, more specially, more particularly. And not only, Thus, to our enemy, but the Wicked enemy, Charity binds there, too; but there as before, Non culpâ, quâ peccatores, sed naturâ, ut divinae beatitudinis capaces. For there are two things considerable in the wicked man▪ Nature, and Sin; According to Nature, which he hath from God, he is capable of Beatitude, and so, the Object of our Charity; But according to Sin, by which he stands in Diameter, Debemus in peecatoribus odire quòd peccatores sunt, et diligere, quòd homines sint beatitudini capaces. Aquin. secunda secundae. q. 25. A. 6. and direct opposition to his God, and so finds an impediment of this blessedness, he is rather the But and Aime of our hatred, than Commiseration. And therefore, whereas the Prophet is often violent against the wicked man, debarring him (as it were) of all Charity, with his Conuertentur peccatores in Infernum, The wicked shall be turned into Hell, Psal. 9.17. 'Tis spoken per modum praenunciationis, non imprecationis, by way of Prophecy, not Curse; and therefore 'tis not Conuertantur peccatores, Psal. 50.10. Let the Sinners be turned; but Conuertentur, in the Future, They shall be turned; or perchance too, per modum optationis; by way of wish; yet so, that the desire of him that wishes, be not referred to the punishment of man, but the justice of him that inflicts it; Because God himself punishing, doth not rejoice in the destruction of the wicked, but his own justice; or else, that this desire be referred to the remotion of Sin, not the very Act of punishment, that so the Transgression be destroyed, and yet the Man remain. Secunda secundae. q. 25. A. 7. ad 3. And there is Charity in this too, great Charity, that we wish the preservation of the Sinner, when we desire the destruction of his Sin; But this is Charitas secundùm naeturam also, which is not only exposed to Man, and the worst of men, but to Creatures reasonless, nay, to the very Devils themselves, whose nature we may even (out of Charity) love, forasmuch as we would have those spirits to be conserved in suis naturalibus, Secunda secundae. q. 25. A. 11. Genel. as they are naturally spirits, to the Glory of that divine Majesty that created them, so Aquinas, secunda, secundae, quaest. 25. Art. 11. Thus we have followed Charity in her largest progress, through heaven and Earth, to the Horrid pit; From God, by men, to Spirits; if there be a place or subject else where Goodness may reside or pitch on, Charity will dwell there also: It beareth all things, 1. Cor. 13.7. believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; Are there Prophecies? They shall fail. Are there Tongues? They shall cease. Is there Knowledge? 1. Cor. 13.8. That shall vanish; but Charity shall never fail, never in matters of Nature, or Grace, or Glory; of the Law, the Gospel, or their Consummation; Charity fulfils the Law, comprehends the Gospel, and completes Both. All the Moral virtues lie shrined here; Secunda secundae quaest. 65. Art. 3. Concl. August. Serm. 46. de Tempore. 1. Cor 13.23. so Aquinas; all the Cardinal, saith Augustine; all the Theological, Saint Paul, though not ex confesso, yet by way of Intimation; for Faith and Hope are not only with it, but under it: The greatest of these is Charity, 1. Cor. 13. vlt. The greatest of these? All these, they are all in Charity, and Charity in God; In God? God itself, God is Love, and he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in God, and God in him, 1 john 4.16. 'Tis plain then, where Charity is, there is an habitation for the Lord; and where 'tis not, there is a Thoroughfare for the Devil; Religion is but rottenness without it, and all this front of holiness, but dross and Rubbish: Tell me not of Faith, without thy works; nor of Prayers, without thine Alms; nor of Piety, without thy Compassion; nor of Zeal, without thy Charity; what is Devotion when 'tis turbulent, or Conscience when 'tis peevish? or Preaching, when 'tis Schismatical? I love not Divinity, when 'tis stipendiary; nor purity, when 'tis factious: nor Reprehension, when 'tis Cruel; nor Censure, when 'tis Desperate: Oral vehemency hath more tongue than heart: & therefore that Zeal which is ouer-mouthed, we may suspect either for counterfeit, or Malicious. Believe not every spirit (saith Saint john) but try the spirits, whether they be of God or no, 1. john 4. for many false Teachers are gone out into the world: Into the world, in all Ages, and all Churches: Let's particularise in some, in that of the Apostles first, when under a pretence of sincerity, and suppressing Innovation; (labouring to establish the jewish ceremonies more firmly,) there were some that subtly