CHAP. I. Of the Person of the Holy Ghost in himself.

THE more clearly to understand the Doctrine of the Spirit of God, it will be necessary to use the light of some distinctions, for so the naked and plain truth of any thing is most clearly and distinctly seen, when namely, 'tis divided and distinguisht from its conjunction with other things of the same or the like name and na­ture; which is the ground of that old Maxime, Qui bene distinguit bene docet, The way to teach well, or clearly to deliver any truth, is rightly to distinguish that truth from other truths that are of near affinity thereunto either in name or nature; or in the words of the Apostle, which is the language of the Spirit of Truth, Rightly to divide the word of Truth, 2 Tim. 2.15. 2 Tim. 2.15. which was one of those many qualifications of the Apostles of Christ, wherewithall they were immediately inspired by this Spirit of Truth, for the propagation of the Gospel; intimated in that he descen­ded from heaven upon them, in cloven or divided Tongues.

And first that we mistake not the creature for the Crea­tor, 1. Distinct. God over all blessed for ever, we must remember that a Spirit is either Create or Increate: or more plainly, sometimes the word Spirit is in holy Scripture applyed to the creature, sometimes to the Creator.

1 There are several kindes of created spirits; as 1. Those glorious Inhabitants of the highest Heavens, the holy and blessed Angels: Heb. 1.14. Are they not all ministring spirits, &c. Heb. 1.14. 2 2. Those cursed inhabitants of the nether Hell, the chained Devils, [...], the Apostle styles them, Ephes. 6.12. Ephes. 6.12. Spiritual wickednesses, or wicked spirits. 3 3. The souls of men, which quicken and enliven these our frail and mortal bodies, every man being composed of two natures, a body and a soul, Gen. 2.7. or flesh and spirit. Gen. 2.7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, meaning his bo­dy, and breathed into his Nosthrils the breath of life, meaning his soul, and so man became a living soul, or living by his soul or spirit, created, or infused by God, into his earthly body. 4 4. The life and animation of each sensitive creature; therefore we read, Psal. 150.6. Let every thing that hath breath, Psal. 150.6. or spirit, praise the Lord: All these are several kindes of created spirits, some more, some lesse pure, fine and spiritual.

But there is an increated Spirit also, who being neither made nor created in himself, is the great Maker and Crea­tor of all spirits, and of all things; who being the prime Fountain and Original of all beeings, is so eminent and transcendent a Beeing, that as he is in himself he only knows himself; nor is it possible for us, or any creatures, who derive their beeing from him, to attain the perfect know­ledge of him; and therefore is he pleased in his holy Word, wherein he reveals himself unto us, to describe himself by the names and properties of his excellent and most eminent kinde of creatures, which are spirits, so that God is termed a Spirit Analogically, because Angels or Spirits are the purest, finest, quickest, and most active and intelligent beeings. But that we may not rank God with Angels or Spirits: (for he hath no match or equal) we must learn this one ge­neral rule in Divinity: Whatsoever is spoken of God in the Scriptures, and withall is applyable to any creature, must be un­derstood of God eminenter, by way of eminency and transcendency, as the Prototype and grand Exemplar of that perfection which is applyed to the creature: As here Angels are Spirits, and [Page 7]the souls of men are spirits, but God is not a Spirit as they are spirits, for he is the Fountain, the Original and all per­fect pattern of the Perfection and Purity of all created spirits: therefore termed the God of the spirits of all flesh, Numb. 22 16. Heb. 12.9 Numb. 22.16. and the Father of spirits, Heb. 12.9.

That we may according to the Catholick Faith worship one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in Ʋnity, 2. Distinct. neither con­founding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance; we must rightly distinguish betwixt the Subsistence and the Persons, or betwixt the Essence and Substance of God: which is ne­cessarily to be remembred and observed in relation to the Article of Faith in hand: for sometimes God is termed a Spirit Essentially, in respect of his essence, nature, or God­head: Sometimes Personally, the tearm being applyed to this or that particular person of the Godhead: 1. Joh. 4.24. Essenti­ally, Joh. 4.24. God is a Spirit, (that is, he is such a God whose essence, nature, or being is eminently and transcen­dently pure and spiritual). 2. Personally, Mat. 3.16. Mat. 4.1. Ephes. 4.30. so here and in many other places the term is peculiarly appropriated and applyed to the third Person of the Trinity, who is tearmed [...], the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, for Ghost and Spirit is the same, the one an old English word, the other a Latine.

This Name and Attribute the Holy Spirit, as it is particu­larly applyed to the third Person of the Trinity, expres­seth and sets forth unto us his Person and Office, his Perso­nal subsistence in himself, and his Office or working in re­lation to us.

1. His Person in the term Spirit.

2. His Office in the Attribute Holy; Sanctus dicitur, quiae sanctificat, & Spiritus, quia spiratus. He is called the Holy Ghost from his Office, which is to sanctifie, or make ho­ly, and the Spirit from his Person, which is spired or pro­ceeding.

First, the Holy] not holy only in respect of his Person, as is also the Father and the Son, which is implyed in that celestial Trisagion perpetually sung by the Quire of Heaven, to the glory of this ever blessed Trinity, Esai. 6.3. Holy, [Page 8]holy, holy Lord God of hosts, &c. Holy three times to denote the holiness of all the three Persons of the God-head, Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Ghost: But the Holy particularly and peculiarly in respect of his Office, which is to sancti­fie and hallow most especially the hearts of men; as to God the Father is appropriate the Work of Creation, who is therefore called the Almighty; the Omnipotence or Al­mightiness of God being most apparent in the Creation of all things: And as to God the Son is appropriate the work of Redemption, who is therefore called the word of God, Joh. 1.1. and the wisdome of the Father, 1 Cor. 1.24. Gods manifold Wisdome being made apparent in the Redemption of mankinde: for it is a mysterie which the very Angels them­selves desire to look into, 1 Pet. 1.12. Even so the work of Sanctification is appropriated to the Holy Ghost, who is therefore called the Holy One: Gods holinesse being most apparent in purifying and sanctifying the unhallowed souls of men. Isai. 10.17. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: Spiritus Sanctus est lumen illu­minans, sanctus sanctificans, [...]onav. flammá (que) inflammans, The holy Ghost is that Divine light which illuminates our darkened understandings; that Holy One who sanctifies our souls, and polluted hearts; that sacred and celestial fire, which in­flames our cold earthly affections, even as of old he enlight­ned, sanctified, and enflamed the minds of the Apostles of Christ, which was signified by his Descension, not only with a rushing winde, which purifies and cleanses, but also in Tongues of fire, which warms and enlightens, Act. 2.23.

The Spirit] not only [...], of a spiritual Nature, but [...], the Spirit, expressing his Personal Essence received from the Father, and from the Son, by spiration and procession: Even as the second Person of the Trinity, receives his personal Essence from the Father only, [...], by Generation, and is therefore called the Son of God. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten: So the Holy Ghost receives his Personal Essence from the Father and from the Son [...], by procession or spira­tion; and is therefore termed the Spirit of God. The Holy [Page 9]Ghost is from the Father and from the Son, not made, nor crea­ted, nor begotten, but proceeding; proceeding from the Father, Joh. 15.26. Gal. 2.6. Rom. 8.14. and therefore often termed the Spirit of the Father: pro­ceeding from the Son, and therefore often termed the Spirit of the Son: proceeding both from the Father and the Son, and therefore termed the Spirit of God.

And yet further in either of these terms, the Holy, and the Spirit, both the Personal Essence, and also the Office of the Holy Ghost is implyed: For 1. he is therefore called the Holy, not only in respect of his Office, as before, Lib. 2. cap. 3. but al­so in respect of his Personal Essence; for therefore saith Isi­dore in his Originals is he called the Holy, because he is the Coessential and Consubstantial holiness of the Father and the Son. 2. He is therefore termed the Spirit not only in respect of his personal Essence as before: but also in respect of his Office, which is to inspire and infuse his divine and celestial blessings into the souls of men.

And from the name also of this divine Person, [the Spi­rit] we are to take notice, and firmly believe: That the Holy Ghost is of the same essence, and consubstantial with the Father, and the Son, and in all respects coaequal, and coaeternal: so that as the Father is God, and the Son is God, so the Holy Ghost is God; and as the Father is Almighty, and the Son Almighty, so is the Holy Ghost Almighty: and so of all the other Attributes of the God-head: where­upon all acts of divine worship also are aequally due to the Holy Ghost as to the Father, and the Son: Who together with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified.

The difference betwixt this Holy Spirit, and the other sa­cred Persons of the God-head consists in 3 particulars.

1. That he is the third or last person of the God-head: the third not in dignity, but in order only; not in diversity of essence, or inaequality of majesty, but in order of subsisting: which against Arrians, Socinians, &c. is firmly to be be­lieved according to that Decree of the third Toletan Coun­cel, Quicun (que) Spiritum sanctum non credit, aut non crediderit à Patre & Filio procedere, eum (que) non dixerit Patri & Filio coaeternum esse, & coessentialem, anathema sit: that is, who­soever [Page 10]doth not beleeve the Holy Ghost ( viz. to be a real true subsisting person) and doth not believe him also to proceed from the Father, and the Son, and to be with the Father, and the Son coaeternal, and consubstantial: Let him be accursed.

2. The second Difference, is the way of this holy Per­sons subsisting, viz. By spiration from the Father, and the Son: Touching the manner whereof, we must say as the Pro­phet Isaiah doth of the Sons generation from the Father, Isai. 53.8. Who shall declare his generation? 'Tis not only in­effable, not to be declared, but unconceivable also: The heart of man conceives it not, neither can the tongue of men or Angels express it.

Inter illam generationem & hanc processionem distinguere ne­scio, non valeo, Aug. non sufficio, quia & illa, & ista est ineffabilis, (that is) to distinguish betwixt the Generation of God the Son, and the Procession of God the Holy Ghost is impossi­ble, because both the one and other be for the manner thereof unspeakable.

3. But thirdly, Isid. ibid. Hoc autem interest, saith Isidore, inter nascen­tem filium, &c. betwixt the Son of Gods generation, and the Spirit of Gods procession, there is this difference indeed, That the Son is from the Father alone; but the Holy Ghost is both from the Father and the Son; prooedens, non geni­tus, &c. proceeding, not begotten, to distinguish him from the Son; proceeding, not unbegotten, to distinguish him from the Father; the which we are to observe, lest contra­ry to the true Catholick Faith, we should admit either of two Sons, or two Fathers in the ever blessed Trinity; or any way confound the several Persons therein, as if they were not distinct each from other really, but nominally only, and in relation to us, which was the error of the Patripassians and others, struck at by that clause of the Athanasian Creed; so there is one Father, not three Fathers, one Son, not three Sons, one Holy Gh [...]st, not three Holy Ghosts.

Thirdly, 3. Distinct. that we may not confound the Person, and the Office of this ever blessed Spirit of God, but rightly understand what is meant, by receiving the holy Ghost, [Page 11]being filled with the Holy Ghost; Act. 9.2. Psal. 2.4. Heb. 6.4. and made partakers of the Ho­ly Ghost; and all Scriptures which speak of having the Spi­rit, being endued with the Spirit, and the like, we must in the third place rightly distinguish betwixt the Personal Es­sence of the Spirit, and the impressions or workings of this Spirit upon the mindes of men. Rac. catec. It was the error of the Ma­cedonians, Samosatenians of old, and of Socinians of late: that by the Spirit of God is meant no other but virtus seu efficacia, quâ homines fideles sanctificantur & divinis usi­bus consecrantur, i. e. That vertue or efficacy, whereby faith­full men are sanctified, and consecrate to divine offices. And opposite to this extreme, many now a dayes run into the other, mistaking, and misterming the efficacies, and vertues of the Spirit, for the person of the Spirit himself: the holy orthodox truth lies coucht up betwixt these two extremes, whilest neither on the one hand we presume to annihilate the personal being of the Spirit, as if he were no more but a vertue, or influence upon the creature: nor yet on the other hand mistake the influences of the Spirit, for his essential subsisting person.

And when you read in holy Scriptures of being filled with the Holy Ghost, or made partakers of the Spirit of God, Act. 8.17. Eph. 5.18. Wisd. 1. Psal. 139. is not to be understood of the Spirit in respect of his Personal Essence; for thus he filleth the world, and contains all things, being really existent and present in, and with all things and creatures, giving unto all their life and breath, and all things: In whom we live, and move, Act. 17. and have our be­ing, viz. by his inexisting presence, and this in respect of his Personal Essence. If we should say then, that the Spirit of God is in his Saints and servants here upon earth in a greater measure then in other men, Personally, and in respect of his Essence, we should so divide and conse­quently define, and limit the Essence of God, which is un­divided, infinite and unlimited, see Jer. 23.23. Am I a God at hand, and not a God a far off? Can any hide himself in se­cret places, that I should not see him, for do not I fill Heaven and Earth, saith the Lord? Thus then those Scripture phrases of receiviag the Holy Ghost, &c. are not to be understood of [Page 12]the Spirit in respect of his Personal Essence, which is undi­vided, unlimited and filleth all things, and so not one man more then another. But 2. In respect of his impressions and workings on the souls of men, in respect of his gifts and graces, which are various and divers, and carry their name from the cause or Author of them; There are di­versity of gifts, but the same Spirit, 1 Cor. 12.4. where the Spirit is plainly distinguished from his gifts, as the cause from the effect, the workman from the work of his hands; or as the body of the Sun is distinguished from the light and heat which is darted and displayed from it. And where­as it is said the Spirit is but one, but his gifts are divers, we may hence observe; that if we should confound the Spirit of God with the gifts and qualifications dispensed from him, we should be so far from acknowledging and worshipping the true God, which is but one, that we should fall into that grosse Idolatry of the Heathens of old, making as ma­ny Spirits of God, as they made gods, who deified the mo­ral vertues, and worshipped their several vertuous qualifi­cations as gods.

The unwary neglect of this distinction, betwixt the per­son and qualifications of Gods Spirit, is that very rock where­upon many a misguided and unstable soul, hath suffered the shipwrack of the true Christian Faith; for being by the cun­ning suggestion of the spirit of Lyes once perswaded in their hearts, that they have the Spirit of God, and that personal­ly abiding in them, they are hereupon puft up with such an excessive spiritual pride, and self-conceited eminence, as not only to exalt themselves above, and despise their Chri­stian brethren, who are better qualified, then themselves: but even to extol themselves above the heavens, and most blasphemously to professe and boast of an equality with God; a blasphemy however 'tis salved and minc't, that cannot be paralleld, but with that originall pride of the Devil, He said in his heart, Gen. 3. I will be like the most High: and to this he tempted our first Parents, perswading them to rebel against their Maker, and become as Gods themselves, knowing good and evil; this was the very sin, that hurled Lucifer like [Page 13]Lightning from Heaven, his pride and presumption to be like the most High, and therefore with all his Apostate crew he is now reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse, Jude 6. to the judgement of the Great day. And for our new Sect of En­thusiasts, had they the Spirit of God, as they pretend, abiding in them, and speaking in them Personally and Essentially, this blasphemy must necessarily follow, that they are equal with God, in respect of the Spirit in them, as themselves affirm it, though not as George Robert, &c. To avoid which blasphemy and many other absurd and wicked opinions of the like nature, which would follow thereupon, and wherwith too many unstable souls are now infected, we must remember that to have the Spirit in the language of the Scripture, is not to be understood of his personal Essence, but of his qualifications.

And because this distinction is very material, as to the many present delusions, under pretence of the Spirit: 'twill be necessary therefore to clear it by some Scripture expres­sions, in this kinde: 'tis an ordinary piece of Rhetorick, and an usual figure in the dialect of the Scripture, to call the gifts and qualifications of Gods holy Spirit, by the name of the Spirit, as Exod. 31.2, 3. Behold, I have called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, Exod. 31.2, 3. &c. whom I have filled with the Spirit of God, (that is) with the gifts of the Spirit, for it followes, in all wisdome and understanding and knowledg, and in all workmanship: so Numb. 11.17. I will come down and talk with thee, and take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and put upon them, Numb. 11.17. and they shall bear the burthen with thee: where what else can possibly be meant, by the Spirit which was upon Moses to be put upon the El­ders, but that they should partake of the same spiritual gifts with Moses, enfitting them to bear the burthen with him, as to the administration of justice amongst the people, even the gifts of wisdom, understanding and knowledg, impartially, and without respect of persons to execute justice and judge­ment: so the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, Isai. 11.2. the gifts of the Spirit, for so it followes, The spirit of wis­dome and understanding, the spirit of counsell and strength, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. He then that is a wise man may be said in the language [Page 14]of the Spirit which is the Scripture, to have the Spirit of the Lord upon him, or to have the Spirit of God; because the wisdome he hath is from Gods Spirit, it comes down from above, and the means to fetch it thence is holy prayer: If any man lacks wisdome, let him aske of God who giveth, &c. Jam. 1.5. So the wisest of men obtained wisdome, 1 King. 3.9. His prayer which brought her down from Heaven is recor­ded, Wisd. 9. And the same may be said of counsel, godli­nesse, &c. therefore these graces are termed from the cause and Author of them, The spirit of wisdome, the spirit of god­linesse, &c. So Zach. 12.10. I will pour upon the house of Da­vid, and inhabitants of Hierusalem the spirit of grace and sup­plication, (that is) by my Spirit I will enrich their souls, with the grace of piety and devotion, to be frequent and fervent in prayers and supplications, according to the Apo­stles admonition, Ephes. 6.18. Praying with all manner of prayer and supplication in the spirit: (that is) not only in the fervency and godly zeal of our own souls, or spirits; but also praying thus in, or from the powerful influence of Gods Spirit, who inflames our own cold frosty devotions, and assists our frailties in prayer; we pray in the spirit, when both our prayers are the voice of our spirits, and our spirits are also taught and sanctified by Gods Spirit, as Rom. 8.15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage unto fear, but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry Abba Father: Clamamus nos, saith Augustine, we cry, not the Spirit; Aug. lib. de cor. & grat. but Gal. 4.6. 'tis said the Spirit within us, And because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts which cryeth Abba Father: Nos clamamus, sed in spiritu, ipso scil. diffun­dente charita­tem in cordibus nostris, sine quâ quicun (que) cla­mat, inaniter clamat. Aug. de verbis Dom. sec. Matt ser. 11. Non hic ait, &c. saith the Father, he saith not here as in the former place, by whom we cry, but the Spirit himself cryeth, quo efficitur ut cla­memus nos; for what else is clamans spiritus in nobis, but cla­mantes nos faciens? The Spirit crying in our hearts is no other, but that he makes us by the vertue of his grace to cry unto God the Father, and pour forth our souls before him in prayer: which is also the meaning of that misapply­ed text against forms of prayer, Rom. 8.26. The Spirit like­wise helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray [Page 15]for as we ought: but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be expressed: We know not what we ought to pray, he could not be ignorant, saith the Father, of the Lords Prayer, Aug. neither could they be igno­rant of it, to whom he said thus, but such and so pressing are our infirmities, that first many times we know not what to aske for in relation to our bodies and outward estates, sometimes even praying for what is harmful, or at least not at all profitable for us; and this infirmity of ours the Holy Ghost helps, by the precepts and promises and forms of Prayer recorded in the word of God, which are the di­ctates of the Spirit: And many times 2. We know not How to ask, for what is needfull, by reason of the dulness and deadness, and frosty coldness of our hearts; and this infirmity the Spirit helps, by quickning our devotion, as it followes, The Spirit maketh request for us, Aug. epist. ad Sixt. presb. Quid est enim in­terpellat, nisi interpellare nos facit? what else can be the meaning of this, The Spirit makes intercession for us, but that he makes us to intercede for our selves, by his grace se­cretly and unspeakably enlivening our devotions; so that even with penitent and fervent sighs and holy breathings after God we pour forth our prayers before him: so Mat. 10.20. It is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Where the assistance of Gods holy Spirit with us, is so exprest, saith Augustine, Ʋt ipse facere dicitur, quod ut faciamus facit, He is said to do that himself in us which by his grace he stirs us up to do. As there­fore no man can be wise, without the spirit of wisdome, nor knowing without the Spirit of knowledge, nor godly without the spirit of goldiness, nor charitable without the spirit of love; so no man can pray as he ought, without the spirit of prayer and supplication, not that there are so many kindes of spirits as these, but all these worketh one and the same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will, 1 Cor. 12.11.