cried down the very seeds of Christianity, as those false apostles did, which came from judea, unto Antioch, and taught the Brethren; That except they were Circum ised after the manner of Moses, Acts 15. they could not be saved; whom Paul and Barnabas first; and afterwards Peter and james, and the rest at jerusalem, both zealously did resist, and in their Synod, or first convocation, powerfully suppress. But this Pseudo-zeale in the time of the Apostles, did but smoke and sparkle (like fire under green wood,) In that of the Fathers, it broke out into flames, when someturbulent and discontented spirits, burning in hatred to the true Professors, or leaning partially to some faction against the Church, notwithstanding out of a mere tickling and itch of glory, offered themselves unto death, for the confession of the name of Christ, Vide Estius in c. 13. ad Rom. as the Montanists, novatians, Arrians, Donatists, whom the Catholic Church never honoured with the Title of Martyrs, but reprobated and cast out as the wilful Patriarches of Schism & heresy; as Saint Augustine, and Saint Cyprian more voluminously; The one, in his Disputation against the Novatian; the other, against the Donatist. And doubtless, Suffering is not always the way to Glory; 'Tis not Passion, but the Cause of it, that both creates, and crownes our Martyrdoms. Timeo dicere, Hieron. in cap. 5. ad Galat. sed dicendum est; Jerome is loath to speak it, but he must: That those Corporal tortures which for Religion we undergo, even Martyrdom itself; if it be therefore undergone, to purchase Admiration and Applause of men, frustrà sanguis effusus est, That blood was spilt in vain. We honour not Martyrs, because they suffer, but because for Christ, and his Church, they suffer. 'Tis not thy carcase then, but thy Charity that casts up the grateful Incense; and therefore those that glory in their wilful passions under a false name of Martyrdom, Hear how Saint Augustine descants on: Ecce, venitur ad passionem; Aug. serm. 50. de Verbis Dom. venitur & ad sanguinis effusionem; vennuur & ad corporis incensionem; & támen, nihil prodest, quià Charitas deest, We offer our Bodies to the stake, our Blood to the flames, our Lives to the fury of the Tormentors, all this is nothing without Charity, 'tis that makes the Suffering glorious. 1. Cor. 13.4, 5. If I give my Body to be burned (saith Saint Paul) and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing, nay had I all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity, I am nothing; Not, Nullus sum, but Nihil sum, Not so much, not a Man, as not a creature, nothing. Harken then, thou son of Tumult, whose lips enter into contention, and whose mouth calleth for strokes; Thou which raisest tempests in Religion, Pro. 8.5. and sowest thy Tares of Faction amongst the multitude; thou which bringest in the strange Leaven of New Doctrines, and colourest them with thy probable allegations, whereby the Consciences of the Simple are entangled, and the peace of the Church disturbed, though otherwise perchance, thou art punctual enough, both in thy conversation and thy Tenants, hast the gifts of Prophecy, understandest all Mystertes and all Language, yet, because in some things thou hast made a breach of this Harmony in the Church, Schismatici, qui extra Ecclesians' Catho icam, praesentem finunt. vilam, in ignens eunt aeternum. Aug. seu potius. Fulgent. de fide ad Petrum Diaconum, cap. 38 thou art a Rebel both to it, and thy Christ; and except by Retractation and Submission thou art recalled to the Fold from which thou hast wandered, thou standest outlawed and excommunicate to Heaven, and neither Imprisonment nor Death can make atonement for thy Mistread. Is this harsh? 'Tis Saint Augustine's, and he will yet go farther: A Schismatic brought unto the take; not for that Error which did separate him from the Church, but for the truth of the Word and Sacrament which he doth else maintain, suffering the Temporal flames, to avoid the Eternal, and bears it patiently; though that Patience be commendable, and a gift of God, yet (because in part a Schismatic) not of that kind of gifts which are imparted filijs jenusalem, but to those also which are filij concubinarum (saith the Father) which even earnall jews, and Heretics may have; and concludes at length, that This suffering and patience nothing profits Him towards Heaven; but supposes that the great judgement will be in this more tolerable to Him, Aug. lib. de Patientia, cap. 26.27.28. Quàm si Christum negando torme ta mortémque vitâsset, Then if by denying Christ, he had evaded the cruelty of his Death and Torment: in his Book de Patientia, 28. chapter. You have heard