From the meaning of all which places, and many more which might be alledged, 'tis manifest that by the Spirit in us, is not meant the Spirit of God in himself, but in his [Page 16]graces: for how can the Spirit of God, who is (saith the Fa­ther) one perfect and eternal beatitude with the Father and the Son, Aug. be said in himself, or according to himself, personal­ly to speak, to sigh, to cry, to pray in us? no otherwise surely but as by his gifts and graces we are enabled to speak the truth, to sigh and breath after God, to cry unto him in the fervency of our souls, and devoutly to pour forth our prayers before him.

CHAP. II. Of the workings of the holy Spirit upon the mindes of men.

THE impressions or workings of the Spirit of God upon the souls of men, 2 General. are various and divers; Eve­ry thought, motion, and desire; every aptitude, prone­nesse and inclination; every faculty, power and ability, con­ducing either to the good of our selves, or others, is from the Spirit of God, who distributes his several qualificati­ons, to several persons, and that severally, even in several waies and kindes; to some in one kinde, to others in ano­ther, to some more, to some lesse. Ʋnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Ephes. 4.7. or according to the measure of the Spirit, Per hoc tollitur error attribuen­tium diversi­tatem donorum Fato, vel con­stellationibus, vel humano me­rito, & non di­vinae voluntati sicut primae causae. Lyr. in Loc. who is the gift of Christ. And this measure whereby he distributes his gifts, is no other but the counsel of his own will; for men are not wise, vertuous, charitable, &c. by necessity of Fate, or by the influence of stars, nor yet for any their merits, or de­serts, but of Gods good pleasure, by the influence of his holy Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as he wil, 1 Cor. 12.11.

As he will] under this [...], 4 particulars are implied: [...], To whom, what, when, and where, he will: in all these respects the influences of Gods Spirit are free: The winde bloweth where it listeth; so is every one that is born of the Sporit, Joh. 3.8. But yet as the winde though it [Page 17]blow upon all places alike within its circuit, yet are not all places alike aired, and filled with the winde, because all places are not alike capable of it: so the holy Spirit distri­butes to every one his measure of gifts, but yet not to all alike, but to some more plentifully, to others with a smaller scantling: and this according as he findes the hearts of men, more or less soft and plyable, capable and enfitted to re­ceive his impressions; In quo quis animum intendit, Ambr. in eo ac­cipit donum, according to the intention and pliableness of the minde to this or that study, or imployment, whether divine or moral; accordingly so doth the holy Ghost com­municate his gifts and blessings thereupon.

All these several workings of the Spirit, though they be so numerous as that they cannot be easily reckoned up; (there being more points of this heavenly winde, then there is in the Compass which is set and ordered by the winde which bloweth in the air) yet unto two general heads they are all reducible:

• 1. Graces.
• 2. Gifts.
  [...].

There are two principal faculties of the reasonable soul, the Ʋnderstanding, and the Will: Both which are naturally maimed by the fall of Adam: ignorance and error invading the understanding: disobedience and rebellion the will. To rectifie this twofold disorder by nature, the supernatural assistance of the holy Ghost, is required: who by his celestial Gifts illuminates and clears the understanding; and by his holy Graces subdues the rebellion of the will, and purifies the uncleanness of the affections.

The one more immediately relates to the service of God, the other to the benefit of man: For,

1. By the Graces of Gods Spirit we are sanctified, and enabled rightly to serve God. And,

2. By his Gifts we are qualified, and enabled to edifie one another. By the first we are made good Christians: by the second we are made good and profitable Ministers. Both of these are called Habits, either because they make us habile, and fit to discern and taste things divine, and [Page 18]heavenly: or 2. Because as Habits clothe, and adorn the bo­dy; so these divine Gifts and Graces do polish, adorn and enrich the soul.

And these two kindes of the holy Spirits qualifications are represented unto us by those two types or figures of the Spirits descension upon the Apostles of Christ; the one of the winde, Act. 2.2. and the other of the fire, vers. 3. By the winde were represented those divine and celestial graces, wherewithal the Apostles were endued, and whereby the souls of men are air'd, cleans'd, and purified, and so sanctified to the sacred service of God; and by the fire was represented the gifts they were enriched withall, for the enlightning of the mindes, and enflaming the affections of others.

CHAP. III. Of the Graces of the holy Spirit.

THE first kinde of the holy Spirits impressions, are his graces represented by the winde, Joh. 3.8. The winde blow­eth where it listeth, and thou knowest not whence it comes, nor whi­ther it goeth, so is every one that is born of the spirit. As the winde being a pure, fine, thin, subtil nature, is invisible, we perceive it not; neither can we conceive whence it comes, or whither it goes; all the perception we have of the winde is by its effects and operations; when it moves the air, tosses the clouds, shakes the trees, raises the dust of the earth, &c. nay so active and subtil a thing is the winde, that if it act not, we say, it is not: when nothing is moved or stirred by the winde; we say, there is no winde: so is every one that is born of the Spirit; (that is) every one whose soul is animated and actuated by the graces of Gods Spirit: For 1. the workings of the Spirit of grace within us, are quick and insensible, 'tis unconceivable, how, and in what [Page 19]manner he works upon our hearts: Only, 2. we know him by his effects and workings: as when he moves and en­clines the soul to what is holy, just, and good; or when he shakes the heart into contrition, compunction, and godly sorrow for sin; or when he raiseth the minde out of the dust, and rubbish of earthly vanities, and mounts it upon the wings of heavenly desires and meditations, &c. And 3. as when we see no stirring, no moving of the air, but all is calm and still, we say there is no winde: so when there is no good motions or desires within us, no inclinations to piety, or charity, no godly contrition for sin, no rising of the minde towards heaven, nor breathing after things divine and heavenly; we may well say, that soul is becalmed, the Spirit of God is not there, neither hath the heavenly winde of the Almighty breathed therein.

These graces of Gods Spirit, represented by the winde, are the very essentials, the very life and being, the very spirit and soul of true Christianity; and are as necessary to the be­ing of a good Christian, in the life of grace, as is the natural winde, or breath of his Nosthrils to his being, and living the life of nature; therefore we are termed the Body of Christ, the soul that animates us, being the grace of his Spirit; Rom. 12.5. and eve­ry man therefore that hath the name of Christ called upon him, is but nominis Christiani extrinsecus superficies, an em­pty outside superficial christian, that is not in some mea­sure endued with his graces: To all persons it necessarily belongs to be partakers of them; whether Pastor or people, Lay or Clergy, gifted or ungifted men; whether we have the gifts of the Spirit or no, we must not be destitute of his graces; but upon all hearts this heavenly winde must blow, to purifie and cleanse, to air and dry up the superfluous naughtinesse of our natures, that so our souls and bodies may be the temples of the holy Ghost, 2 Cor. 6.16. even by the grace of Gods Spirit devoted and consecrated to the sacred service of his heavenly Majesty.

A Catalogue of these spiritual graces we have recorded, Gal. 5.22. for they are the same which are there termed [Page 20][the fruits of the Spirit] The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentlenesse, goodnesse, faith, meeknesse, tem­perance, against such there is no Law. These are called the fruits of the Spirit for two reasons.

1. Because as material fruits grow not, but upon trees; neither do these graces grow in the soul, but upon the tree of life, Joh. 14.4, 5. As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me; I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.

2. As material fruits are to the body and corporal taste, so are the fruits of the Spirit to the soul, they are both pleasant and delightsome, and also satisfie and feed the soul unto life eternal; therefore it is said, against such there is no Law; there's no law can condemn such, as bring forth these fruits in their lives and conversations, as Rom. 8.1. Now then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

CHAP. IV. Of the Gifts of the holy Spirit.

THE second kinde of the holy Spirits impressions on humane souls, are his gifts: represented by the fire, Mat. 3.11. He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire, (that is) he shall endow and sprinkle the souls of men, with such gifts of the holy Ghost, as are by fire represented, viz. gifts which like unto fire, shall be effectual and power­ful to enlighten the understandings, melt the hearts, and enflame the affections and desires of men.

And as the fire burns not for it self, but for the light and warmth of others; so the gifts of the Spirit are imparted to the sons of men, Mat. 5.15. not to be hidden like a lighted candle under a [Page 21]bushel, not to be wrapt up in a retired obscurity, Luk. 19.20. with the ta­lent of the unprofitable servant in a napkin; but to be imploy­ed to appear, to shine forth and manifest themselves for the profit, benefit, and edification of others: Qui remiunt do­na spiritus imperi [...]i ali­is, quae non pro se sed pro a­liis acceper [...], ipsa sibi ple­rumq. dona adimunt; [...]tun (que) sua & non aliorum lucra cogitant, ip­sis se quae priva­ta hab re appe­tunt bonis pri­vant. Greg. de cur. past p. 1. c. 5. He therefore who hath received the gifts of the Spirit, which are given, saith the Father, not for himself only, but for the benefit of others also, by refusing to impart them unto others, he deprives himself of the use and efficacy of them: For whilest he meditates his own pri­vate benefit only, and not the good of others also, it is just with God to rob him of what he covets to enjoy in private, since he ought to have communicated the same: so the unprogitable servant, which laid up his talent in a napkin, had the same justly taken from him, Luk. 19.24. For it is a manifest sign, that there is no true love of God in that heart, who im­ploys not the gifts he hath received from God, to the ad­vancement of his service and benefit of his people according to his command: therefore said our Lord unto Peter, Joh. 21.15. Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me? he answered, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee: he saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Whereupon, saith the Father, Is. Ibid. Si cura passionis est dile­ctionis testimonium, &c. If our feeding, or teaching the peo­ple of Christ, be a sign of our love unto Christ, then he who is qualified for this office by the gifts of the Spirit, and neg­lects the feeding the flock of Christ himself, the chief shepherd of our souls: For the love of Christ constraineth us, that since Christ dyed for all, that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves, &c. 2 Cor. 5.14, 15.

These Gifts of the Spirit are therefore called the manife­stations of the Spirit, as shewing what the end and intent of their donation from the Spirit is; viz. to profit withall, In ipsa corporis positione accipi­mus quod in actione serve­mus: nimisita (que) turpe est non i­mitari quod su­mus. Greg. de. cur. past. p. 3. 1 Cor. 11.7. But the manifestation of the Spirit, is given to every man to profit withall: As the end and use of the several parts of the body, is neither to be idle, nor yet to be imployed for it self only, as the eye is to see, and yet not for it self only, but for the direction of the hands, feet, &c. the feet are to walk, and yet not for themselves only, but also for the eyes, hands, &c. Even so the end and use of the several gifts of Gods [Page 22]Spirit, to several members of Christs body, severally, is both that they should be imploy'd, and imployed too, not only for private use, but for the mutual benefit and edification each of other; 1 Cor. 12. as Saint Paul at large in the same chapter: the main subject whereof is the gifts of the Spirit; a cata­logue whereof you have vers. 9, 10, 11. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdome, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, &c. where by the way observe, Note. In that Faith is in this place reckoned amongst the gifts of the Spirit, and in the former place, Gal. 5.22. amongst the fruits or graces of the Spirit, that we may not confound the graces of God for sanctification, with his gifts for edification, we must remember that there is a twofold Faith, the one doctrinal, speculative, and notionary, viz. a right understanding and firm belief of the severall Articles of the Christian Faith, and so it's a gift of Gods Spirit, and in this place rankt amongst them.

The other kinde of Faith is practical and obediential, viz. the squaring, regulating, and ordering of our lives and acti­ons, according to the principles, precepts, and commands of the Doctrinal Faith of Christ, and so it is a grace of Gods Spirit, and rankt amongst them in the former place.

The gifts of the Spirit being principally and chiefly in­tended for the benefit and profit of others; though every man therefore, whether Lay or Clergy, Minister or People, may and ought to use all means to be in some good measure made partakers of them, for his own private direction, in the wayes of wisdome and true godliness; yet for the pub­lique instruction of others, after an especial and peculiar man­ner, they concern the Ministry of the Gospel, viz. such per­sons whom God first extraordinarily and miraculously, since ordinarily, and in the use of means hath ordianed for the guidance and direction of his people, in the wayes of his service, and their own salvation: and this I suppose is clear from S. Paul, Ephes. 4.8. Ephes. 4.8. Wherefore he saith, when he ascen­ded up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, not unto all men, Exod. 4.8, 9, 10, 11, 12. but unto some only; these words [...] re­strain these gifts to some few whom he selected from the [Page 23]rest of mankinde, as conveyances of the Gospels light unto others; for so it followes immediately (only a parenthesis betwixt, which breaks not the sense) He therefore gave some to be Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; implying a manifest and clear distinction betwixt some, whom he hath ordained for the work of the Ministry, and endued with gifts after an especial manner for that end; and some others who are not of that society, yea though they be Saints, and of the Body of Christ; a like difference is clearly implyed, 2 Cor. 12 28. 1 Cor. 12.28. where having through the whole chapter discourst of the gifts of the Spirit, to be im­ployed for the mutual good and benefit of each others, as members of the same body; lest we should think that these gifts are equally common to all persons as for publick use and edification, he adds, and God hath ordained some in the Church, 1. Apostles, 2. Prophets, 3. Teachers, &c. Some for the Office of Publick instruction, he hath ordained; not all that list, as in the daies of Jeroboam, 1 King. 13.33. when every man that would, became a Priest unto Lord, which the Apostle cuts off by this pathetical Interrogation, immediately following, vers. 29. Are all Apostles, are all Prophets, are all Teachers? q. d. not so surely, this is as if all the body were but one member; not all then, but some only: even that some whom God hath ordained, and manifested this his ordination, by the spiri­tual gifts of wisdome, knowledge, faith, tongues and the rest before in the chapter remembred.

Should all men, who own the name of Christians, be endu­ed with spiritual gifts, for the publique instruction of others, two grand inconveniences would necessarily follow.

1. The gifts of the Spirit would be thereby made con­temptible, for who would care for that which every man hath?

2. The end of the Spirit in distributing his gifts would be frustrate: for how shall one member profit another, which is the end of these gifts, when all men have the same gifts? The most wise God therefore in ordaining some to the Mini­stry, [Page 24]and not others, and distributing his gifts accor­dingly, provides, 1. That his gift be magis augustum, more reverend. 2. That the body of his Church, be magis ordina­tum, better proportioned.

For the same reasons also, the spiritual gifts are various and divers, and not given to all, no not of the Ministry, alike, but discretely, Ephes. 4 7. and [...] according to the measure of Christ; Christ keeps a measure in his gifts; himself indeed the Head, received the Spirit without measure, Joh 3. [...]4. Ephes. 1.11. but none of his members ever received it but in measure, and this measure, is accor­ding to the counsel of his own will, who respects in the distri­bution of his gifts, [...], what is good and profitable, and most tending to edification: as it is in the natural body, in every part and member of the body, God hath joyned beauty and convenience together, so that every limb hath such a proportion, as is both comely and useful; So it is in the mystical Body of Christ, the Church; it is una, Ephes. 4.4. but varia, a Body consisting of many members, and all quickned by one Spirit; there is but one body, and one spirit, but many members; and in each member the gifts of the Spirit do vary; 1 Cor. 12. There are diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit: There are diversity of gifts, be­cause diversity of offices, but one Spirit; and therefore as they all flow from one Fountain, so they are all of one na­ture, and tend all to one common end, The beauty and benefit of the Church; so S. Ambrose, In donis, officiorum est diversitas, non naturae: 1 Cor. 12. 11, 12, 13. all the members are therefore quickned with the same Spirit; aequè, but not aequaliter, all drink of the same Spirit, but not the same draught, for fulnesse of mea­sure, which makes each one useful in his way, but not in the same degree; Vers. 21. all contributing to the beauty and benefit of the whole: As therefore the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor, &c. so neither is any member of the Church [...], sufficient of himself, but is necessarily en­gaged to desire the benefit of the Communion of the Saints.

CHAP. V. Of the Gift, and calling of the Ministry.

IT is confessed that the same spiritual gifts and graces, w [...]ich dispose select and separate persons, for the work of the Ministry, may also rest upon the hearts, and mindes of lay and secular persons: But abilities to perform an office, is only a fair disposition, which puts such persons in a ca­pacity of receiving it orderly; not an actual investiture there­in: as every wise man is not a counsellor of State, nor every good Lawyer a Judge; so neither is every man who is endued with the wisdome of the Spirit, publickly to dispense the the counsels of the most High, nor every man skild in the Divine Law, may be a publick Steward and administrator thereof; all natural and artificial abilities, nay Divine qua­lifications before Ordination, are silenc't by that question of the Apostle, How shall they preach except they be sent? Rom. 10.15. It was a mutinous speech of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who said unto Moses, You take too much upon you, Numb. 16. [...]. since all the con­gregation is holy, Numb. 16.3. Their Divine qualification did not license them to invade Moses's chair, Vers. 32.35. or sacrilegi­ously usurp the Priest-hood; they paid dear for that usur­pation; when the sire came out from the Lord, and consumed the most forward of them, Ʋt posteris daretur exemplum, nequie praesumptione superbi spiritus, non sibi à deo datum pontificatus munus inva­deret. Quod enim pertulerunt superbi illi Levitae, qui Deo non jubente sacer­dotium vendicabant, hoc patientur qui­cun (que) se ad episcopatus, presbyteratus vel Diaconatus officium vel muneri­bus, vel adulationibus impudentur conantur ingerere: quomodo com­busti sunt isti in corpore, sic isti exu­rentur in corde. Aug. de Temp. Ser. 98. and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed Corah and all his company: a fair warning (any man would think) for lay persons to beware how they intermeddle with the Ministerial Function; if they do it malici­ously, let them remember the curse of Co­rah; if they have more fair, but mistaken purposes, let them remember what was the sad portion of Ʋzzah, for his over­bold approach to the Ark of God, 2 Sam. 6.6, 7. which belonged to the Priests Office.

All Offices, Arts, and profitable Sciences; all great and publick things and imployments, are distinguisht in the socie­ties [Page 26]of men by proper and peculiar Professors, Artists and Ministers: How then should we think that Religion, which is the Art of Arts, may lye in common, and be exposed to the profanation of every rude illiterate and unskilful me­chanick; to be unhallowed by the rude intermedlings of un­discerning persons, and not rather separate from profane and vulgar touch, by select, distinct, and qualified persons, for that end by God ordained? Who dares take upon him to raise forces, to impose taxes, to levie contributions, to pu­nish offenders, or the like, but such only who are designed thereunto, and have commission for it? And yet in the mat­ters of God, in the dispensation of his holy mysteries, every man will be a Priest, and a Prophet, as if it were pardonable only to be disorderly in Religion, or as if God would ac­cept a lawless liberty in those things wherein the frailty of man is most apt, and too likely to miscarry, and wherein also the miscarriage is most fatal, and ruinous to the soul for ever.

In Religion it is true, that all have a common interest, and so they have in the Lawes also: and by the same reason, that the one, by the same the other also, may be dispensed by all men promiscuously without order, without distincti­on, which must necessarily end in confusion. 'Tis true that under the Gospel all true believers are Priests unto the Lord, and have spiritual sacrifices to offer: 1. Pet. 2.5, 9. But it is one thing for a man to be a Priest to himself, another thing to be so to the whole Church: Revel. 1.6. Rom. 12.1. It is one thing to offer up our selves a living sacrifice acceptable unto God: another thing to represent the Congregation unto God: All ordinary and private devoti­ons may and are to be done by private persons; but the solemn, ritual and publick Worship of God, must be left to the publick Minister. There is no good man but wisheth with Moses; I would all the Lords people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them, Numb. 11.29. Numb. 11.29. But it is one thing to be qualified as the Prophets of the Lord; another thing sacrilegiously to invade their Office: Being qualified, they may do the Office of Prophets privately, to themselves and their family, both by prayers for, and with them, and also by teaching and instructing them: But in [Page 27]Gods house and in the presence of the whole Congregation, to dispense the sacred mysteries of Salvation, is only pecu­liar to the Stewards of his house, nor may others presume to intermeddle therewithall. Ac primo qui­dam a statu ante legem, a statu sub lege, à statu sub gratia. sem­perenim reperio certa hominum genera fuisse à deo ad hoc offi­cium delecta, non autem licuisse cuiquam se ob­trudere. Zanch, in 4. Praec. Card. Polus l. 1. ad H. 8. If we search into the state and condition of the Church from the beginning of the world to this very instant of time, we shall finde, That both before the Law, under the Law, and under the Gospel also, there were ever a certain select chosen sort of men, (saith the learned Zanchy) design'd for the office of the Priesthood, and that it was not law­full for every one that list to thrust himself into the execution of this sacred function: The first priest we read of that is so called is Melchisedech; of whom the holy Scriptures affirm, that he was without father, without mother, &c. Heb. 7.3. His original being unknown by reason of his antiquity: And so saith a learned man of the Priesthood, The antiquity of this great calling, is so great, that it cannot be found out, nor can we finde its off-spring, but with the first rising and being of a Church upon the face of the earth.

No man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, Heb. 5.4. who was called of God, but consecrated by Moses; agitatus à Deo, consecrationis principe, saith Dionysius, Exod. 28.1, 2. God was the principal Author, and Moses the Minister of his Consecration; Heb. 5.5. so likewise Christ did not glorifie himself to become High Priest, but be was personally chosen and sent, or in his own language sealed of the Father, Joh. 6.27. and sent into the world (that is) ordained to be Priest and Prophet of the world.

The Apostles of Christ received their Commission from him, Mat. 28.19. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations, Mat. 28.19. bapti­zing, &c. And that we might understand, that they had by virtue of this Commission power to Commissionate others, to be their successors in all succeeding Generations of the Church; it followes, And lo, I am with you untill the end of the world; with you your selves, until you have fulfilled your course, and served your own Generation, and with you in your successors, untill the end of the world: and more plainly in those other words of their Commission, Joh. 20.21, Joh. 20.21, 22, 23. 22, 23. As my Father hath sent me, so send I you: and when [Page 28]he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Re­ceive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are re­mitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are re­tained: which spiritual power, and spiritual gifts communi­cated to the Apostles was not sure to expire with them, ex­cept ye will also say, all Ecclesiasticall Discipline and Go­vernment ended with the Apostles, and that all scandals and offences, heresies and errors, sins and vices are left reme­diless and without cure, or at least without a Physitian to prescribe, administer, and apply to wounded Consciences, and sin-sick souls, their proper salve and medicine: As my Fa­ther hath sent me, so send I you] and as I have sent you, Act. 14.23 Titus 1.5. so you are to send others; and this we read they did, They or­dained Elders in all Churches: and gave Commission to whom they ordained, to Ordain others: The Ordination was theirs, but the power was from above, and so the Apo­stles themselves acknowledged in the very first instance of Ordination, when they chose Matthias in the room of Ju­das: They prayed, saying, Thou Lord shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, Act 2.24: Act. 2.24. God chooses, and man ordains; God cals the person to the Office, and man instals him therein: The power is Originally from God, as the Foun­tain, but conveyed through the Ministry of man as the Con­duit.

All power is given unto me, Mat. 28.18, 19. both in Heaven and in Earth, Go ye therefore, &c. But because there is no man how sacri­legiously soever he invaded the Ministerial Office, but will pretend a call and a power from God thereunto; and he that is most bold and forward to publish his follies in this kinde, is also apt to mistake his boldness, for a call from God: he may fancy a call from above, when it is only a noise in his own head, or a deceitful eccho of his own heart; therefore we must know this call from God to so high and honourable an Office, as to be ordained for men in things pertaining to God, is either extraordinary, o [...] ordinary; the first begin­ning of a lasting necessity is extraordinary, and 'tis made or­dinary in succession, and by the lasting continuation of a fixed and determinate Ministry; as Adam at the first was ex­traordinarily [Page 29]formed, immediately created by God himself, but all mankinde since ordinarily by the mediation of parents; so the Apostles of Christ who received the first issues of Evan­gelical Ministry, were extraordinarily called; but all that have succeeded them, have been admitted by an ordinary vocation, because the succession is but of ordinary necessi­ty; now for any man to pretend an extraordinary calling and immediate from God without the Ministry of man, is to pretend also to a new Gospel, and new Revelations, distinct from what Christ and his Apostles have delivered, and such can be no other then the dictates of sedu­cing spirits and doctrines of Devils: and indeed such a pre­tence of immediate and extraordinary power and commission from above, can (in a fixed and setled Ministry by ordina­ry means) have no other end and issue but to belie the Spi­rit of Truth, and cousen the too credulous souls of the peo­ple, when ever they have a minde to it; nor is it any other but a meer pretence of folly to expect or relie upon an ex­traordinary calling, or abilities, by immediate infusion from heaven, without the use of means, as to the Ministerial Function, since by ordinary and common means they may be supplyed; for it is all one, as if we should expect men to be created, and by the hands of God immediately, as Adam was at the first; or being so formed, to be fed and nourished with food from heaven, without any care or industry for pro­vision here upon earth.

CHAP. VI. Of ministerial Gifis; ordinary and extraordinary.

THis call to the Ministerial Office under the Gospel, both extraordinary in the Apostles, and ordinary in their successors, as it is in it self a grand inestimable gift of the Ho­ly Ghost, and the prime of them confer'd by our Lord in his triumph over our ghostly foes, and victorious ascension in­to [Page 30]to Heaven; for then he gave some to be Apostles, some Pro­phets, &c. So it hath also other gifts of the Spirit attending, Ephes. 4.11. as necessary contributaries to the accomplishment thereof, that this gift may be compleated and fitted for the edifica­tion of the body of Christ, Vers. 12. through the work of the Ministry, which proportionable to the two-fold calling are either ex­traordinary, or ordinary also; extraordinary they were, even plentifull and miraculous in the persons of the Apostles, viz. in such a measure, and after such a manner, as no mor­tal men could ever hope for since; and very good reason there is that it should be so: For the Apostles charge was much greater, and their task more difficult then any mans either was or can be since. They had all mankinde to in­struct and principle in the doctrine of Christ; the stiffe ob­durate and incredulous Jewes to convert; the fulnesse of the Gentiles to bring in, both the rude Barbarians and learned Graecians to master and subdue. The whole world was their Diocese, the world sitting in darknesse, and in the shadow of death; devoted to the service of sin and Satan, the Prince of darknesse: Now to master and subdue the whole world, and to turn all men from darknesse to light, Act. 26.18. and from the power of Satan to the living God; required, sure, gifts and endow­ments more then ordinarily powerful and effectual, even such as were extraordinary and miraculous: and whereof none of their successors, none that ever followed them since in the Ministerial Office, could possibly hope to be partakers; for all Ministers since have but an handfull of men in compari­son to deal withall, and these broken to their hands, being born and brought up in the holy Christian Religion; As therefore there is no need of any such extraordinary quali­fications; so neither do we, the best of us do not, dare not pretend, either to such sublime and eminent gifts of the Spi­rit, or to any such immediate and extraordinary infusion of spirituall gifts.

The spiritual gifts of the Apostles, differ from those of their successors in two respects. 1. In respect of the mea­sure or extent of them. 2. In respect of the manner of ac­quisition. First for the measure, the Apostles were filled [Page 31]with the holy Ghost, Act. 2.4. filled as full as they could hold, 2.4. they were endued with as many eminent gifts for the exe­cution of the Apostolical Function as they were capable of; but we, even the best and ablest of the Sons of men, are not so full, but they could hold much more; their's was a Baptism with the holy Ghost, ours, is at the best, Act. 1.5. but a Ran­tism; they were washed, washed as it were all all over with the Spirit; we but sprinkled with his gifts: they had the anointing of the holy One more plentifully, we in a smaller scantling; they were anointed above, far above all their fellowes and successors, who received ordinarily but an Hin to their Epha. Psal. 133.2. Their Unction was like the Ointment poured upon the head that ran down to the beard; and all others since but like the thin droppings upon the skirts of the gar­ment. And from hence we may observe with S. Hierome: Scio me aliter habere Apesto­los, aliter reli­quos tracta [...]o­r [...]s; illos semper vera di [...]re, istos ut hemines in quib [...]sdam aberrare. Hier. ad Theo. That the Apostles excelled all other Ministers in this respect also, that they were so guided and directed by the holy Spi­rit of God, that all truths, and nothing but truth, did at all times flow from them in the execution of their Function, but all other Ministers must confesse in all humility, that as men they have their failings and mistakes in one respect or other.

Secondly, for the manner, the Apostles were endued with their fulnesse of spiritual gifts miraculously; their Inspirati­on did publickly and visibly appear to be by miracle and immediate from Heaven, Act. 2. But we, as we can pretend unto no such extraordinary gifts; so neither do we pretend unto, or depend upon any such extraordinary and immediate infusion of spiritual gifts; but ordinarily & in the use of means, even by much study, labour, and industry in the waies of wis­dome, learning and knowledge, we do acquire our qualificati­ons: according to the command of the Apostle to Timothy, we study for them, 2 Tim. 2.15. Study to shew thy self approved, 2. Tim. 2.15. a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth; and yet Timothy sure had less need to study for his gifts, then any of us, as having more of immediate In­spiration then the best of men can hope for since.

And yet though we study to be qualified for the work of the Ministry; our qualifications are full the gifts of the Spi­rit; [Page 32]all our wisdome and knowledge is from above: even as of Daniel and the three children, it is recorded that God gave them knowledge and understanding in all learning and wisdome, Dan. 1.17.4. Dan. 1.17. And yet it is said before vers. the 4. that they were brought up and instructed in knowledge (and that by and among the Heathen too) and were taught the learning and tongue of the Caldaeans; So our humane learning, tongues and languages (so much declaimed against by the ignorant) are the Handmaids to spiritual and Divine wisdome and knowledge, and both the one and other, though acqui­red by instruction and study in the Schools of the Prophets, are yet of Gods mercifull donation, they are still the gifts of the Spirit.

And that first, because from the Spirit of God it is that we have mindes capable, and mindes inclinable to use the means, for the attainment of such gifts: for even our natural en­dowments, and moral qualifications are gifts of the Spirit; perspicacity, quickness of wit, ripeness of judgement, to­gether with a studious, diligent and industrious minde in the search and dexterity, in the discovery of the several waies of learning and knowledge, even all of them are the gifts of God; for every good and perfect gift, whether natural, moral, or divine, Jam. 1.17. Joh. 3.27. cometh down from above, Jam. 1.17. for a man can receive nothing except it be given from above, Joh. 3.27. The very speaking of an ordinary revealed Truth is called a speaking by the Spirit, for no man can say, that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Spirit of God; because the revelation of this, as of every truth, is from the Spirit originally, and from him also is both the power and the act of this con­fession.

Secondly, our qualifications though acquired by study, are yet the gifts of the Spirit, because it is by Gods bles­sing and the influence of his good Spirit upon our studies and endevours, that we do acquire these qualifications: and it is generally, and for the most part, that God distributes his gifts and blessings according to mens inclinations, apt­ness and endevours for the reception of his gifts. Habitus infusi infunduntur per modum acquisitorum: All infused or in­spired [Page 33] gifts, are infused after the manner of gifts acquired, i.e. as we are more or lesse industrious to acquire the gifts of the Spirit, accordingly so they are more or lesse given, and communicated to us by the Spirit: which is signified unto us by the parable of the hidden Treasure, Mat. 13.4. The Kingdome of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field: The treasure found without search, denoteth Gods free and gratuitous revela­tion of himself unto us: and the selling of all to buy that field, signifies a mans utmost endevours, and labours to be made partaker of these divine Revelations.

Thirdly, because the qualifications acquired by study, are by the Spirit of God himself directed to the ends of the Spi­rit, which are to profit withall; and then is Gods blessing the greater, and the influence of his Spirit upon our studies, the more effectual and powerful, when we have in them no other aim or intention, but to be thereby enfitted and enabled to become usefull instruments of Gods service, and his peoples edification. And both in that we do direct our studies to this end, and also imploy our gifts acquired by study to this end also, it is from the Spirit of God: who works in us to will and to do of his own God pleasure, Phil. 2.15.

And lastly, all this is acknowledged, Phil. 2.15. that our gifts in all these respects are from the Spirit of God, though studied for; In that together with those means that are outward and moral, we use the Divine means also, viz. prayer and devotion, commanded Jam. 1.15. If any man lacks wisdome, let him ask it of God, Jam. 1.5. who giveth to all men liberally and up­braideth not, and it shall be given him.

That the Ministers of the Gospell notwithstanding their gifts are from the Spirit, are yet bound to use all means, both Moral and Divine, for the acquiring thereof; is mani­fest even from Gods own example in the use of their Mini­stry: In that God himself who is not tyed to means, neither hath need of any, is yet pleased to use the means and Ministry of some men for the instruction and conversion of others: There is no question, but he who at the first created man af­ter [Page 34]his own Image, could without the Ministry of man, have again repaired the decayes of his blessed Image in man: But yet in all ages it hath seemed good to his infinite wisdome to use the mediation and Ministry of men herein; And this he doth out of his tender respect to mens infirmities, conside­ring the vast distance betwixt God and man; which moved the Israelites to Petition for a Minister betwixt God and them, Exod. [...]0.19. Deut. 5.27. & 18.16. Heb. 12 19. Exod. 20.19. Talk thou with us and we will hear, but let not God talk with us lest we die.

As therefore no Minister of God may think that God useth his Ministry because he needs it: so neither may the people think there is no need of Ministers, because God useth them: and he uses them as subordinate fellow-labourers in the whole course of mans salvation; Gal. 4.19. 2 Cor. 3.2. Mat. 16.19. 1 Tim. 4.16. the Ministers are said to beget men unto Christ; to nourish them in Christ; to binde and loose their souls; to open and shut heaven, and in a word, to save; be­cause all these things Christ doth by them: they are causa conjuncta, 2 Cor. 3.2, 3. co-operating with and under Christ; so Paul com­pares his Corinthians to a written Epistle, the Authors where­of were himself and the Spirit: the external writing was his; the internal seal upon their hearts was the Spirits. These two then may not be severed; Neither 1. may we look for Inspirations from heaven without the Ministry of man upon earth: Nor yet 2. may we imagine, that the Ministry of man upon earth can be effectual without inspiration from Heaven.

CHAP. VII. Of those operations and impressions that are opposite to the Spirit of Truth.

ANd because it is not enough for us to know the truth; but also by that right and straight line to observe and discover what is repugnant and contrary thereunto: Let us remember, what by sad and lamentable experience, we daily [Page 35]see and hear; that as there is a holy and a good Spirit of God by his gifts and graces working on the mindes of men: so there is also an evill and a bad spirit, even the spirit of er­ror and uncleanness, the Devil, who hath his secret workings and continual countermines opposing hereunto: which evil spirit working also by the frail and deceivable spirit of man, doth by many subtile wayes, obscure, corrupt, poyson, and belye the sacred qualifications of the Spirit of Truth; nor doth the Devil that grand enemy of mans salvation in any kinde of way, so much cousen and cheat the souls of men into ruine, as by putting false glosses and counterfeit vizars on vices, errors, and distempers; that so they may be mista­ken for holy vertues, and divine qualifications. To instance in some particulars;

First, It is a truth by the Spirit of God both foretold, pro­mised, and performed, That the actings and impressions of Gods Spirit upon the mindes of men, are both more strong and frequent, as also more general and common under the Gospel then they were under the Law: That the gift of the Ministry it self is dilated, being not limited to the single Tribe of Levi; but all men of what quality soever have a ti­tle thereunto, meaning Genera singulorum, not singula gene­rum (that is) men of all sorts and kindes, not all of all kindes; but hereupon to make void, pull down, and level with the undistinguisht multitude, the high and solemn order and of­fices of the Priest-hood instituted by God himself, both un­der the Law and under the Gospel; for a people to snatch the Divine Oracles from the lips of the Priest, and presume to teach their Teachers; to invade the chair of Moses, and offer incense with unhallowed censors; for private persons to as­sume the publique administration of Ministerial Offices, with­out a lawful Call and due Ordination thereunto; though they may be otherwise qualified with knowledge and piety: These are false glosses imposed upon the former truths, by the Spirit of lies; Tares fowed by the Enemy of mankinde amidst the purer wheat: And that,

1. To the high dishonour of God, and profanation of all that is religious and sacred.

2. To involve the Church of Christ, and bury it in the rubbish of confusion and disorder.

3. To take away those bounds and limits, distinguishing Priest from people, which all Nations, Jewes and Gentiles, all Ages of the Church, both Ancient and Modern, have kept firm and inviolable.

4. To pull down heavy judgements upon the heads of all such sacrilegious Usurpers and Invaders of Divine Rites. 2 Sam. 6 6, 7. 2 Chron. 26. 16, &c.

2. It is an impression of Gods Spirit upon the soul of man to wait and depend upon God for spiritual wisdome, knowledge, Prov. 3.5. &c. and not to lean to our own understanding, or trust too much to our own wit, judgement, reading, learning, Prov. 2.6. or the like; as knowing full well, That the Lord gives wisdome, and from him cometh knowledge and understan­ding; But hereupon either to despise or neglect those waies and means, and helps, which God in his merciful providence hath afforded us for to attain wisdome, &c. as the study of Tongues and Languages, Arts and Sciences, the reading and distinctly weighing the Discourses of the learned; and to depend upon immediate Revelation and Infusion of such gifts from Heaven, as if they should drop upon our barren hearts, as did the Manna in the Wildernesse upon the Tents of Israel, out of the clouds, and by miracle; this is a false gloss which the spirit of delusion puts upon the former truth, thereby to inveigle us.