what primitive times have done for the bark and outside of Religton; the very skin and shell of Christianity; Let us now compare them a little with our own; and we shall find, that they have not anywhit gone beyond us in the Externall profession of sincerity, though in their suffering and Tortures they have much. We have deceitful workers as well as they, 2. Cor. 11.13. Transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ, 2. Cor. 5.20. which glory in appearance, and not in heart. We abhor, That Age should outdo ours, either in Hypocrisy or profaneness, we have our Donatists and Catharists, and Anabaptists, as plentifully as they; and some beside, They had not; the Brownist, the Barrowist, and the Familist, and one more that both fosters and encloses all these, (may he be whispered without offence, my Brethren) the Puritan; but he will not be Titled so; the very Name hangs in his jaws, and the chief way to discover him, is to call him so; That fires and nettles him, and so repining at the Name, he owns it; and questionless 'tis his, though he shroud and veil it under the word Brethren in the Text; whose Purity consists much in washing of the outward man, Vide Ro. Art 19 A. 1. prop. ubi cirat H. N. 1. exhort c. 13. § 10. the Brewaists to Cartwright, page 39 Barrow in his discovery, p. 33. whilst their Tenants look towards a Legal righteousness, and a triumphant and glorified condition of man here upon earth; professing by their open Pamphlets, that the visible Church, the true visible Church, is devoid of Sin and Sinners, and for Manners cannot err; and therefore Paradox it, That the Assemblies of good and bad together, are no Church, but Heaps of profane men; as if in one field, Math. 25. there were not as well Tares as Corn, in one house, vessels of wood and earth, as of gold and silver; a Mixture of good and bad, Math. 23. in all Congregations; which as an Emblem of the Church visible, our Saviour types-out in the parable of the Sour, the Marriage, and the Virgins; Math. 13. Nay his Blessed Spouse, of herself, freely professes her deformity, Tho I am comely, I am black, Cant. 1.5. O ye Daughters of jerusalem, black as the Tents of Kedar. And yet These will have her all clean and lovely, like a face without spot, or wrinkle; when we know a Mole or Wart (sometimes) beautifies a feature, and in this War of opposites, there is both gracefulness, and Lustre; and therefore I suppose the Church was first compared unto the Moon, not so much for change, as obnubilation, being obvious to clouds, and Eclipses; and when 'tis at clearest, 'tis not without a mole in her cheek neither, at leastwife, to an ocular apprehension or if it were all fair and Lueid, yet, 'tis by way of Influence, beamed from a greater light, borrowed, not her own; so is this of the Church too; one un of righteousness enlightens Both, and therefore, Woe unto them, that call Light, Darkness & Darkness, Light; make a Church of itself shine, which cannot, or not shine, which might, if they were not, by others; dogmatically, & peremptorily laying down, that where Errors are there is no True Church (when there was never any, nor will be, whilst 'tis militant, without them,) But They are no more of the substance of our Religion, or any Essential part of our Church's Doctrine, Ro. Artie. in the Preface. then ill humours which be in, are of the Body, or Dregs in a vessel of wine, part of the wine, or vessel. 'Tis true, some Ceremonies we retain yet, as matters of Indifferency, and not of Substance, and these (forsooth) are so heinous, that they are Thorns in their sides, and prickles in their eyes; matter of Ceremony, is now matter of Conscience, and rather than subscribe, Silence, Suspension, Imprisonment, they venture on, and sometimes suffer too; where A Brethren-Contribution more fat's them, than all the Fortunes they were masters of before; and this (beloved) cannot be zeal, but Schism, or if it be zeal, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 10.2. it wants Eyes, and Intellectuals, 'tis not according to knowledge; For what judgement would expose our Body unto prison? our Calling to the stain of Separation, and Revolt, for a thing merely of indifferency and Ceremony? No, there is more in it, than This; the Rochet, Tippet, and the Surplice is not that they shoot at, but the thing called Parity; Moses and Aaron they like not for the Ephod, and the Rod; they speak power, and command, and so intimate obedience; But these struggle for equa lity; the Ecclesiastic Hierarchy they would demolish, Episcopal corruption is the great Eyesore; Down with it, down with it, even to the ground. And yet I dare say, there are some subtle