• 1. 1 To tempt the good Spirit of God.
• 2. 2 To be exposed and laid open to seducing spirits.
• 3. 3 To enshrine Lady Ignorance again as the Mother of De­votion, which all men know, (but who are blinded with igno­rance) to be the Dam of superstitions, errors, and con­fusions.

3. Rightly to beleeve in the Son of God, as the mean of our justification here, and ground of our hope of salvation hereafter, this is an impression of Gods Spirit on the soul of man; and in respect hereof we are said to have the Spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4.13. 2 Cor. 4.13. We having the same spirit of faith ac­cording [Page 37]as it is written, I beleeved, therefore have I spoken; faith as it is doctrinal, being a spiritual gift, and reckoned amongst them, 1 Cor. 12.9. And as it is practical, 1 Cor. 12.9. being a grace or fruit of the Spirit, and reckoned amongst them also, Gal. 5.22. Gal. 5. 22. But now to mingle and divide, and as it were to cut asunder, this true Evangelical Faith, as it stands full and in­tire in all its integral parts, both of doctrine and practice, so as to be vainly pust up with a conceit of being ingraffed into Christ, and thereby to be justified here, and sure of heaven hereafter; whether we live according to the rule of Faith, and in obedience unto the Gospel of Christ, or no: to define and measure our Faith, not by the sacred acts thereof com­manded, which is called the righteousnesse of Faith: but by our own too too credulous fancies, and apprehensions, Rom 10.6. as if it were no more to be in Christ, but presumptuously to pre­tend unto it, and impudently without just ground to believe it: This surely cannot be that true Evangelical Faith, whereunto so many promises are annext; but a false glosse which the spirit of Error hath put thereupon; thereby,

1. To puffe up the hearts of too too credulous men, with spiritual pride and presumption, and make them swell with the empty conceit and airy fancy of their own happy and eminent state and condition, when there is no such matter. And,

2. To inveigle men to neglect the use and practice of Christian graces, those fruits of the Spirit, which are, as it is already said, the very life and soul of Christianity, and con­sequently the way to heaven, if ever we mean to arrive there.

4. It is an impression of Gods Spirit on the soul of man, To be zealous for the Lord of Hosts, (that is) to be exceeding­ly fervent and forward, 1 King 19.1 [...]. earnest and desirous by all possible waies and means to advance the religious worship and ser­vice of God: but to be so factions and forward, so fiery and furious as by any illegal, extravagant and disorderly means to advance the truth it self, much lesse to set up any private opinions in relation to Gods Service, which have not been, semper & ubi (que) & ab omnibus, Vincen [...]. the three rules of Catho­lick [Page 38]Doctrine and Worship, to be generally, and for the most part of the Primitive times at least, of all persons, at all times, and in all places received, and not now and then, here and there, by hereticks and schismaticks only introduc'd; I say to be zealous for such pieces of Religion, Doctrine and Worship: and that per fas nefás (que) through just or unjust means, by right or by wrong, to endevour the advancement thereof: this is not true zeal, but a false gloss which the De­vil puts thereupon, even through the violence of this distem­pered heat.

1 1. To divide, separate and break men into sects, factions, and parties, that they might so elash together to the ruine of each other: And,

2 2. To inveigle men into conspiracies, seditions and rebel­lions against their Governors.

The like may be observed of zeal for the conversion of a sinner, and bringing souls into the obedience of Christ, the more zealous and active, diligent and industrious any man is herein, with the more fire of Gods Spirit, no question, he is endued: But withall observe, that to be active and zealous to seduce and deceive, to inveigle and draw men aside into false and erroneous opinions in Religion, is not a heat cast forth from the fire of Gods Spirit; but it ariseth rather from the fire of hell; it comes from our adversary the De­vil, who also continually goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour: 1 Pet. 5.8. And his Disciples they be, and conse­quently in the same wofull state and condition with him, who take pains to proselyte persons unto the waies of error and perdition. Mat. 23.15. Wo unto you Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, for ye compasse Sea and land to make one Proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the childe of hell then your selves.

5. 'Tis an impression of Gods Spirit on the minde of man, to be apt and ready, active and forward, to counsel, advise, admonish, Mat. 18.15. and in some cases, and at some times to reprove one another, Prov. 12.1. and tell men of their faults, and He that hateth reproof is a fool: but to rail and revile, censure and judge, and condemn our brethren; and say it's only a telling them of [Page 39]their faults, and telling them what they are, or to meddle with other mens matters that concern us not, or to reprove other mens faults, whilest our selves are guilty of greater; these are no true parts of Christian fraternal admonition, but false glosses that the Devil puts hereupon,

1 1. To allure men to overlook and neglect themselves, and the amendment of their own faults and amisses. And,

2 2. To dissolve the sacred bonds of amity, peace and uni­ty with others,which are those ligaments and sinews of the body of the Church, whereby good Christians are cou­pled and united, and joyn together in the sacred service of God, which is the way of their own salvation.

And as into erroneous opinions on the one hand; so into sinful actions on the other, are we allured and inveigled by the same subtil wile of Satan, obtruding his false counterfeit coin of wickedness under the shew and semblance of the im­pressions of the Spirit of holiness; gilding, painting, and set­ting out sinfulness and vice, with the title, shew and flou­rish of godliness and vertue; thus covetousness on the one hand wears the painted mask and flourish of providence and good husbandry: and prodigal profuseness on the other hand, of noblenesse and generosity: Thus riot and excess, drunkenness and gluttony carry the fair flourishing titles of bountifulness, good fellowship, and freedome of spirit; Thus wantonness and uncleanness are painted over with the spe­cious terms of amorous kindness, and Courtship; and pride, and haughtiness, of magnanimity, greatness of spirit, supe­riority of rank. I might instance in most of sins and vices, how men are inveigled and consened into them by the Devil, un­der the shews and false glosses of pretended vertues: For full well that subtil Serpent knows, that there is nothing so beautiful and comely, nothing that hath so much power to win upon the hearts and affections of men, as vertue and holiness; and therefore in their habits and attire, doth he dress his deformed strumpet vices, puts them in their co­lours, and sends them forth under their names and titles; and hence it comes to pass, that the silly souls of men are so often cheated with the baneful poyson of sinfulness, [Page 40]whilest vicious dispositions undiscernibly insinuate them­selves into our affections, under the attire and dress of ver­tuous qualifications: But thus the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11.24. whilest baiting his suggestions either with counterfeit revelations on the one hand, or with false glosses of spiritual graces on the other; he entraps the souls of men in the snares of sinfulness and error, and leads them captivity captive to his pit destruction.

CHAP. VIII. Of the Spirit of Man; and the Spirit of the World.

THere are two Familiars, whereby the Devil doth ordi­narily work, and lay his secret and subtil snares, to catch, cousen, and delude our souls thus into sinfulness and error; and these are either 1. the spirit of man; or 2. the spirit of the world: The dictates and workings of both which kinde of spirits, being stirr'd and quickned by the evil spirit, diametrally oppose the impressions and workings of the Spi­rit of truth.

1 First, that the dictates of mans spirit, the conceptions of natural sense and carnall reason, with private resolutions thereupon, do oppose the working of Gods Spirit, our Sa­viour himself teacheth, Mat. 16.17. Mat. 16.17. Flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. So that flesh and bloud hath their Revelations (that is) pri­vate men have their opinions and conceits, which oppose the truth that is revealed from heaven. The same opposition of private resolution to holy inspiration, doth St. Peter ob­serve, 2 Pet. 1. ult. For prophesies of old time came not by the will of Man: 2 Pet. 1. ult. but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost, not as they were moved by their own pri­vate will, wit, judgement, reason and resolution; but as they were moved by the holy Ghost; Et haec ideo dicuntur, &c. These things are therefore said by the Apostle, Clos. o [...]d. that no man [Page 41]should presume to interpret the holy Scripture after his own private minde or fancy; as too often, opposing and thwart­ing, perverting and wresting the same, and the meaning of the holy Ghost therein. There were many such persons in S. Chrysostomes daies, which (saith he) boast of the holy Spirit, Chrys. reference Juello in A­polog. eccl. An­glic. but whilest they speak of their own they falsly boast to have the Spirit of God: For (saith he) as Christ did deny that he spoke of himself, when he spoke cut of the Law and the Prophets, even even so now if any thing besides the Gospel (and this rightly un­derstood) be obtruded under the name of the Spirit, 'tis not to be believed: For as Christ is the fulfilling of the Law and the Pro­phets; so the holy Spirit is the fulfilling of the Gospel.

The Church of Christ hath in all ages been infested, and in these last times, more then ever, with such kinde of persons, who pretending to be holy men of God, to have the Gift of prophesie, and interpretation of Scripture, even to speak by the holy Ghost; and yet are led by their own ghost only, following their own private will and desires, imaginations and opinions, as their only guide and dictator; who pretend to the Spirt of God, and yet will not admit at any hand of other spirit then their own, of other truth then the vision of their own heads, or of other directions then the motions of their own hearts; rejecting, renouncing, and crying down all but what themselves call holy; with the Donatists of old, Quod volumus, sanctum est, that they will have to be holy, right and true, shall be so, and nothing else: 'tis the very ground whereupon this last upstart crew of Quakers build all their resolutions, and strange fanatick opinions, and heresies; even that which they call the light within us; This (say they) is the only Judge we must follow, the Pilot we must steer by, the voice whereunto we must give ear, the on­ly Sanctuary to which we must flie for resolution; never re­membring how this sanctuary is profan'd, by continual acts of spiritual fornication or idolatry therein committed; whilest in stead, and even in opposition to God and Spirit of all truth, they enshrine and idolize their own fond, vain, and lying imaginations, which the Lord by his Prophet cals the vanity and deceitfulnesse of their own heart. Jer. 14.4. Jer 14.14. The [Page 42]Lord said unto me, The Prophets prophesie lies in my Name, I have not sent them, neither did I command them, neither spake I unto them, but they prophesie unto you a false vision, and di­vination, and vanity, and the deceitfulnesse of their own heart. 'Tis undoubtedly necessary for every man to be perswaded in his own conscience both of the truth of what he believes, and of the justice and equity of what he undertakes: but yet this perswasion of the conscience, or the following the light within us, or the dictates of our own spirit, is not the first ground, and prime rule either of our faith, or of our works. For the conscience it self must be regulated, or else it will often prove a false witness, and most especially in the things of God: for as conscience is is set betwixt God and us, so it must speak from God unto us. And our spirit or the light within us must be guided by the light of Gods Spirit shining in his word: S. Paul thought verily he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus: This perswasion arose from the light within him, Act. 16.9, 11. and hereupon he made havock of the Church, which no man that is not infatuate will say, was either fit, or lawful to be done. 'Twas first in the heart of Judas to betray his Master, Joh. 13.2. Such was the light within him, and according to this light he walked, till at last he hanged himself.

And this delusion of mans own spirit, following the deceit­full dictates of his own heart, is seldome mentioned in holy Scripture, without heavie threats denounced both against such deluders, and all that suffer themselves to be deluded by them: as you may read, Jer. 14.15, 16. And again, Ezek. 13.3. Wo unto the foolish Prophets, Ezek. 13.3. which follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing; Nothing but what their own foolish spirit dictates to them.

Such are noted by the Apostle also, Col. 2.18. Who in­trude into those things which they have not seen, Col. 2.18. (or, which they understand not) being vainly puft up by their fleshly minde, Closs. Sen­sualitatis, non rationis; following the dictates of sense, rather then of right reason; and in this place, the word [...] is remarkable; for even by that 'tis easie to distinguish be­twixt the dictates of a mans own carnal and sensual spirit, [Page 43]and the impressions of Gods holy Spirit, for the guidance of the minde: The dictate of the fleshly spirit is [...], inflatio, a puffing up; but the impression of the holy Spirit is [...], afflatio, an inspiration indeed, but without infla­tion, or puffing up: The heavenly winde of Gods Spirit may fill, but it never puffs up, or swels the heart, but rather hum­bles and abaseth the Spirit of man, which is most conforma­ble to the Spirit of Christ, according to his own command, Mat. 11.29. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; Mat. 11.29. the minde that is either puft up with pride, vain-glory, and false conceited excellency in it self; or that swels with ma­lice, hatred, or envie towards others, is not inspired with the celestial Breath or Spirit of the holy Jesus, but follows its own carnal and corrupt dictates and conceits; being thereunto raised and moved, by that grand Impostor, the spirit of Delusion.

Besides mans own carnal spirit, there is also A spirit of the World, opposing and poysoning the truths of Gods Spirit: The Apostle distinguisheth and opposeth these each to other, 1 Cor. 2.12. 1 Cor. 2.12. Now we have not received the spirit which is of the world, but the Spirit which is of God: which spirit of the world, he cals a little before, the wisdome of the world, and of the Princes thereof, vers. 6. and opposeth the same to the wisdome of God, vers. 7. And what else can be this wisdome of the world, but those humane policies, so frequent in the world, whereby men steer their actions to their worldly ends and interests? with this spirit of the world are all such possest, who having set up and enshrined the world in their hearts, do thereupon ground their Religion, and thence deduce all their reasons, arguments and religious conclusions; so that they can finde in their hearts to be thus far religious, and to close with this or that sect, society, and opinion in Re­ligion, as it stands with their worldly profit, pleasure, credit, preferment, or the like: It was from the dictates of this spi­rit that Jeroboam the Son of Nebat made Israel to sin; pul­ling down the holy and true Religion established amongst the people by the Lawes of God, and erecting two golden [Page 44]Calves at Dan and Bethel, which became a snare unto the peo­ple, who were thereby inveigled into idolatry, the cause of their utter ruine and extirpation in the end: And what other Spirit was it that moved this wicked Usurper thereunto, 1 King. 12.28, 29. but that of his own worldly respects and interests; there was no other way as this worldly spirit dictated to him, to up­hold his present estate, and new gotten Monarchy? so we read, 1 King. 12.26. 1 King. 12.26, &c. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdome return to the house of David, &c. Ra­ther then the people should return to their obedience to their liege Lord and Soveraign, religion must down, and the true worship of God be laid in the dust, to make way for superstition and idolatry to be set up; the Priests of the Lord shall be discarded, and the lowest of the people exalt­ted to that dignity, and to make the office more contempti­ble, every one that list, may take up the trade, and con­secrate himself to be a Priest of the high places, 2 King. 13.33. 1 King. 13.33.

It was this very spirit also that stirred up the High-priests and Pharisees to take counsell against our Saviour to put him to death; for say they, If we let him alone, all men will be­lieve on him, [...], The Romans will come and take away our place and Nation, Joh. 11.48.

It was this spirit also that stirred up Demetrius the Silver­smith, with the rest of the Crafts-men of the like occupation, against St. Paul and his companions, and the holy Christian Religion preached by them; his Pretence was Religion (such a kinde Religion as it was) viz. Lest the Temple of the great goddesse Diana should be nothing esteemed, and her magnifi­cence, whom Asia and all the world worshipt, should be destroyed; but this Religion was blown by the winde of his own world­ly ends; his profit, his gain which he got by making silver shrines for Diana, was in danger to be lost, and therefore it was now time for to stir, not so much for the maintenance of her honour, Act. 19.27. as his own profit, Act. 19.27.

And 'tis this spirit of the world, that possesses the grea­test part of the world; generally, and for the most part, men measure and square out their Religion by the rule of [Page 45]their profit, or pleasure, or preferment, or credit and esteem amongst men; or indeed at the best, by the rule of self-pre­servation; so far perhaps they will sail by the winde of Gods Spirit as the Sea of this world is calm, peaceable, pleasant, and the navigation gainful, or at least not chargeable; but if any tempest arise, any gusts of trouble or opposition against the truth blow in the face of its professors; if any dammages or dangers pursue them in their course, they pre­sently tack about, and will sail no longer by the heavenly winde of God, but by the earthly winde of their own world­ly ends and interests; not by the winde which blows from heaven, but by that which ariseth out of the caves and hol­lows of an earthly minde; Jam. 1.6. suffering themselves by this wind to be tossed to and fro, and driven to be of this, or that, 2 Sam. 24.24. or any Religion, that shall cost them nothing, nothing of charge, trouble, or danger; ebbing and flowing in this worlds vast sea, as the tide either of prosperity or adversity, danger or security makes for or against them. But this surely is such a spirit as blows quite crosse and contrary to the spirit which guided and directed the Apostles, for they finished their course over the troublous sea of this world, to the celestial Canaan, by sayling in all weathers, encountring all opposi­tions, and passing through all storms that met and opposed them: In afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in pri­sons, in tumults, in labours, by watchings, by fastings, &c. 1 Cor. 6.4, 5, 6. And yet in all these difficulties, still saith the father, The yoke of Christ is easie, and his burthen light; 1 Cor. 6, 4, 5, 6. Aug. nay, there is ease, peace, and comfort to the soul in the midst of all the troubles, dangers, wants or necessities that can in this life encounter us, whilest the holy Ghost secretly by his comforts both cheers our spirits, and fils the sails of our de­sires with the hopes of arriving safe in the end at the harbour of eternal peace and felicity.

CHAP. IX. Of the Tryal of Spirits.

SInce then that grand malignant Spirit, the enemy of our salvation, 3. Gen. working by these two Familiars, mans own de­ceivable spirit, and the spirit of the world, doth thus many waies counterfeit, poyson, pervert, and consequently ob­struct, impede, and overthrow the workings of the Spirit of grace; as an Antidote against this poyson of the serpent, and that his countermines prevail not to the subversion of our souls; we must make use of that friendly admonition of the Apostle, never so necessary to be observed and pra­ctised as now; 1 Joh. 4.1. Dearly beloved, beleeve not every Spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God, or no; for many false Pro­phets are gone out into the world.

The admonition is twofold:

First, negative, Beleeve not every spirit.

Secondly, positive, Try the spirits; and there is one gene­ral reason given for both, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. He then that shall be so credulous, as to give heed to every one that pretends to the Spirit of truth, and under that pretence treats of holy and spiritual things; and shall not first by the rule of truth examine and try such things and persons; shall be sure to have lies and errors ob­truded upon him, under the dresse and attire of Truth; because there ever was, and ever shall be by Gods permissi­on and the Devils suggestion, false Prophets or false Tea­chers in the world, and yet as fair and great pretenders to the truth, as the very true patrons and promoters thereof; such there were ever in the Church of God, both under the Law of old, 2 Pet. 2.1. and under the Gospel anew. 2 Pet. 2.1. But there were false Prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false Teachers among you; which privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them; and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction: And 'twere well [Page 47]if the poyson spread no further, so that others were not in­fected therewith also: but so nauseous is Truth to the mindes of men for its age, and antiquity, and so acceptable are Lies and Errors for their novelty, that these false Teachers never fail of many disciples and followers; 2 Pet. 2.2. so it followes vers. 2. And many shall follow their destructions, by whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

First, then beleeve them not, follow them not, be not cou­sen'd by their fair pretences, so as to be infected with their false doctrines: 'Tis our Saviours own command, Mat. [...]4.23. Mat. 24.23. If any man shall say unto you, Lee here is Christ, or, Loe there, beleeve it not; for there shall arise false Christs, and false Pro­phets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, so that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect. (But that being fore­warn'd, ye may be arm'd against their delusions) Behold I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; Behold, he is in the secret places, be­leeve it not.

The same care and caution was commanded by God to his people under the Law: Deut. 13 1. If there arise among you a Pro­phet, or a Dreamer of dreams, (and give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign and the wonder which he hath told thee, come to passe) saying, Vers. 2 Let us go after other Gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them: Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the Prophet or unto that Dreamer of dreams: Vers. 3 For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul: From whence it is also further observable, The reason why God suffers false Prophets to arise, viz. for the probation and trial of our proficiency and integrity in the love and service of God; for so saith the Father upon those words, Aug. [for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul]: Ten­tat nos Dominus, non ut sciat ipse, quem nihil latet, sed ut scire nos faciat, quantum in ejus dilectione profecerimus: God suf­fers us to be tempted, tryed, and proved by the lying won­ders of false Peophets arising amongst us, not that he him­self may know what is in us, to whom the hearts of all men [Page 48]are naked and bare; but that we may thereby know our selves, and our own proficiency, and constancy to the prin­ciples of truth and integrity.

The very same reason is given by the Apostle for the ne­cessity of heresies, 1 Cor 11.19. 1 Cor. 11.19. For there must be heresies among you, Aug. de civ Dei lib. 18. that they which are approved among you may be known: Quolibet errore caecentur, &c. With what error so­ever our enemies are blinded, or with what wickedness soe­ver they are deprav'd, 'tis for the proof, trial and exercise of the graces of Gods Spirit within us: Have they received power to afflict, persecute, imprison, &c. 'Tis for the trial of our patience in suffering, and charity in loving our ene­mies, and praying for our persecutors, as becomes the Di­sciples of Christ, Mat. 5.44. Mat. 5.44. Do they only by fair words and cunning speeches distil their false and poysonous Do­ctrines? 'Tis for the trial of our wisdome in resisting, Gal. 6.1. and beneficence in perswading and endevouring to restore them with the spirit of meeknesse; proving whether God will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth; that they may escape the snare of the Devil, of whom they are taken cap­tive at his will, 2 Tim. 2.25, 26. 2 Tim. 2.25, 26.

Secondly, Try the spirits, whether they be of God or no] Try them, how? but by the revelations of the Spirit, which is of God, who being the Spirit of truth, must necessarily therefore in all his qualifications and impressions, be con­sentaneous and agreeable to himself; Aug. Veritas veritati congrua, one truth ever holds proportion with another; nay, all truths are as it were the images and resemblances one of ano­ther; they are all links of the same golden chain, which affixt to the throne of heaven, displayes 'its radiant lustre unto the mindes of men upon earth: They are all but streams flowing from one and the same fountain, the God of truth. There is nothing then that we are to receive for truth, but what is consonant and agrees with the Spirit of truth; which ever blessed Spirit speaking in the Word, hath thereby prescribed and given us a sure and in­fallible rule of truth.

What the Apostle cals a being filled with the Spirit, Eph. 5.18, 19. he also cals the dwelling of the word of Christ in us richly: which any one that will compare the places may perceive: whence it is easie to observe that the Apostle means no other by being filled with the Spirit, then to be full of the Word of Christ, or to be mighty in the Scriptures: and the rea­son is, because the holy Spirit is not only the great Dictator of the Scriptures unto us, but also our guide in several re­spects, as to the right understanding of them.

1 The first rule of trial then is the holy Word of God in general: that's the grand general rule, that's the great square or level, according to which we are to try and exa­mine the rectitude, truth and integrity both of the doctrines and opinions of others without; and also the impressions and workings of the Spirit within. Gal. 1.8. Though we, Gal. 1. [...]. or an Angel from Heaven should preach unto you another Gospel. besides that you have received, let him be accursed.

Though we] preferring authority of the Gospel they had preached, before their own authority the Preachers there­of; nay before the authority of celestial spirits; Though an Angel from Heaven, &c.] He saw, saith the Father, Aug. that it might so come to passe, that Satan transforming himself into an angel of light, and working by his mediators and instruments, those deceitful workers who transform them­selves into the Apostles of Christ, 2 Cor. 11, 13, 14. might so cousen and de­ceive them, if they did not keep close to the Gospel recei­ved; which is the true rule of faith: therefore he saith ano­ther Gospel besides, &c.] praeter, any thing that is besides, that holds not square, and is not level to that rule: Qui praeter­greditur fid [...]i regulam, non procedit in via, sed recedit à via; he that goes besides, and not according to the rule of faith, goes not forward in the way, but backward from the way of truth; so 1 Joh. 4.8. We are of God, (speaking of him­self, and the rest of his fellow Apostles) He that knoweth God heareth us, (acquiescendo doctrinae nostrae) cleaves to our do­ctrine, and he that is not of God, heareth us not, Lyra. neither is obedi­ent to our word: And hereby know we the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, q. d. He that cleaves to our doctrine is [Page 50]guided by the Spirit of truth, and he that doth not so, by the spirit of error.

But the spirit of error will come with his scriptum est like­wise, as he did against our Lord himself, Mat. 4. And all he­reticks and schismaticks do generally alledge Scriptures, and wrest the very sayings of the Spirit of truth against himself, to insinuate thereby their lies and errors. For as Tertullian observes of the writings of Ovid, Virgil, Homer, both the mat­ter of them hath been transferr'd unto other uses, and the verses applyed to other matter: Even so do hereticks deal with the holy writings of inspired men: De Praeser. adv. Haer. cap. 39. Nec periclitor di­cere, &c. I fear not to say, that the Scriptures were so dispo­sed by the wisdome of God, that they might accidentaliter, and by the by, even administer matter to Heresies; since I read that heresies must come, and without the Scriptures they cannot come. For 'tis in the production of heresies, as of natural things, Corruptio unius est generatio alterius; the corruption of truth is the generation of heresie; all here­tical opinions being generally grounded upon, and flowing from the fountain of truth, the Scripture; not as they are in themselves rightly interpreted and understood, but as they are wrested and perverted either in the words, or in the sense, either by additions or diminutions; or by not con­sidering them together, but divided into parts, and taken up by shreds and pieces; for the avoiding whereof these follow­ing rules must be observed in the trial of spirits by the Scri­ptures.

1 First, try and oxamine by the coherence, whether that be the very intent and aim of the holy Ghost in the text, for the which it is urg'd and alleged: For the same words of the Spirit may be misapplyed both to other things and other persons, then the Spirit ever meant or intended therein.

2 Secondly, distinguish betwixt times, ages, persons, when, wherein, and to whom this or that word was spoken: For there are many things both said and recorded to be done in the Word, which are only agreeable to those times, to that age of the Church, and to some particular persons, and are not at all appliable to the Church and people of Christ in these times, or to any persons amongst us.

3 Thirdly, examine diligently the phrase, and manner of speech, whether it be plain or Metaphorical, literal or alle­gorical; a true history, or a parable only: For many things are spoken in the Word by way of type, figure, allegory, parable, and the like; which if we should apply in the plain and literal sense, would prove strange monstrous lies and con­tradictions; which God forbid any man should be so blas­phemous, as to impose on the Spirit of truth and wis­dome.

4 Fourthly, examine diligently what agreement every text of Scripture hath with other, and receive not easily and slightly the seeming sense of any text, without comparing the same with its parallel texts: For many things seem to be positively asserted in some places of the Word of God, which yet are directly contradicted in others; one place therefore is so to be compared with, and interpreted by another, that the one do not obscure or any way cloud the truth of the other.

5 Fifthly, examine whether that which we conceive to be the sense of this or that Scripture, be agreeable to those Articles of Christian faith contained in the Apostles Creed; that [...], or form of sound words, in faith, we must, 2 Tim. 2.13. Jude v. 3. hold fast; that model of faith once given to the Saints, for which we must contend, and consequently receive no private sense or interpretation of Scripture that is contrary thereunto; 2 Pet. 1.20. remem­bring that no Scripture is of any private interpretation, 1 Cor. 14.32. but that even the Spirits of the Prophets themselves are subject to the Prophets.

6 Sixtly, examine what we conceive to be the sense of the Spirit in the Word, by the rule of that law written by the singer of God, in two Tables of stone, as a lasting square, according to which to regulate all our acti­ons, and consequently all our conceptions and opinions, from whence our actions flow: The rule of obedience, or that all perfect rule of Charity, Rom. 13.1 [...]. which is the fulfilling of the Law, is an infallible rule of trial of the spirits, whether they be of God or no; Hereby (saith the Apostle) we are sure we know God, if we keep his Commandements; he that [Page 52]saith, I know God, and keepeth not his Commandements, is a lyar, and the truth is not in him, 1 Joh. 2.34. 1 Joh. 2.34. It is not the Spirit of truth, but the spirit of error, if it oppose, or deny, or any way impede and hinder our obedience to the Laws of God: For saith the same Apostle again, He that keepeth his Com­mandements dwelleth in him, 2 Joh. 3.24. and he in him; and hereby we know that he abideth in us, even by that Spirit which he hath given us; even by the spirit of obedience to the Comman­dements of God: So that even from hence 'tis clear, that both to have the Spirit abiding in us, and the way to know we have him also, and not a false counterfeit lying spirit, is, if thereby we be mov'd and enabled to keep Gods Com­mandements: This is the very rule our Saviour himself pre­scribes to examine his own doctrine thereby, Joh. 7.17. Joh. 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: And this is the first general rule of tryal of the Spirits, even the Word of God.

A second rule, according to which to try the spirits, whe­ther they be of God, or no, is by the fruits of the Spirit; and 'tis the rule our Lord himself hath given us to know them by, Mat. 7.15. Mat. 7.15. Beware of false Prophets, which come to you in sheeps cloathing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves: Beware of false Prophets] for many such are gone out into the world, who in respect of their exteriour dress and outward appearance, so plausible are their pretences, so spiritual are their expresions, so much of the language of the Spirit, and Scripture phrases flow from them, that you would take them for the true sheep of Christ, and undoubtedly to belong to his fold; and yet for all this, inwardly, really, and truly they are wolves in sheeps cloathing, limbs of Satan, deceiving and de­vouring the souls of the simple. But by their fruits you shal know them] which is confirmed by an apt similitude, Mat. 7.16. vers. 16. Do men gather grapes of thornes, or figs of thistles? q. d. No man can be so foolish as to expect this, 17 but every tree, whether it be good or whether it be bad, bringeth forth fruit suita­ble to its good or bad nature: So, every good tree bringeth [Page 53]forth good fruit, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth evill fruit; nor is it possible it should be otherwise. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit; even so false Prophets cannot bring forth the fruit of good, true, wholsome, sound doctrines, and religious manners: So Menander, [...], No man being good in himself produceth evil actions: on the other side, saith Antoninus, [...], &c. He that will not have a wicked man to commit wicked­ness, is like unto him that will not have a fig-tree to bring forth figs: 'Tis then an infallible tryal of the spirits, whe­ther they be of God, or no, by the fruits they bring forth.

The fruit of the Spirit (viz.) which is of God, Gal. 5.22, 23. is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem­perance: The first of these fruits, and the fairest too, even of largest extent, and most lasting, which this tree of life brings forth, is Love, even the love of God above all, and of our neighbour as our selves: This therefore must needs be an infal­lible touch-stone to try the spirit of truth, from the spirit of error; for the spirit of truth is the very spirit of love; and that first in respect of himself, being that essential love, and love-knot of the Father and the Son: And secondly, in respect of us, being that sacred vinculum, that invisible chain which unites us unto God by faith, which worketh by love, Gal. 5 6. and which unites one to another by charity, peace, amity, the inseparable fruits of a true faith. So that the Spirit of God is vinculum unitatis, both in respect of his person and office; and that 3 waies: First, he is the bond of unity be­twixt God and God: Secondly, betwixt God and man: and, Thirdly, betwixt man and man: therefore call'd the unity of the Spirit, Eph. 4.3. The devil on the other side, Ephes. 4.3. is of a quite contrary nature; as being the author, fautor, and fomentor of all division: He divides and separates man from God by sinfulness and error; and man from man by envie, malice, hatred, strife, and variance; therefore is he so well known amongst the vulgar by his cloven foot, the embleme of division.

Now our love to God above all, is manifested and expres­sed by our love to our neighbour, 1 Joh. 4.20. If any man say, I love God, 1. Joh. 4.20. and hateth his Brother, he is a lyar; for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Joh 14 23, 24. For, if any man love me (saith the Lord) he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him; And he that lo­veth me not, keepeth not my Words; and the Word which you hear, is not mine, but the Fathers which sent me: And what is the Word he means, and so often particularly commands, but to love one another? This is my commandement, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, Joh. 15.12. And this is the fruit he giveth us in charge to bring forth, vers. 16, 17. even to love one another: So that then, where there is malice, hatred, strife, variance, bitter envyings, railings, revilings, &c. for such kinde of persons to lay claim to the Spirit of unity, is a piece of impudent vanity, and a false suggestion, either from their own corrupt erring spirit, or from the spirit of error himself, the Devil, who is a hater, a reviler, and the accuser of the brethren: And on the other side, where there is peace, Rev. 12.10. love, unity, amity, &c. they are un­questionable marks and tokens of the Spirit of truth and unity: Therefore St. John in the forecited place, having told us, that hereby know we the Spirit of truth from the spirit of er­ror; adds immediately, 1 Joh. 4.6, 7, 8. Beloved, let us love one another; for love cometh of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; and he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.

It would be needlesse to instance in the rest of the fruits of the Spirit, because love is not only the first and chiefest of them, even the Mistresse, or rather the Queen of graces, and by the Apostle extoll'd above them all, 1 Cor. 13. but also, because 'tis the sum, brief, abridgement, and epitome of all grace: All the fruits of the Spirits are contained in and derived from this one, as streams from the fountain head; Aug. Ʋnde caetera tanquám ex capite exorta, & religata con­texuit, saith the Father of the fruits of the Spirit, as they are reckoned by the Apostle, They all arise from, and [Page 55]are summ'd up in this one; therefore 'tis call'd the bond of perfection, Col. 3.14. because, saith Lyra, Sicut vi [...]tutes pol [...]ticae conne­ctuntur in pru­dentia, sic insu­sae in charitate, Lyr. in Loc. as all Philosophi­cal vertues are bound up in that one of Prudence, so all infused vertues, or the graces of the Spirit are bound up in this one of Charity: and therefore also is love the fulfilling of the Law, Rom. 13.10. 'Tis the fulfilling of the Law in three re­spects:

1. Reductivè, in that the whole Law is reducible to this one command of Love; and like Homer's Iliads in a nutshel, the whole volume of the Law is contained in this short pre­cept, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, Mat. 22.37, 39, 40. with all thy soul, and with all thy minde, and thy neighbour as thy selfe.

2, Formaliter, the very essential form of our obedience to the Lawes of God, being our love to God: That's the ve­ry form, life, soul, spirit of a truly holy and acceptable obe­dience, both in piety towards God, and charity towards man, when it proceeds from the love we owe to God him­self, and to our neighbour for Gods sake; and therefore is Love also styl'd the end of the Commandement, 1 Tim. 1.5. For, 1 Tim. 1.5. finis in moralibus habet rationem formae, the end why we do this or that moral action is the very essential form of the acti­on done.

3. Effectivè, obedience is the effect, the issue, the pro­duct of our love to God, flowing from it as an effect from the cause; therefore 'tis said as before, Joh. 1 [...].23. If ye love me keep my Commandements.

Love then is, and needs must be an exact, true, and in­fallible touch-stone or tryal of the truth of Spirits, since 'tis the chief, the fountain, the abridgement of all the fruits thereof. And by the same rule may every man try and exa­mine himself, whether he be adopted and reconciled unto God through Christ, or not: For the Spirit beareth witnesse with our spirits that we are the Sons of God, Rom. 8.16. bear­eth witness, how? but by the scale of sanctification upon our hearts: And this seale is Love, Set me as a seale upon thine heart — for Love is strong as death, Cant. 8.6. Whosoe­ver sindes his self enricht with this precious jewel, the love [Page 56]of God above all, and of his neighbour as himself, may thence assure himself of his regeneration, and adoption, that he is the childe of God, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; and he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is Love, 1 Joh. 4.7, 8. And this love betwixt God and every true faithful soul, is mutual, no man can love God, but he that is beloved of God; for our love to God is but the reflexion of Gods love upon our hearts, whereby our desires are inflamed towards him, and our en­devours quickned to serve him in righteousness, and true ho­liness: Quis justus nisi qui dilectus à Deo, Bern. ep. 107. Deum redamat, quod in nobis spiritus Dei efficit: who is, or can be a righte­ous man, but only he, who being beloved of God, loves God again, and expresses this love of his heart, by the righteous­ness of his life; which love, and obedience the holy Spirit of God worketh in us.

A third rule for the trial of the Spirits, is by the properties of the Spirit of truth, which are observable in the manner of his descension upon the Apostles of Christ, Act. 2.2. recorded Act. 2.2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing winde, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

This heavenly winde or breath of the Almighty, where­with all the Apostles were filled, is exprest here to have four properties.

• 1. 'Twas Sudden.
• 2. Vehement.
• 3. From heaven,
• 4. It filled the place where they were sitting.

All these are the properties of Gods Spirit, whose mo­tions and inspirations are,

First, sudden, and unexpected, neither admitting of any de­layes nor put-offs: Ambr. For, nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia.

Secondly, vehement, for the conversion and quite turning over of the soul he blowes upon; 2 Cor. 10.4. casting down of strong holds, (the fortifications of sin and Satan) and bringing into sub­jection every thought that exalts it self.

Thirdly, from heaven, as being the Spirit of God, who [Page 57]dwelleth in the heavens, and to heaven-ward wings and raises the soul which he inspires.

Fourthly, it filled the house where they were sitting: ever tends to the good of the Church, 1 Pet. 2 5. which is the houshold of faith: This heavenly winde never blowes, but for the good of Gods houshold; therefore are his people called a spiritual house.

By the two first of these qualities, 'twill be a hard matter to distinguish a false spirit from the Spirit of truth: For as it is ordinary and common to every winde, to be both sud­den and vehement; so 'tis common to every spirit also, both true and false; nay, commonly false and faigned spi­rits are more violent and vehement, and make a greater noise and stir in the world then the true Spirit doth; and there is good reason for it: for the false spirit wanting the native strength and genuine efficacy of the truth to support it, flies therefore to force and violence, earnest zeal and for­wardness to bear up in the mindes and good opinions of the world.

For the tryal of spirits then, according to this rule, we must look upon the two other properties of this divine winde, which are not ordinary, and common, and not natural to that winde which blowes in the air.

1 First, it came from heaven] Windes do not naturally come from heaven, but out of the caves and hollowes of the earth,or out of the middle region of the air; neither do they blow desursum, downwards, as this winde did, but laterally, from one coast or climate to another; but this winde came directly downwards, and de coelo, from heaven it self.

2 Secondly, it filled the house where they were sitting, and no house but that: The winde naturally blowes upon all places alike, within its circuit; but this winde blew electively as it were, and by discretion, making choice of one place only to blow upon, and no other; so that in both these respects it is manifest it was a winde extraordinary and superna­tural.

And by these two properties we may try and examine, both the truth of our own, and of the spirits of others.

1 If first, those desires, opinions, and actions which relate to Religion, be from above, if the ground thereof be fetcht de coelo, from heaven; so that they tend to make us heavenly minded, to wean our hearts from the world, to elevate and raise up our affections to things above, to form and frame our conversations towards heaven. Col. 3.2.