pioneers, and secret Mutineers in Commonwealth, pretending plausibly to the flourishing of Religion, which if they could once glory in that Babel they endeavour to erect, they cared not, if erusalem were An heap of stones; 'Tis impossible, that Civil Authority can ever subsist without the other; and if there be once a full rent & flaw in Church-policy, what can we expect from that of State, or either, but vast Anarchy, and Confusion? Thus, he that strikes at the Mitre, God grant he catch'th not at the Sceptre, and (if he could grasp it) the very Thunderbolt; no Bishop, no King, and so by consequence no God; He proclaims himself the God of Order, and These would make him the Father of Confusion; and so, in circumstance disgod him too, seeing his greatest glory consists in the Harmony of his Creatures, the Peace of his Church, and unanimity of his Saints and Servants; and therefore (brethren) let me beseech you in the words of the Apostle, Mark them which cause Divisions, Rom. 6.17, 18. and offences, contrary to the Doctrine which you have heard, and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not our Lord jesus Christ, but their own Belly, and by good words, and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple, Rom. 16.17, 18, ver. I have yet but Beseeched you in the words of an Apostle; Let me warn you also in the Language of a Saviour, Beware of Those which come to you in sheep's clothing, with such a Cast of Mortification and Integrity, as if their conversation spoke nothing but Immaculatenesse, when within they are ravening wolves: such as will not only tondere pecus, and deglubere; but devorare too; subvert whole houses for filthy lucre: Tit. 1.13. You shall know them by their fruit; Their fruit unto the eye beautiful and glorious, but to the finger, Dust and Smoke; or if not by their fruit, by their Leaves, you may, a few wind-falne virtues which they piece and sow together to cover their own Nakedness. Will you have them in their full Dress and portraiture? Take the draught and pattern, then from the Pharisee, Matthew 23. There the character is exact; where if you observe, They are twice called Blind Guides: Blindness of knowledge brings on Blindness of Heart; and therefore twice also Fools, and Blind; ver. 17.19. To this Blindness of Heart, Pride is annexed; They make broad their Phylacteries, and enlarge the Borders of their Garments; ver. 5. To this Pride, vainglory; They love greetings in the Alarket, uppermost rooms at feasts, and chief seats in the Synagogues; ver. 6.7. To this Vainglory, Hypocrisy; They make clean the outside of the cup and platter, and for a pretence make long prayers; and all to be seen of men, v. 14.25. To this Hypocrisy, Spiritual malice; They shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for they neither go in themselves, nor suffer them that are entering, to go in, ver. 13. Lastly, to this Malice, there is uncharitableness; They bind heavy Burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they Themselves will not move them with one of their fingers, ver. 4. Rare perfections, doubtless, for the Sanctified Child of God Observe the Catalogue, Blindness of Heart, Pride, Vainglory, hypocrisy, Malice, and Uncharitableness: Let us make it out, Envy, and all Uncharitableness, and then Libera nos, Domine, Good Lord deliver us; deliver us from all falsehood in his Services, and faction against his Church, that we may be his Ministers in Sincerity, and not in show, as those false Teachers were of old, or our Brainsick and discontented neoterics at the present, whom Saint Paul discovers by a double Attribute, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, vaniloqui, & Seductores; unruly and vaine-talkers, and Deceivers, Titus 1.10. They talk (it should seem) They do not Teach; and talk vainly too; I stius in cap. 1. Tit. v. 10.11. and not only so, but this vanity must be noised, unruliness goes with it, Lectio Hieron. in 1. cap. Tit. v. 10.11. and Those which in their Doctrines are vain and untuly too, sometimes prove Deceivers, Mentium Decepteres, (as Jerome reads it on the Text) Deceivers of minds, 2. Tim. 3.6. of weak and simple minds, Mechanics, and captived women, which have been the disciples of all Schisms and all Heresies in all Ages. And such indeed are the chiefest Proficients in their Schools now: for none are so pinned to the strict observation of their Precepts, Vide 2. Tim. 4. ver 3.4. as these Silly ones. There is nothing so furious as an ignorant zeal, so violent as a factious Holiness; and therefore when their Doctrines or their practices are touched unto the Quick, and made (once) the subject of a Pulpit Reprchension; their