2 If secondly, they keep us within the pale and limits of the Church, if they tend to the general benefit, edification, pro­fit, and good of the houshold of faith; and to the conver­sation of peace, and love, and unity amongst Christians, we may then be confident it is the heavenly winde, the divine breath of the Almighty, the holy Spirit of God that inspires them.

1 But if otherwise these motions and opinions that seem religious be either, first, grounded upon earthly and worldly respects, have their private aims and intentions, either of ambition, vain-glory, and popular applause, as in some, or of worldly profit, benefit, and preferment, as in others; or of hatred, malice, revenge, as in a third sort of men: or if, 2 secondly, they tend to divisions, schisme, separation, de­bate, variance, malice, hatred, envie, &c. If either they smell rank of the world, or taste of any fruits of the flesh, recorded Gal. 5.19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, &c. Then this winde comes surely not from heaven, there is nothing in it but what is either natural, or worse, suggested by the spirit of error: 'Tis either a revelation of flesh and bloud, arising out of the caves and hollowes of an earthly minde; or else it is inspired and blown from those regions of the air which are the habitation of unclean spirits: 'Tis not defluxus coeli, a divine breath inspired from heaven, but either exhalatio terrae, a terrene exhalation drawn from the hollows of a cor­rupt heart, or a blast from the spiritual powers of the air, a suggestion of Satan.

And by this rule also, every man may try himself, whether he be truly sanctified by the Spirit of God, or not. He that shall find his soul possest with motions, and desires, weaned from all the pomps, and vanities, profits▪ pleasures, and [Page 59]cares of the world, hungring, and thirsting, and breathing after heaven, whose soul dwels more in heaven, then on earth, whose affections are set on things above, and not on things below, may be well assured of the Spirit of God dwelling in him. For all such motions, and desires are but sparks of that heavenly fire, the flame whereof is mindful of its own original, ever mounts the soul aloft, works to­wards its own center, and tends to the place from whence it comes: To denote which ascending quality of the Spirit of Grace, is one reason more why the holy Ghost is repre­sented by fire, Mat. 3.11. Because 'tis the property of fire, both flame and smoke, to mount upward: so 'tis the proper­ty of every heavenly inspired soul, to ascend both in con­templation, and desires: neither the more pure, nor yet the more drossie part of the soul cleaves unto the dust, and continually dwels below, that is endued with power from above, or with the Spirit of God. And for the same reason, amongst others also, the holy Ghost is represented by water, Joh. 7.38, 39. because, as 'tis the property of water, even against its own nature, to ascend as high, as is the place from whence it descends; so, even against the stream of natural corruption, the soul is mounted to heaven by the influence of Gods spirit, who cometh down from heaven. And the wings which the holy Spirit hath for this ascension and slight, are devout and fervent prayers, divine and celestial meditations and desires.

CHAP. X. Of the means to obtain the true Spirit of God.

THE holy Spirit of God, which in the shape of a dove, 4. Gen. the embleme of the Spirit of love, descended upon Christ our Lord; Mat. 3.16. and which afterward both visibly and publickly also came down from heaven, and filled the Apostles of Christ extraordinarily and miraculously with his heavenly Act. 2. [Page 60]gifts and graces, doth daily descend still upon the members of Christs mystical body, though not in such a plentiful mea­sure, nor yet after such a visible miraculous manner; yet ordinarily and invisibly in the use of means he comes still, and by his secret celestial influence, visits, enlightens, and sanctifies the souls of men. In every good thought, in eve­ry good motion and pious desire of the soul, in every de­vout sigh and sorrowful groan under the weight and bur­then of sin, in every striving and raising of the soul from under that weight; in every elevation of the soul from the dust and rubbish of worldly vanities, and aspiring towards heaven; in every beam of holy truth, and divine grace, whe­ther relating to piety or charity, the holy Ghost descends from heaven: Thus he daily comes unto us, and thus he will ever come and be with his Church and people, unto the end of the world, according to that promise of our Lord, Mat. 28.20. Mat. 28.20. And lo, I am with you alway unto the end of the world: He will be with us, if we will be with him, and not neglect the means he hath ordained to be made partakers of his ever blessed presence with us.

The means to fetch down this holy Spirit from heaven to sanctifie our souls by his grace here, that he may exalt us to his glory in the heavens hereafter; besides those natural and moral means for the attainment of spiritual gifts before remembred, which are also dispensed from the Spirit of God; the divine means or conveyances of the Spirit are either,

• 1. Outward,
• 2. Inward.

The outward means are no other but those three essential parts of divine worship:

• 1. Holy Prayer.
• 2. The holy Word.
• 3. The holy Sacraments.

The most holy God commanding us nothing but what are the means and waies of our own happiness; viz. the means of grace and sanctification here, Quod homini proficit, Deo servit. Tert. de [...]o [...]n. c. 2. as the way to our glo­rification hereafter: For there is nothing that we poor, frail, mortal dust and ashes can perform, that may any way [Page 61]add, really add to the glory or happiness of the most high, most glorious, and ever blessed God: And in that he lays his commands upon us, and enjoyns us several waies of ac­knowledging our obedience to him, 'tis of his tender care and respect to us-ward, even for our guidance and directi­on in the waies of our own felicity: The Laws of God are no other then the rules of mans perfection, even the sacred paths we must tread to attain that pitch of perfection, whereunto we are created, being instampt after the blessed image of our Maker: So that the parts of Gods service com­manded, are to us the means of grace and salvation sincerely obeyed.

1. Holy prayer in all the parts and species thereof, is a means to fetch down the holy Spirit of God in his gifts and grace: So saith our Lord positively and clearly, Luk. 11.13. Luk. 11.13. If ye being evill know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to them that ask him? And that we might know what is here meant by the Spirit, St. Matthew records the words of our Lord thus, Mat. 7.11. How much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him? [All good things] being compri­sed under the name of the Spirit, as the fountain from whence they flow: And Joh. 14.14. Joh. 14 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it; and presently after he promiseth, as the sum of all that they could ask for, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, &c. God is in himself the fountain of all perfection; every good and every perfect gift, every divine, celestial, soul-sanctify­ing grace is in God, as the original, prototype, and grand examplar; as the root from whence the sap of every grace, as the Sun from whence the beam of every gift for illumi­nation is derived unto us; Jam. 1.17. from the holy heavens they must come, for there is their proper seat and habitation; as the Wise man confesseth, Wisd. 9. when he petitioned the God of heaven for the wisdome of the Spirit: And the same means must we use to fetch down both wisdome and the rest of the gra­ces of the Spirit, even by prayer, commanded Jam. 1.5. [Page 62]Prayer is the blessed mean that unites God and man, brings heaven and earth together: 'Tis that golden chain (saith Ba­sil) that ties the gracious ears of God to the hearts and tongues of men: 'Tis the hand which reaches from earth to heaven, and takes forth every good thing out of the Lords treasury: Mat. 7.7. Therefore 'tis said, Mat. 7.7. Ask and ye shall re­ceive, seek and ye shall finde, knock and it shall be opened unto you; so that 'tis also the ring or hammer wherewithal we knock at the gates of heaven, and beg a blessing from the great Lord that dwelleth there: Nay, it is the key of heaven, saith Aug. which opens unto us those everlasting doors of glory: 'Tis the blessed engine wherewithal we storm the heavenly Jerusalem, and (as it were) by force and violence make our entrance in­to the holy City, which is full of wealth and never fading treasures. Mat. 11.12. The Kingdome of heaven (saith our Lord) suffers vio­lence, and the violent take it by force: fervent importunate prayers being the scaling ladders, Gen. 28. represented by Jacobs ladder, which being set upon the earth, the top thereof reacheth to the heavens; our several prayers upon all occasions, wants, and opportunities, are as it were the several rounds of this celestial ladder, whereupon the desires and affections of our souls ascend from earth to heaven; and leaving these frail earthy tabernacles of clay, make their way unto the most high God which sits in the heavens. Or it may be represented by that fiery chariot of Elijah, 2 King. 2.11. wherein he was wrapt from earth to heaven, for so by fervent prayers and devotions are the souls of holy and religious men; they are thereby enwrapt and mount from the earth to have their conversation in heaven with God on high; whence they again descend enricht with celestial blessings, or with the Spirit of God. This is also further proved by the example of the Apostles, who after they had prayed, the holy Ghost descended on them, Act. 4.31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they assembled together; and they were all filled with the ho­ly Ghost, and the spake the Word of God with bold­nesse.

2. The holy Word of God in general, but the Gospel of Christ in special, in the preaching, or reading, hearing and understanding thereof, is an effectual means for the obtaining of the Spirit; 2 Tim. 3 16. for all Scripture is given by in­spiration; they are the very dictates, the breathings of the Spirit upon the souls of men, and are therefore pro­fitable for doctrine, or to teach the truth; for reproof, to convince what is false and erroneous; for correction of the negligent and delinquent, and for instruction in righteous­nesse to the proficient: That the man of God, Gloss. Lyra. he who is or­dained to divine offices, as Timothy was, may be to that end perfected and thoroughly furnished to every good work, 2 Tim. 3.16. And of the Scriptures in the verse before 'tis said, they are sufficient to make us wise to salvation, viz. being spiritually understood, saith the Inter. Gloss. That they are the means both of our illumination and sancti­fication, which are the ends of the Spirit, is clear from the prayer of our Lord, Joh. 17.17. Joh. 17.17. Sanctifie them with thy truth, thy Word is truth: The Word of God, is the Word of truth for our illumination, and the Word of grace for our sanctification; and this prayer of our Lord was granted, saith Lyra, in behalf of his Apostles, when the holy Spirit descended on them at the feast of Pente­cost: Regeneration, which is the same with sanctification, and to be born of God, and to be born of the Spirit, is ascribed to the Word of God, as the conveyance of the Spirit in this respect; or as the means of our new birth. Jam. 1.18. Of his own will begat he us, Jam. 1.18. Joh. 1.17. by the Word of truth. And Joh. 1.17. The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: Now, what else are the gifts of the Spirit, or at least, whereunto do they tend, but to the clear understanding of the truth of God re­vealed by Jesus Christ, which revelations are the sum of his Gospel? and what else are the graces of Gods Spirit, but accumulative, an obedience to this truth, even an obedi­ence to the Gospel of Christ? 1 Cor [...] [...]4. Hence it is termed the power of God, and the wisdome of God. And his Gospel, the law [Page 64]of the Spirit of life, Rom. 8.2. 2 Cor. 3.6. Rom. 8.2. 2 Cor. 3.6. So that the preaching, reading, hearing, or in a word, the clearing of this Gospel unto the mindes of men, is the conveyance of the Spirit thereinto: An example whereof, see Act 18.44. Whilest Peter yet spake these words, Act. 10.14. the words of the Gospel, the holy Ghost fell on them all that heard the Word.

3. The Holy Sacraments, both Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, are effectual means also for the conveyance of the holy Spirit: 'Tis promised upon our Baptism, with repen­tance, Act. 2.38. Act. 2.38. Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost: And this is also veri­fied from the example of Christ our head, upon whose Baptism in Jordan, the heavens were opened, and the holy Ghost descended in shape of a dove, and lighted on him, Mat. 3.16. denoting unto us, Mat. 3.16. Remig. that by the virtue and power of Baptism not only the heavens are opened, but also the gift of the holy Ghost is received; therefore are we said to be born again of water, and of the holy Ghost, and without that the heavens are shut against us: There is no admission into the celestial Kingdome. Joh. 3 5. Joh. 3.5. Except a man be born of water and the holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven: The Apostle St. Paul couples both Sacraments together, as the conveyances of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 12.13. 1 Cor. 12.13. By one Spirit we are all bapti­zed into one body, and are all made to drink of one Spirit; where we have the Spirit joyned with Baptism, and with the Lords Supper also; for what else can be meant by drinking of one Spirit, but an allusion to the eating and drinking of the holy body and bloud of our Lord? where­of himself testifies, Joh. 6.55, 56. My flesh is meat indeed, and my bloud is drink indeed; Joh. 6.55. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, dwelleth in me, and I in him; that is, is make partaker of my Spirit, or of my gifts and graces: For in such a spiritual sense we must needs understand the words; except we admit them in the grosse, carnal, and corporal sense of the Romanists: Hence Christ is termed [Page 65]by the Apostle, a spiritual meat, and a spiritual drink, 1 Cor. 10.3.4. 1 Cor. 10. [...]. And they did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the same spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ: A spiritual meat and and spiritual drink Christ was to the Israelites of old, in those Sacramental Symbols of his presence with them, the Rock and the Manna, and the like, but in a more full measure, and clear manner he is to us, in those consecrated elements of his holy Supper, which being rightly administred, and right­ly received, are spiritual food indeed; for we eat and drink the very Spirit of Christ therewithal; that is, are made par­takers of his gifts and graces.

But how comes it to passe then, that these blessed means of grace, these conveyances of the Spirit are so often ineffectual? Many men do daily pray, often hear and read the Word of God, have been engraffed into the bo­dy of Christ by Baptism, and many times receive the blessed Eucharist, and yet little or no newes do they hear of the Spirit, very little stirrings of the heart, few good moti­ons do they feel within, they are never the better, nor a whit the more enricht, either with spiritual gifts, or gra­ces, for the use of these means: The cause whereof is the hardnesse of mans heart, which receives not the im­pressions of the Spirit; the corruption of mans nature, which quenches the sacred fires of Piety and Charity, be­fore they be well inkindled in the soul; the exorbitant and unruly lusts of the flesh, and of the world, which re­sist the good motions, lustings, and strivings of the Spirit of God. Intus existens prohibet alienum; when the fruits of the flesh have overgrown the soul, there's no room for the fruits of the Spirit to take rooting there: These two kindes of fruits cannot grow both in one heart, but the one will choak, overgrow, and destroy the o­ther.

To this outward means of grace then, and of the Spi­rit, the inward qualifications, the infitting of the soul to [Page 66]receive the impressions of the Spirit, must be added; Actus. aclivorum in patiente disposito; as the patient is disposed and fitted to be wrought upon, accordingly so is the power and efficacy of the Agent; so that according as the hearts of men are more or lesse perspirable and plyable to the im­pressions of the Spirit, accordingly so are his workings and in­spirations upon the heart.

The holy Spirit is compared in Scripture to water, Joh. 7.38 39. and as the water is of a diffusive nature, and knows no bounds but as 'tis limited by the channel or vessel that holds it; so the Spirit is in himself of a spreading quality, and is only straitned by the narrownesse of the hearts whereinto he flowes, 2 Cor. 6.12. as 2 Cor. 6.12. Ye are not straitned in us, that is, in our Ministry, we preach abundance of grace unto you; but you are straitned in your own bowels, through the hard­nesse of your hearts, being not capable of the graces of the Spirit.

And the heart is made soft and pliable for the impres­sions of the Spirit, by repentance and mortification: the good seed of Gods Spirit will not take root amongst the thornes of impiety: Jer. 4.4. therefore saith the Lord, Jer. 4.4. Break up the fallow ground of your hearts, and sow not amongst thornes, be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the fore­skin of your hearts, (that is) hardnesse of your hearts, Deut. 10.16. cald also the circumcision of the Spirit, Deut. 10.16. Col. 2.11. Act. 2.29. because it makes way for the Spirit; and Col. 2.11. A cir­cumcision made without hands: even the putting off the sinful body of the flesh, meaning the sinful crop of flesh­ly lusts, which infest and infect the soul, of these the soul must be disarayed and devested by repentance and mortifi­cation; Rom. 8.13, 14. Rom. 8.13, 14. If ye live after the flesh, &c. The coherence of which verses imply, before we can be led by the Spirit of God, we must mortifie the deeds of the flesh, the sordid rags of the old man must be put off before the soul can be clothed with the splendid garments of the Spi­rit of grace. In vain is it to pray unto God for any spiri­tual grace or mercy while we continue in our sins, for God [Page 67]heareth not sinners, Joh. 9.31. In vain to hear or read the Gospel of grace, Eph. 6.15. except our feet be shod with the prepa­ration of repentance, whereby we forsake our sins; There­fore before the Gospel it self was published, this was first proclaimed both by Christ and his forerunner, Repent, Mat. 3.2 & 4.17. 1 Cor. 11.28. for the kingdome of God is at hand: In vain to participate of those mysteries of our salvation, the body and bloud of our Lord, till first by self-examination we have cast out the venome of our sin­ful doings by repentance and stedfast purposes of amendment. In a word, Deus gratiam pollicius qui in extremi­ta [...]jbus temporum per spiritum suum uni­verso orbi illuminaturus esset, prae [...]re intinctionem poenitentiae jussl [...], ut quos per gratiam vocaret ad promissionem per poenitentiae subsignationem ante compoue­ret. Tert. de poen. c. 2. it is our sins unrepented that make void and ineffectual all the blessed means of Grace and of the Spirit; by those it is we quench the Spirit, we grieve the Spirit, 1 Thess. 5.19. Ephes. 4.30. we resist the Spirit, we provoke the Spirit, and poyson the blessed wa­ters of life; so that all the conveyances of the Spirit are barren and unfruitful whilest they reflect upon hardened and impenitent hearts. See therefore repentance enjoy­ned as to the receiving of the holy Ghost, Act. 2.38. & 8.19. And I would to God that all who pretend to the holy Spirit of God, or to any the fruits and graces of the Spirit, would first learn before they make their boast of the Spirit, truly to repent them of their sins, and to root out of the ground of their hearts all the fruits of the flesh, which are, adultery, fornication, uncleannesse, lasci­viousnesse, Gal. 5.19, 20, 21. idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murthers, drunken­nesse, revellings, &c. When these, all of these sinful fruits are extirpated out of the ground of the heart, there may be then some hopes, that our prayers and other divine acts and offices performed in the sincerity of our souls, may pre­vail with God for the direction and comfort of his Spirit of grace and truth.

God, which hast taught the hearts of thy faithfull peo­ple, by the sending to them the light of thy holy [Page 68]Spirit; grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judge­ment in all things, and evermore to rejoyce in his holy comfort, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end, Amen.

CHAP. I. Of divine Revelation from Adam unto Christ.

1. MAn being created after the Image of God, was undoubtedly at the first endued with such a per­fect knowledge of divine truth, as was necessary to the attainment of that felicity, whereunto God created him (viz.) the beatifical vision and fruition of his Creator for ever: For as Philosophers do affirm, If it were possible that the invisible and all spiritual God, could be represented under any visible or compounded shape, and being: His body then must needs be composed of Light, and his soul of Truth: So essential to the very being of God, is knowledge and truth: and so conse­quently, to the being of man after the image of God.

2. But this light of divine knowledge, was by mans diso­bedience too soon eclipst, and his soul involv'd in the dark­nesse of sinfulness, ignorance, and error: our first parents out of a sawcy ambitious affectation, to know what they ought not, engulft themselves, and all their posterity, into a na­tural blindness and ignorance of what they ought to know; so that ever since, hoc tantum scimus, quòd nihil scimus: the most knowing man, knowes best his own ignorance, and want of knowledge: For if any man think he knows any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know, 1 Cor. 8.2.

3. But since without the knowledge of God, and of his most holy will, that perfection of our being whereunto [Page 74]God hath created us, cannot be attained, Joh. 17.3. there­fore it pleased God to restore our first faln parents in some measure to the knowledge of himself, and of his will in the waies of his worship: and this he did either immediately by himself, or by the mediation of intervening Angels, by the voice from heaven convey'd upon the wings of the winde, for so we read Gen. 3.8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God, Junins in lec. walking in the garden in the cool, or in the winde of the day: winde conveying his voice into their ears, and thereby his into their hearts.

4. By vertue of this divine Revelation, or some others not recorded in holy Writ, Adam received from God both the knowledge of that religious service and obedience which God then required from man, and therewithall the honour of the Priesthood also: being as the first man, so the first Priest in the world.

5. For the proof of the first, those Lawes of divine wor­ship, which were given by God to Adam, and from Adam transferred to his Sons and posterity, though they be not clearly expressed in holy Scripture (because as the worship of God grew up with time to more perfection, so the less per­fect was the less regarded) yet in many places of holy Scri­pture these Lawes are, though but obscurely, intimated: and by the Jewes with one common consent they are reduc't to six heads.

• The first against false worship.
• The second, of the worship of the true God.
• The third, of the appointing of Magistrates, and administration of Justice.
• The fourth, against the discovery of nakedness, and setting bounds to the lusts of the flesh.
• The fift against homicide, and shedding of bloud.
• The sixt against theft, and of doing to others as we would be done unto our selves.

And to these commands, doth that edict of the Apostolical councel of Hierusalem relate, Act. 15.29. which being directed to such of the Gentiles as were converted to the faith of Christ, puts them in minde of those precepts, [Page 75]which were given to the first parents of mankinde.

6. For the second, the Priesthood of Adam, this is observed from Gen. 4.3, 4. Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord. Mount. Acts & Mon. c. 1. sect. 16. They brought their offerings] this was no wil-worship, no act of divine service derived out of their own brains, or by immediate revelation enjoyned, but by direction, and com­mand from Adam: who doubtlesse was so instructed by God: himself receiving by immediate revelation what his sons and posterity received mediately and ministerially from him. And they brought their offerings to the Lord] i.e. to be of­fered to the Lord by their father Adam, Beat. Pol. Jud. c. 2. who was as well their Priest, as their Parent, both their bodily and ghostly father: which is manifest from the examples of Noah, who offered sa­crifices, Gen. 8.20. not his sons: and of Abraham the like, Gen. 17.23. and of Job also, who sacrificed for his sons, Job 1.5.

7. From Adam the several Patriarchs in their respective families derived their right to the sacred function of Priest­hood, which for many ages was enstated in the first born, and heads of families: untill God was pleas'd to accept of the tribe of Levi, for all the first born of Israel, Numb. 3.41.

8. Thus then in the first age of the world, the knowledge of God in the waies of his worship, together with the office of Priesthood, was transmitted from Adam to his sons, and so from Patriarch to Patriarch in all generations: The several bodies of respective families being not by immediate revelation, but by the indoctrination and instruction of the heads of fami­lies taught the waies of Gods service, and their own salvati­on: nor do we read of any divine truths immediately revealed, or any divine lawes by immediate revelation prescribed from Adam to Noah which was the space of 1500 years. The Prophesie of Enoch remembred of S. Jude, being not of the nature of any new truths revealed, but a denuntiation of judgement to be inflicted.

In all this long tract of time, the world being drown'd in sinfulness and iniquity, it was revealed to Noah, that the earth should be drown'd by a floud also, and the sinfull pollutions thereof washed away by an universal deluge of waters, [Page 76]Gen. 6.12, 13. And God locked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth: And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.

10. 'Twas not all the people, 'twas not any we read of but Noah only, had this truth immediately revealed unto him: Jo­sephus indeed tels us, that the sons of Seth received by traditi­on from Adam, (not by immediate revelation) that the world should be twice destroyed, once by water, and once by fire: and therefore they erected two pillars, the one of wood, and the other of stone, Jos. Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 3. wherein they engraved the principles of those humane arts, and sciences invented by them, that the one might stand against the violence of the water, and the o­ther against the violence of the fire: And of this nature (it's most probable) was the prophesie of Enoch, Jude vers. 14, 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these, say­ing, Behold, the Lord cometh, [...], with his holy Myriads, not so properly rendred 10000 Saints, to execute judgement, &c.

11. But the time when the first of these universal destru­ctions should happen, Noah only had the honour to receive immediately from God: And for this end 'twas revealed to him, that by his mediation and ministery the people might have the knowledge of it, and be stir'd up by his preaching (not by im­mediate revelation) to repentance, and amendment of life; who is therefore call'd a preacher of righteousnesse, 2 Pet. 2.5. And thus say the Hebrew Doctors, Pirke R. [...]lie­zer, c. 22. he preached, saying, Turn you from your waies, and from your evill works, that the waters of the floud come not upon you and cut off the whole seed of the sons of Adam.

12. Unto Noah, after the floud was dryed up, the foresaid Lawes of holy living, given unto Adam were now renewed: adding thereunto a prohibition against eating of bloud, to deterre them from the sin of murther before prohibited, Gen. 9.4. But flesh with the life thereof, i.e. the bloud there­of, shalt thou not eat. And this with the six former commands are commonly cal'd and known by the name of the seven pre­cepts of Noah.

13. From Noah the Priesthood descended upon his son Shem, who was the first of all men that had God as 'twere entayled upon himself in a more special reserved sort of pe­culiar personal appropriation: For until the daies of Abra­ham, the great Lord of the world, and of all things therein, was peculiarly styled, the Lord God of Shem, Gen. 9.26.

14. Abraham the seventh from Noah, was the next person we read of that was honoured with immediate revelation; Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 8. who first by the way of Philosophy, saith Josephus, attain'd the knowledge of Divinity: by observing the motions of the hea­vens, the cause, nature, order of creatures, he aspir'd to the know­ledge of the Creator, but not so perfectly as afterwards he received it by revelation. Clem. Recogn. lib. 1. And thus the Author of the Recog­nitions records the words of St. Peter speaking of Abraham, whilest he seriously pondered in his minde, the causes of things, Christ the true Prophet, who only knowes the desires, and purposes of all hearts, appear'd unto him, opening unto him the things he desired, teaching him the knowledge of the Divinity, the begin­ning and end of the world, the immortality of the soul, the resur­rection of the dead, and the last judgement, with the rewards of the just, and the punishment of the wicked, and withall prescrib'd him such rules of holy living, whereby he might please God.

The authority of this revelation I shall not put to question, but thus much out of holy Writ we are assur'd, that God immediately revealed himself to Abraham, calling, and com­manding him out of the land of Chaldea, into the land of Canaan, promising to him, and his posterity this land as a type of Paradise, or celestial Canaan, entayling upon him, and his posterity the priviledges and peculiar interests of Gods peo­ple, [...], as Chrysost. God making himself who is common to all, to be Abrahams, and his feed, by pe­culiar interest and appropriation, I will be thy God, Gen. 17.7. and the God of thy seed after thee: and withall, revealing unto him, that out of his loyns should come the promised Messias, the de­sire of all nations, and blessed Saviour of the world, Gen. 22.18. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

16. These, and what other revelations soever Abraham re­ceived [Page 78] immediately from God, were upon this condition de­livered to him, that he should instruct his family, who not immediately by revelation, or inspiration from God, but by the mediation and ministerial instruction of Abraham, were to be taught the knowledge of God, and of his holy Lawes: upon this very ground God himself affirms himself to have revealed his will unto him: Gen. 18.17, &c. And God said, Shall I hide from Abraham the things that I do, &c. For I know him, that he will command his children and his houshold af­ter him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.

17. From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the knowledge of God was by tradition transmitted from Patriarch to Patriarch, and the Church or people of God, now confin'd to the seed of Israel, was by the several heads of their respective families instructed in the service of God, till turning away after the Idols of Egypt, God gave them up to a cruel bondage and sla­very under the tyranny of Pharaoh: In which great afflicti­on, when they besought the Lord, he sent redemption to his peo­ple by the hands of Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen, Psal. 105.25, 26.

18. Moses the seventh from Abraham, was selected, and immediately call'd by God, as to be the leader and deliverer of his people, so his Law-giver also, who receiving the minde of God by immediate revelation, made it known unto the peo­ple: The sum whereof was engraven in tables of stone, and commanded to be kept as the standing rule of Gods worship, and mans obedience to all posterity: and the people were herein so far from depending upon immediate revelation, that they petition'd to receive the minde of God by the mediati­on and ministry of Moses, Exod. 20.19. Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die.

19. The Law of God thus published and standing upon record, there was now lesse need of immediate revelation, then before: the people of God had now a more sure word of pro­phesie, then what formerly, 1. By revelation from heaven, 2. By tradition from Patriarch to Patriarch was delivered. To these sacred writings therefore they were commanded to have recourse: by them to be guided and directed, and not [Page 79]to swerve from what was contained therein, either to the right hand, or to the left, Josh. 1.7. To the Law, to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, 'tis because there is not light in them, Isa. 8.20. Where all pretence to new lights is cut off, and that pronounc't to be no true light, which is not grounded on the Lawes of God.

20. For the preservation of this law pure, and inviolate, a ministery or priesthood was ordained, and by Gods special command transferr'd from the first born of every Tribe upon the Tribe of Levi. To them belonged the interpretation of the Law, and the performance of all the sacred rites there­in contained, neither were the people either presumptuously to depend upon immediate revelation in respect of the one, or sacrilegiously entermeddle with any part of the sacordotal function in the other respect. But as to the first 'twas or­dain'd, that the Priests lips should keep knowledge, and they, i. e. the people, should seek the Law at his mouth, Mal. 2.7. And as to the second, that no stranger that is not of the house of Aaron come neer to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Corah and his company, Numb. 16.40.

21. But because there is nothing amongst men so well esta­blished, but through the Devils suggestion, and mans corrupti­on, 'tis liable to depravation and abuse: God was pleased the better to restrain both his Priests and people from the viola­tion of his written Law, to stir up in every age some choice and select persons whom he enabled more immediately, and extraordinarily, some to understand, and clear the Truth, and true meaning of his divine Law, when 'twas corrupted, or obscur'd by mis-interpretations, and false glosses: others to foretell, and pronounce both judgements to come upon the transgressors, and mercies upon such as observ'd and kept his commandements: whose inspired writings, both by way of History, and Prophesie, Doctrine, and Example, Praying, and Preaching, are as so many commentaries of the Divine Law, and compleat the Canon of the Old Testament, which is re­duc't by our Lord himself to these two general heads, the Law and the Prophets, Mat. 22.40.

22. Thus from Adam unto Christ, there is no pretence or colour for a people to depend upon immediate revelation; the will of God being made known to his people, generally and ordinarily by the mediation and ministery of man, and but seldome, and by a few choice persons, and upon extraordi­nary occasions, by immediate revelation: The truth whereof will further appear, and the weak grounds whereupon im­mediate revelation depends, will be discovered in the succeeding chapters.

CHAP. II. Of the several manners of extraordinary and more im­mediate Revelation.

1. GOD at sundry times, and in diverse manners spake in time past to our fathers, Heb. 1. The divers manners of Gods extraordinary revelation of himself to his people of old, are reducible to six heads.

1. By the ministery of Angels, who frequently appeared in humane shape, and revealed the minde of God to some of his choice extraordinary servants: as Gen. 32.1, 2. Zach. 1.9. Mat. 28.2.5. Act. 23.9. and many of those Texts, wherein 'tis said, the Lord appeared unto such and such, are to be un­derstood of the appearance of Angels: Ob honorem sc. mittentis, ut plena sit ejus authoritas, hoc dr. isti qui missus est, quod est illi qui misit, ut sae­pius factum est de Angelis. Clem. Rec. lib. 2. see for this Exod. 3.2. compar'd with Act. 7.30. where in one place 'tis said, the Lord appeared unto Moses: in the other, an Angel of the Lord: and Exod. 29.20. ch. compar'd with Act. 7.53. and Exod. 23.20, 21. Not that any Angel presumed to be called by the name of the Lord, or to be worshipped as God: but to adde the greater weight and authority to the message he brought from the Lord, the messenger was called by the name of the Lord that sent him.

2. By Dreams, as Numb. 12.6. Is there a Prophet among you? I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream: and Job. 33.24, &c. For God [Page 81]speaketh in a dream in the vision of the night, then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction: Quia anima clousis sensibus exterioribus ad recipiendam re­velationem ma­gis est apta, quia tunc non est per occupationem sensuum exteri­orum impedita. Lyr. in Mat. 1. And the reason here­of is, because when the outward senses are shut, the inward soul is more apt to receive the impression of divine revelati­on being no way then hindred by the working of the exte­rior senses upon outward sensible objects. Thus the Lord revealed himself to Jacob, Gen. 28.12. To Daniel, Chap. 7.1. To Joseph, Mat. 2.13, 19.

3. By external representations, and appearances when awake: as Jer. 1.11, 12, 13. Ezek. 1.4, &c. and this was accompa­nied sometime with the extasie, and entrancing of the per­son, who received such visions, as Dan. 10.8, 9. St. Paul was in an extasie when he was caught up into the third heaven, so that he knew not for that time, whether his soul was cloathed with humane flesh, or separated from it, 2 Cor. 12.2.

4. By internal inspiration of the holy Ghost, without any such extasie or abolition of sense: as Job, David, and many others were inspired, and yet we read not that they were extasied or entranced, as 2 Pet. 1.21. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost. There is an ordinary moving by the holy Ghost, for every good motion, every spark of celestial fire, whether for illumination, or sanctification, is from him. And there is an extraordinary motion of the Spirit, in the Prophets of the Old, and Apostles of the New Testament: [...]: they were acted or carried by the holy Ghost, and spake, as they were thus incited by God. And those under the New Testament were also ho­noured with this extraordinary manner of divine revelation▪ up­on whom [...] the holy Ghost fell, Act. 10.44. and they spake with tongues, and of whom 'tis said, by imposition of the Apo­stles hands, they received the holy Ghost, Act. 8.17.

5. By Ʋrim and Thummim, the one signifying light, and the other perfection: they were two ornaments in the High-priests breast-plate: but how, and after what manner they gave their answer, is diversly delivered. The learned Jewes say that the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve Patriarchs, with this addition: All these are the Tribes of Israel: In which names and words, all the letters of the Alphabet are [Page 82]contained: And by the prominency and shining of those let­ters, the answers were received, and communicated to the people.

6. By a voice from heaven, called by the Hebrews Bath-col: the daughter of a voice, or the production of thunder: and this was usually conveighed into the ears of the persons that heard it, upon the wings of the winde, as before is remembred, to Adam, Gen. 3.8. So also to Elias, 1 King. 19.11, 12. To Christ, Mat. 3.17. And his Apostles received the holy Ghost in a mighty rushing winde, Act. 2.

These were the divers waies of more immediate revelation of old, which were not ordinary, and common, but at sundry times, and upon special, and extraordinary occasions either upon some great work of Judgement or mercy from God to his people: or of repentance, and now obedience from the peo­ple unto God: All which waies of divine revelation are long since ceased in the Church of Christ; as being furnished with sufficient means of instruction in righteousness, and saving knowledge, without any such manners of extraordinary re­velation: for as the judicious Hocker observes: Since God him­self hath therefore revealed his will, Ece. polit. l. 1. sect. 14. because men could not other­wise have known so much as is necessary; his surceasing to speak unto the world since the publishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the delivery of the same in writing, is to us a manifest token that the way of salvation is now sufficiently opened, and that we need no other means for our full instruction, then God hath al­ready furnished us withal.

There are 3. Reasons amongst others, why God was plea­sed in such divers manners to reveal himself of old, but in these last daies to surcease the use of any such revelations.

1. Because the people of God had either, 1. No Scripture at all, as from Adam to Moses. Or, 2. The written Law only, as from Moses to Samuel. Or, 3. The Lawes and the Pro­phets only, as from Samuel to Christ: but we have both Law and Gospel; Prophets, and Apostles; the revelations of God both new and old, fully and sufficiently delivering the will of God unto us.

2. Gods people of old looked unto Christ for to come, and [Page 83]waited for that light which was yet to be revealed: but we be­lieve in Christ already come: and are made partakers of that true light, which displayed from Christ the Sun of righteous­ness does fully discover unto us, the waies of Gods service, and of our own salvation, so that it is as needless for us now to depend upon new revelations, or set up new lights, as to hold candles to the sun, when it shines in its fulness of splen­dour.

3. The Jewes being curious of knowing things to come, and withall prone to Idolatry, that therefore they might not have recourse to soothsayers, and sorcerers, nor run a who­ring after Idols, God frequently sent them Prophets extraor­dinary: and then they had most such Prophets sent▪ when they were most Idolatrous. But now all idol-temples are broken down, and their Oracles long since ceased: so that there is no such danger among Christians of other Idolatry or Image-worship, as that Idolatry which is too usual, and common; to worship the imaginations of their own hearts: whereunto those of all others are most prone, who most depend upon new re­velations.

CHAP. III. Of an extasie, natural and supernatural, and the diffe­rence between Divine Extasies of old, and Diabolical Entrancings, and Inspirations.

1. AS God is the fountain of Truth, which is derived unto us by revelation from him: so the Devil is the father of Falshood and lies, which deduce their original from his se­cret and subtil inspirations. And herein the Devil is Gods Ape, cunningly following the same waies of seduction, and deceit, observed by God for the conveyance of his saving Truth. So that where God has his Church, the Devil hath his Chappel, and where God has his true Prophets, the Devil hath his false Prophets also. And the several waies of Divine Revelation [Page 84]observed by the one, are imitated by the other, viz. by Dreams, and Visions, Extasies, and Entrancings. I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouthes of his Prophets, 1 King. 22.22. Thus the heavenly Doctrine and miracles of Christ are confronted by the devillish doctrines and lying: wonders of Auti­christ, 2 Thess. 2.9. And a departure from the true saith, there ever was and ever will be in the Church, whilest militant here upon earth, even by giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of Devils, 2 Tim. 4.1.

2. Nor does this evil spirit work his deceits, and inspire his damnable doctrines, but by Gods permission, 1 King. 22.22. and therefore the evil spirit is said to be from the Lord. Because, 1. He is licenc'd by the Lord. And because, 2. His actings upon, and by his seduced instruments, are like the actings of the Spirit of the Lord upon his servants: so we read, 1 Sam. 18.10. An evill spirit from the Lord came up­on Saul, and he prophesied, i: e. was entranced, and demean'd himself as did the Prophets of the Lord, when extraordina­rily mov'd with the Spirit of Truth.

3. Because therefore some persons amongst us, that pre­tend to immediate Revelation, have their trances and preten­ded extasies also in order hereunto: 'twill be pertinent here to add some notes of difference betwixt the extraordinary actings of the good Spirit, and those agitations, and turbu­lent motions of the evill spirit, that the one may be the better distinguisht from the other. But first 'twill be necessary to understand what an Extasie is, and the kindes thereof.

4. And rightly to understand the nature of an Extasie, we must remember, that man is of a middle nature betwixt Angels and Beasts, and this in respect of the two parts or regions of his soul, the superior and inferior. The first is cal'd the reasonable, and the second the sensitive soul. The first, man hath in common with the Angels of heaven, and the second with the Beasts of the earth: now these two being combined into one soul, there followes hereupon such a combination betwixt the faculties of each, that the working of the one without the other is preternatural, and cal'd an Extasie.