Charity is presently on the Rack; the Brass sounds loud, and the Cymbal tinckles shrill, their Censures are full-charged, and come on like a peal of Great shot, thick and terrible. The Cymbal (as Caietan observes) was an Instrument of old, Vide Estium in 1. Cor. 13.1. Magis sonorum, quàm musicum, not so musical as loud and of more noise than melody, and such as women only used, both in their times of Triumph and Devotion. A pretty Invention for weakness and childhood to play withal, and be it spoken without disparagement of some glories in that Sex, a fit type of women and their frailties; who, for the most part are taken rather with the sound of things, than the things themselves, and are seldom without this Instrument of Noise about them. The Tongue is their proper Cymbal, Psal. 150. not the well-tuned Cymbal David speaks of; but the Loud Cymbal, with which they do not so much praise God, as sometimes disparage men; Their Morality, and their zeal are near one, a shrillness as well in their Devotion, as their Actrons, and their practice in both is a very Tinkling; Tinkling with their Feet, lead the Dance to the next Conventicle; Tinkling with the tongue too; Great talkers, in Divinity, and if they could exchange a Parlour for a Church, or a stool for a Pulpit, they would preach too, & ('tis thought) Edify as much as their zealous Pastor. But Away with those Echoes in Religion, fit for Silence, than Reproof; and for pity, than confutation; and therefore (once more) I Beseech you, and with the phrase of an Apostle too, Heb. ultims. Be not carried about with diverse and strange Doctrines, Halt and limp not between Innovation and an established Discipline. But (as Peter said to the Cripple) In the Name of jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk; Acts 3.6. Return unto the Church, whence ye are straggling; not to your Stepdame, but your mother, the Mother of whom you were borne and nursed; dry those tears she sheds for you; peace those sighs, and groans, & complaints, which she wails for you; Fall upon those Arms which will embrace you, those Bowels which yearn for you, those Paps which gave you suck. What went you to see? A Reed shaken with the wind? Yes, a very Reed, shaken with every wind of Doctrine; A Reed with a bruised stalk or broken Ear, no Corn in it; or if it have, 'tis blasted with Sedition, fit for the Dunghill, them the Granary. Away then from Lebanon (my Beloved) from Lebanon; Look from the Den of Lions, Cant. 4.8. and Mountains of the Leopards (where the peace of Religion is blood-sucked and devoured) and come hither to the mountains of Myrrh; and hills of Frankincense; The Altars of the living God, where the Incense of his Church flames cheerfully, with no less truth of devotion, than unanimity. Lo, her golden vials, full of odours, Sacrifices both devout and peaceable, Such as the heart of his people offer, and not the hands, only; Calves of our lips, and groans of the Spirit, which touch both the cares and nostrils of the Almighty. Let the voice of division, then, jar no more amongst you, which if there were nothing else to noise our frailties, were enough to speak bondage to the flesh, and not yet, our freedom to the Spirit. For whence are strifes and enurying? are they not from your lusts? And whilst one saith, I am of Paul, 1. Cor. 3.4. another, am of Apollo, are ye not carnal? Christ is not divided, his Church is one; My Dove, Cant. 6.7. my undefiled is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bore Her, Can. 6.7. The Church, (you hear) is Gods only one, his choice one; He hath no more, and we, though many, are but one neither, 1. Cor. 10.17. the Churches one, Her choicest one, one Body, nay, one Bread, 1 Cor. 10.17. Moreover, Christ's Spirit is but one; though it be in many, 'tis there still one Spirit, no division where that is, but all peace; Ephes. 4.3. and therefore 'tis called the unity of the Spirit; and this unity must be still kept in the bond of peace. Mark, here's no wanering, or Temporary peace; but this peace must be still kept, and not stightly kept, but there is a Tie on the keeping of it, The Bond of peace: Ephes. 4.3. and 'tis this Bond that makes the unity, and this unity that keeps the peace, and this peace that preserves the Spirit, so that 'tis still an unity of Spirit, kept in the Bond of peace. Come hither, then, my Faithful Brother in the Lord, and let us no more censure, but expostulate. Hast Thou the true Faith thou so much gloriest in? where is thy zeal? hast thou true zeal? where is thy Charity? hast thou true Charity? why art thou Tumultuous? john. 13.35. By this shall you know (saith Christ) that you are my Disciples, if you love one another. Mutual agreement begets Love, and this Love makes the Disciple, and this Disciple is known to be Christ's, by a Si diligeretis, only, if ye love one another. And therefore in the first Dawne and rising of the Christian Church, the chief thing remarked in it by the Gentiles, was the Christian Love: Tertul. Apol. 36. Vide ut inuicemse diligunt! ut pro alterutro mori sint parati! as Tertullian stories it. Lo how they Love! the Heathens cry, How ready to Die one for another! But this Love of the Brother unto Death, I press not here; (for the very Infidels had their Commorientes, as well as we) but Love unto Sincerity and Constancy, of which he that is destitute, falls short both in Religion, and Morality. And therefore that Text in Saint Peter runs Methodically, Fear God, 1. Pet. 2.17. Honour the King, but first, Love the Brotherhood; as if there could be no true fear of God, or honour of the King, except there be first Love to thy Brother; to thy Brother? nay, the Brotherhood: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Greek, Achava, the Hebrew; Beza Annot. in 1. Pet. 2 10. Brotherhood, for the company and conjunction of Brethren in the Church; and in this, not so much a Conjunction of persons, as of Minds, otherwise 'tis no Church. And therefore the multitude of them that believed at the Apostles Sermon, were said to be of one Soul, and one heart, Acts 4.32. And this one Soul, and one heart; S. Paul calls one mind, and one judgement: And this one mind and one judgement, must not be thinly mixed, 1. Cor. 1.10.12. but perfectly joined together, and so joined together, that there be no Division among us; and therefore he conjures his Corinthians by the Name of jesus Christ; Rom. 15.5, 6. not only to Do, but to Speak the same thing. I Beseech you Brethren, by the Name of our Lord jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, that there be no Division amongst you, but that ye be perfectly joined together, in one mind, and the same judgement, 1 Cor. 1.10. Maximum indicium malae mentis fluctuatio, Sen. Epist. 121. Reeling between opinion and opinion; is a Mental drunkenness and there is no such Index of a Depraved Disposition, as waving & unsettledness. And therefore the Stoic describing the unconstant man, Senec. Jbid. Thus lashes him, Nunquàm eundem nec similem quidem, sed in diversum aberrat; He so traverses and wanders in himself, that he is neither the same, nor like, but divers. So that the Wise man is the Man only of Resolution, for He is one, and the same still: Praeter Sapientem nemo unus, Seneca tells his Ducillius in his 126. Epistle. And doubtless, 'tis this one mind and one judgement, that makes both the discreet Moralist and the wise Christian: Videmus qualis sit, quantus sit, and unus sit: Epist. 26. the same Seneca. Unanimity is the Soul of Brotherhood, whether in that of Nature, or of Grace; And therefore, what Abraham, of old, said unto Lot, is worthy both of your memory and observation, Genes. 13.8. Let there be no strife between me and thee, nor between my Herdsmen, and thy Herdsmen; why? We are Brethren as if the very word did involve union, and where there was Brotherhood, there could be no strife; no not amongst their very Herdsmen, that brawling Regiment, which, for the most part, are as unruly as the Droves they keep; and in some things 'tis disputable, which is the verier Beast; for they both go one way, non quá eundum est, sed quâ itur, Sen. Epist. 135. As the multitude treads, so they follow, squadroned into a Faction, as That is, not only in the State, but the Church too; And so 'twas of old, Acts 14.4. in the time of the Apostles, when at Iconmum there was a great uproar amongst the jews and Gentiles, about the preaching of Paul and Barnabas; in stead of suppressing the fury of the Tumult, the Rabble of the City was Divided; and part held with the jews, and part with the Apostles, Act. 14.4. Thus popular convocations were ever the Nurses of Distraction; and These, now occasion the Hubub and Out-cries in Our Church, the strife is not so much between Loo, and Abraham, as their Herdsmen, the People more side it in Religion, than their Pastors do; and that's the best Doctrine which They fancy; not what the Others teach. And to this purpose, They have gotten, lately into most Corpor ations of the Kingdom, certain Lapwing-Dinines, and featherlesse Professors of their own Cut; prescribe them Principles which they may not transgresse; and not only their Posture, Habit, and Conversation, but the very Method, Tone and Language cued them. Miserable Age, when Divinity shall be thus slaved to a Stipend and a Trencher! and the Apostles of jesus Christ, for a morsel of bread! or some Mechanic, or Leane-cheeked Contribution, shall disparage the Pour and sacredness of their Keys! But fie on this Factious Holiness, this jezebel in Religion, that smells too much of the Painter, and his Varnish: Let it no more with uncharitable contentions, or novelty of Doctrine, or unseasonableness of suggestion, disturb the peace of our Spiritual Mother; but let her sleep and rest sweetly in that Divine truth, which she hath received from Primitive plantations, and sealed since, with the Blood of so many Martyns. I charge you, O Daughters of jerusalem, by the Roes and Hinds of the field, that ye stir not, or awake my Love, until she please, Cant. 3.5. 'Twas long since the complaint of a disconsolate Church, and ours hath in part revived it: Ecce pace amaritudo mea amarissima, pax ab haereticis, pax à paganis, bellum à filijs: O my bitter bitterness in the days of peace, peace amongst pagans, peace amongst Heretics, but wars and struggle by the twins of my own womb! My sons, my divided sons, are more unnatural than all these. The Protestant, that hath been so long the Star of the Reformed Church, the Ensign and Standard-bearer of true Religion, must be now buffeted and spit upon by the obloquy and scorn of up start Sectaries! You then, that thus dig out the Bowels of your hallowed mother, and stick your Daggers at her very heart; Serm. 57 de Diverfis in Append. Hark, Saint Augustine, the devout Saint Augustine, All those gifts and rewards of Beatitude, which God hath treasured up for his Children and Elect, in pacis conseruatione promisit, are appropriate only to the Sons of peace. And hence is our Saviour's Beatipacifici, Blessed are the peacemakers; why? They shall be called the sons of God. Aug. Serm. 463. de Temp. Non pervenitur ad voc abulum Filij, nisi per nomen pacifici, says the Father. They had never been called the Sons of God, had they not been first the sons of peace; nor entitled to the Attribute of Blessed, had they not been formerly the Sons of God. And therefore 'tis the Substance of Christ's valediction to his Disciples; john 14.27. Aug. Serm. 463. de Temp. My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Proficiscens voluit dare, quod desiderabat rediens in omnibus invenire; the same Saint Augustine; He gave to all, at his departure, what he desired to find in all, at his return; his peace, his blessed peace: For where there is a Congregation of men, and not of opinions, or of opinions, and not of love; Christ is not there with his Pax vobis: so that where peace is not, there is no Christ; and where no Christ, no Church. Thy Religion, thy Faith, thy Hope, are dead without it, thy Groans, thy Sighs, thy Devotions, are false and empty, like vaults that sound merely from their hollowness; thyself like an Instrument that's cracked, or a string that jarr's. And therefore to the peaceless Brother, that of Tertullian to the Gentiles, shall be both my Advice, and my Conclusion; Fratres vestrisumus, Tertul. Apol. 36. iure nostrae Matris unius; et si vos parum homines, qui mali fratres; at quanto dignius, fratres & dicuntur, & habentur, qui unum Patrem Deum agnoverunt, qui unum Spiritum biberunt sanctitatis, qui de uno utero ignorantiae eiusdem, ad unam Lucem expaverint veritatis? Itaque, quia Animâ, animóque miscemur, nihil de rei communicatione dubitemus: Since we have one God, our Father; one Christ, our Brother; one Church, our mother; one Spirit, our Comforter; Ephes. 4. uli. let us all have one mind, one heart, one peace, our Director; that so the God of peace, which is above All, may be through All, Cant. 4.15. and in us All. And then Arise, O North and come, O South, and blow on my Garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Cant. 7.12. Arise ye Sovereign winds of the Spirit of God, and breath on this garden of the Spouse, where the Pomegranates bud forth, and the tender grapes appear, that the fragrant odours of these her Plants may be both increased and dispesed, and at length carried into the Nostirls of her well-beloved, who shall bring her out of this Wilderness below, Cant. 3.6. like pillars of smoke, perfumed with Myrrh and Incense, which as sweet savours, shall ascend on high, where the Day breaks, and shadows fly away, where Darkness is banished everlastingly, and the Sun of Righteousness shines for evermore. To whom, etc. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Haec, atque huiusmodi verba obtrectantium, siuè non obtrectando, sed quaerendo talia loquentium, operosius fortassè refellerem, nisi hae disceptationes haberentur cum viris liber aliter institutis: Aug. de Apoll. & Apul. ad Marcellinum. Epist. 5. Respon. FINIS.