4. So that from hence doth necessarily flow two general kindes of Extasies: the one of the Reasonable soul, when that either works, or is wrought upon without the instrumental mediation of the senses: being for the time enwrapt, and se­parate from the use thereof. And the other of the Sensitive soul, when that either acts, or is wrought upon by sensible objects, without the guidance, or direction of reason. The first Extasie is above us, as we are men, for it renders us like to the Angels of heaven, which act not by any organs of sense. The second Extasie is below us, as we are reasonable men, for it renders us like unto the beasts that perish. And the grea­ter that either of these Extasies be, the harder it is for the soul to return to her self, or produce contrary operations to the Extasie wherein she is. Hence some holy, and Angelical souls, have been so enwrapt with divine and heavenly con­templations, that their outward senses have been for the time useless unto them, whilest they have not minded any earthly thing. And on the other side, some sensual and carnal per­sons, (which is the far greater number) are so taken up, and pleas'd with their sensual and worldly lusts, as if they had not an immortal soul to be cared for, nor were endued with rea­son to be the guide of their actions.

5. But withal we must know, that all the former kindes or all the Extasies of the Reasonable soul, are not holy, heaven­ly, and Angelical: but some are natural, and some super­natural.

1. By natural Extasies, I mean such as proceed from natu­ral causes. As,

1. The serious intention of the minde, which in some deep study or contemplation, whether the object be good or evil, true or false, may be abstracted for the time from its opera­tion by the external senses, upon outward sensible objects; which is no other but an ordinary natural Extasie.

2. The strange Relations of Angels, and Devils, visi­ons and revelations, together with the indoctrinations, strange demeanor, gastly looks, and other mystical waies of persons de­sirous to deceive, may produce in others not only belief in them, but a secret transportation besides themselves, and [Page 86]strong fancies of having the like visions, revelations, &c.

3. There are many bodily distempers, as Feavers, Epi­lepsies, Melancholy, Hypochondriacal, and Religious; the which as they are more or lesse violent, and intense, accordingly do make greater or lesse impressions in the brain, and fancy, and so produce either more ordinary, or extraordinary con­ceited visions, and fancied Revelations.

Too many of such Revelations as these, have in all ages, since divine Revelations are compleated, been made use of, by the subtilty of the Devil, and cunning craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; that they may be esteemed by the vulgar for inspired persons, and obtrude their distempered imaginations upon the credulous, for holy, and divine inspi­rations from above. The several kindes whereof have been observed by Dr. Casaubon in his late Treatise of Enthusiasm, wither I refer the Reader for further satisfaction herein.

2. Supernatural Extasies, are those only that are pertinent to our present discourse: meaning also by supernatural not those holy, divine, and ravishing contemplations, where­withall, all truly and fervently pious, and heavenly minded men are ordinarily extasied, and transported (which are al­so undoubtedly the influences of a supernatural power) but the extraordinary, and supernatural actings either of the ho­ly and good Spirit of God of old, or of the false and evill spirit in all ages: For both the Divine and Diabolical spirit, have not only their ordinary, but also their extraordinary workings, and entrancings of the mindes of men which distinguishes the persons so wrought upon, either into true or false Pro­phets.

6. And the differences betwixt the one, and the other will appear as in many other, so in these ensuing Parti­culars:

1. The Extasies of the Lords Prophets, though their senses were bound up, that the intellectual soul might more imme­diately receive the impression of those celestial truths, which were at such times revealed: yet their gestures, and demea­nor in such extasies, were notwithstanding, grave, sober, and modest. But the entrancings of false Prophets are accompa­nied [Page 87]with wilde, exotique, and uncivil gestures, being by the evil spirit (whose delight it is to torment and vex whom he inspires, and possesseth) haled, and tumbled, tanquam furiis perciti, as if they were prickt, provok'd, and spurr'd up by Furies, swelling, foming, frothing at the mouth, throwing themselves upon the ground, rending their flesh, tearing their hair, wallowing sometimes like drunkards in their vo­mit, and raving like men distracted, Vid. Chrys. in 1 Cor. 12. Hem. 29. as Chrysostome observes of the Pythonesse of Apollo: and is observable also of many Daemoniacks in the Gospel, as Luk. 9.39. A spirit taketh him, and he suddenly cryeth out, and it tearoth him that he fometh again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.

2. The Lords Prophets, when abstracted from the use of sense in their extasies, were so far from losing the use of their Rea­son and Ʋnderstanding, that the very end why they were de­prived of the use of their senses for the time, was, that their understanding being more intense, might more clearly, be­cause more immediately, receive the Truths revealed. But false Prophets, when entranced by the evil spirit, were depriv'd of their understanding as well as of their senses: so that of­tentimes themselves understood not their own Prophesies, and pretended Revelations, as Chrys. out of Plato alledges: Ibid. They say many things, and good, but they know not themselves what they say. And this is ordinary with most Enthusiasticks, confusedly to talk much of holy things, and to heap together Scripture phrases so much, without order, and right application to the clearing of any truth they would seem to affirm, that as they themselves know not well what they say, nor whereof they af­firm, so is it very unlikely, that any man else should rightly understand their meanings.

3. The Prophets of the Lord had never any motions from the good Spirit, but what tended unto good, and not to the least harm, either of themselves, or others. But such as were en­tranced by the evill spirit, had motions to do harm and mis­chief both to themselves, and to others also. As Saul would have killed David in his Prophet-like trances, 1 Sam. 18.11. And Prisca, and Maximilla, two heretical Prophetesses, and great pretenders to immediate revelation, hanged themselves [Page 88]in one of their counterfeit Rovelation Extasies: which will further appear in the 16. chapter of this Discourse.

4. All that was delivered unto, or uttered by the true Prophets of God, in any of their Extasies, were for the good and edi­fication of the Church, and people of God. But all the re­velations of false Prophets, are at the best unprofitable, use­less, and vain, if not destructive to the Truth. The lies, er­rors, and deceits; the blasphemies, and devilish doctrines, which these counterfet extasies and revelations have brought forth, are both manifold and notoriously manifest also. But that ever any saving truth either not known before, or nor under­stood, hath in these last daies, been by immediate revelation discovered, cannot I believe by the greatest Enthusiast of the Age be made to appear. Chrys. in Mat. c. 7. Hom. 19. S. Chrysost. gives us two rules whereby to know true Miracles, and consequently true Re­velations also from such as are false, and counterfeit. 1. If necessary as to the time, and occasion of them: 2. If use­full and profitable as to the issue, and fruits thereof; but if neither of these concur in a Miracle, or Revelation, they are false and illusive, and to be ascribed rather to the cunning of Satan, then to the power of God.

5. The Visions and Prophesyings of the Lords Prophets were at all times, and altogether true, having not the least mix­ture of error, or falshood therein: But those of the false Pro­phets, are sometimes true, and sometimes false, and sometimes neither true nor false, but of such a dubious nature, as to be seemingly true not only in several, but even in contrary senses, Et est evidentis judicii, &c. 'Tis evident enough, that those things are not from the true God, wherein there is the least mixture of falshood, or of a lye in any particular: Et in his qui mentiuntur, Iren. proem. ad­vers. Haer. saith Irenaeus, Even in lying vanities, and doctrines of Devils, there is ever some truths enter mix­ed, that under the covert thereof, the falshood and deceit may unperceivably pass, and be entertain'd.

Thus though the Diabolical spirit appear in the likeness of holy Samuel, and the Extasies, and entrancings of false Pro­phets, be like unto those of the Lords Prophets, yet 1. By their wilde exotique gestures and vexatious agitations: 2. By [Page 89]their loss of the use of their reason, and understanding for the time. 3. By their harmful motions, and mischievous in­citements. 4. By the uselesnesse, and unprofitableness of their revelations. And, 5. though they may speak much truth, yet by the least intermixture of falshood, and of a lie therewith, they may easily be distinguisht the one from the other.

But to leave these extraordinary means of divine Revelation, so long ceased in the Church of God, and not of late pre­tended unto, but by Impostors and seduced persons: which will appear yet further by considering in the next place, the ordinary means of divine Revelation before Christ, and their Schools of the Prophets.

CHAP. IV. Of the ordinary waies of Divine Revelation before Christ.

1. THE ordinary means, whereby God revealed and made known his will unto his people, were in the firster ages, the Tradition or delivery of divine Truths from Patriarch to Patriarch, together with the Catechetical instructions of the first born, and heads of families, in whom the several offices of King, Priest, and Prophet were pro tempore enstated.

These divine truths, were not at the first committed to writing, because the years of the first Patriarchs were so ma­ny, that their memories might well serve them in stead of books: Hook. eccl. pol. l. 1. ser. 13. the imperfections and defects whereof God merci­fully relieved, by often putting them in minde, of what was most necessary to be remembred by them. In which respect it is easie to observe, how many times one thing hath been iterated, even to sundry of the best, and wisest amongst them.

And thus it continued in the Church of God: which was governed and instructed by a traditionary, and unwritten Law from Adam to Moses.

2. When the lives of men upon earth were shortned. The written Law of God, as a surer and more durable means of divine Revelation, was commanded to be the Rule of their actions. But yet not so, as that 'twas permitted to each man to give his own sense, and make his own interpretation of this divine Law at will and pleasure; but 'twas to be ex­pounded to them by the consecrated Priests, and lawfully cal­led Prophets of God in all ages, Neh. 8.4, 5, &c. Mal. 1.7. Luk. 4.17. Act. 8.30.37.

3. And this way of revealing the will of God in the ex­position of his holy Lawes did differ much in the time of the first, and of the second Temple. For under the second Temple Prophesie by extraordinary Revelation generally ceased, and hereupon came in a multitude of other Exposi­tors, Scribes, and Pharisees, Wisemen, and Disputers, 1 Cor. 1.20. to all whom the people were commanded to give ear, and to seek the Law at their mouth, Mat. 23.2, 3. The Scribes and Pharisees (saith our Lord) sit in Moses chair, whatsoever they say unto you, observe and do it.

4. God ordinarily revealed himself as by his Word, and the interpretations thereof: so by his Works in several instances of his providence, and acts of his service commanded. E.G. The delivery of his people out of Aegypt was a revelation of Christs flight, and return thence; and of our deliverance by him from the bondage of spiritual Pharaoh, the Prince of darknesse, and from that worse then Egyptian darkness of sin, Mat. 1.15. and ignorance here, and blackness of darkness for ever hereafter.

Gods command to Abraham, to offer up his only Son Isaac, Gen. 22. was a Revelation of his gracious purpose, to offer his only son a sacrifice for the sins of the world, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed.

The erection of the brazen Serpent in the wilderness, Joh 3.19. was a Revelation of the son of mans elevation on the Crosse.

The Passeover, or eating of the Paschal Lamb, a Revelation of Christ our Passeover, 1 Cor. 9.7. that Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the word.

The very place where Adam was created, being the same [Page 91]where Cain and Abel sacrificed, Gen. 4. where Noah built an Altar, Gen. 8.20. And where Abraham did the like, Gen. 22.9. Where David also built an Altar, 1 Chron. 21.22. And where Solomon built a Temple unto the Lord, 2 Chron. 3.1. was a typical Revelation of Christ to be sacrificed in the same place for our Reconciliation with God; Maym. in Misa. book 8. Treat. of the Temp. which some of the Jewish Rabbies themselves, (saith Maym) have obser­ved: saying, Our wise men have say, that Adam was created out of the place of his atonement. The raising up of Jonah from the dead, who is conceived by some of the Ancients to be the widows son of Zarephath who was raised by Elijah, 1 King. 17. Mat. 12.40. And the swallowing of the same Jonah by the Whale, with his deliverance out of the belly of that fish af­ter three daies and three nights; was a praesignification of Christs Christs Resurrection for us on the third day. Heb. 9.9, 10, &c. All the sacrifices for sin under the Law, were as so many ocular Rovelations of great sacrifice of Gods Son offered up on the Altar of the Crosse. And so their difference of meats, and drinks, and divers washings; their new Moons, and Sabbaths were shadows of things to come, the body whereof is Christ, Col. 2.16, 17. All these were as so many mystical Revelations or shadowes of Christ the Son of righteousness, as so many prae­signations of Christ, who is the truth, and in whom all these several waies of divine Revelation both ordinary, and extra­ordinary were compleated.

CHAP. V. Of their Schooles of the Prophets.

1. FOR the better ensitting of persons both in an ordi­nary way to interpret the Law of God: as also to be capable of extraordinary, and immediate Revelations upon ex­traordinary occasions; as also for the propagation of lear­ning, and encrease of wisdome in order hereunto: there were divers Colledges, and Schooles of the Prophets in several [Page 92]places of the land of Israel, the portion of Gods inheritance erected.

And although it be not positively in holy writ affirmed, that in such or such a place, there was a Colledge or School, where the gift of Prophesie was studied for (which is the ob­jection of the present pretenders to immediate Revelation) yet is it clearly enough implied in many places, and by the currant of all interpreters of holy Scriptures; by many Cho­rographers, and other learned persons, who have described unto us the customs and manners of the Hebrewes, and this from the Hebrew Doctors themselves, who best knew the state of their own Common-wealth, 'tis sufficiently, and fully evidenced unto us.

To instance in some places, and passages of holy Scripture, from whence both the being, and some orders also of these Colledges are observed.

We read Josh. 15.15. of the city of Kiriath-sepher, which being interpreted is civitas literarum, the City of Learning: for here saith Adrichomius there was an Academy.

And in Judg. 7.1. of the hill Moreh, which is by inter­pretation the hill of the Teacher, receiving its denomina­tion from the School there erected.

In 1 Sam. 10.5.10. we read of the hill of God, so call'd from the Prophets of the Lord who had there their Schoole, and the company of Prophets here mentioned, as also 1 Sam. 19.20. were Students in those waies of learning which ensitted them for the gift of Prophesie: Studiosorum o­peram Prophe­tiae dantium, Junius in loc. And that these Prophets pro­phesied not by immediate Revelation (as our present Enthu­siasts affirm) is manifest, in that Samuel, saith the Text, was standing as appointed over them. Had they been immediately taught by God, why was Samuel appointed to be their guide and Teacher? And whereas 'tis further said, The Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also Prophesied: Prophetabant. i.e. prophetico more agebant, Jun. The meaning is no other, but that God by his holy Spirit, so changed their mindes that they did not now so much think of apprehending David, (who was fled to this colledge as to a Sanctuary, and place of refuge) as to hear and discourse with the Prophets of the Lord; and accordingly they put [Page 93]off their military habit, and behaved themselves after the manner of the Prophets, quite forgetting to seise upon Da­vid, which was the errand they came about. And thus Saul himself is said to prophesie as well as his messengers, vers. 24.

The sens of the Prophets mentioned to be at Bethel, 2 King. 2.3. and at Jericho, vers. 5. at Naioth, and many other places do appear to be no other but students of several Col­ledges in such several places. Huldah the Prophetesse is said to dwell in a Colledge in Hierusalem, 2 King. 22.14. And in this city alone there were no lesse then 200 Colledges and Schooles. The Master and the Scholar mentioned Mal. 2.12. And the Schoole of one Tyrannus, Act. 19.9. with several more particular intimations are evident testimonies of these Schooles.

We read Psal. 84.7. They go from strength to strength: Chald. paraph. in­terpreted by the Hebrews themselves, who best knew their own customes, to be a kinde of promotion or degree, in removing from their Sanctuary to their School: For in their Sanctuary and Synagogues, points of Divinity were more plainly delivered, their teachings there being ad populum: But in their Schools deep points were handled, and more ex­actly, and profoundly discussed, their teachings there being ad clerum: So that 'twas a degree to be removed from the Teaching of the Sanctuary to that of the Schoole.

There were three Degrees in these Schooles. 1. Scholars, Disciples, or Juniors. 2. Proficients, who were by imposition of hands made Graduates, and thereby companions to the Rabbi: which ceremony of imposing hands they used in imitation of Moses to Joshua, Numb. 27.18. 3. Rabbies such as were worthy to teach others. The name Rabbi being derived from the Heb. [...] Multiplicatus fuit: Goodw. antiq. upon the title Rabbi. such a one whom the Greeks style [...], A Master or Doctor eminently gifted with variety of knowledge.

The Scholars sate upon the ground at the feet of their Teachers: St. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, Act. 22.3. Mary sate at Jesus feet, and heard his word, Luk. 10.39. The Graduates, or companions sate upon benches, [Page 94]somewhat higher: And the Rabbies in elevated reserved chaires, which are those chief seats in the Synagogues, the Scribes, and Pharisees so much affected, Mat. 23.6.

The chief Prophets, or Heads of these Colledges, were not only termed Rabbies, or Masters, but also Fathers: and the Scholars or Students the Sons, and children of the Prophets, whereunto that saying of our Lord alludes: Wisdome is justified of her children, Mat. 11.19. Elisha cryed to Elijah, My Father, My Father, 2 King 2.12. The Targum upon the place reads Rabbi, Rabbi, my Master, my Master, or my teaching Father: which by the wise man, are styl'd the Ma­sters of the Assemblies, Eccl. 12.11.

CHAP. VI. Of being called Master.

1. GReat was the pride and ambition of the Teachers of Israel in the daies of our Saviour, both in affecting of the chief Seats, or Doctors Chair in their Synagogues, and Schools, and also the title of Rabbi, Master or Father: which was the cause of those sharp reproofs, Mat. 23.6. &c. They love the uppermost rooms at Feasts, and the chief seats in the Sy­nagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi: whereupon he infers these prohibitions, vers. 8, &c. But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ; and call no man Father upon earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven; and be not ye called Masters, for one is your Master, even Christ.

2. The true meaning of which prohibitions is worthy ex­amination, because some weak and unlearned persons falsly conclude from hence, that 'tis unlawful to be called Master, or to mount the pulpit to preach, which they call the upper­most room in the Synagogue.

And the first for the proof of the negative, That 'tis not unlawful, nor a transgression of Christs command in this [Page 95]place, to be called Master, doth appear, 1. Because then 'twere unlawfull also to call any man Father, for both titles are here prohibited upon the same ground. 2. These titles are used by the holy Ghost. in other places of Scripture, both bodily Fathers, Eph. 6.2.4. And ghostly Fathers▪ also, or the fathers of our souls, 1 Cor. 4.15. 2 Cor. 12.14. Both civil Masters, Eph. 6.5 and Ecclesiastical Masters, Eccl. 12.11. The Disciples of John styled him Rabbi or Master, Joh. 3.16. and so they styl'd Christ, Joh. 1.38. And 3. 'Tis not a fault either to affect the wisdome and learning of a Rabbi, or Master in Israel. Nor, 2. is it a fault being en­dued with wisdome and abilities of knowledge to be apt and desirous to teach others. Neither, 3. is it lawfull for this end, to mount the pulpit or highest place in the Church for the more convenience of being heard. Nor 4. is it a fault to assume the title of Master or Doctor, for the gaining of the greater credit and authority to the doctrine delivered: If we go no further then this, both the uppermost seat in the Synagogue, or the Pulpit; and the title or Master also, are not only lawful, Si desid [...]retur nomen & authoritas ma­gisterii ad hoc, quòd scientia jam habitâ aliquis melius possit uti, non est ma­lum, sed bonum: qua bonu [...] Doctor de­b [...]t quae [...]er [...] illa quae faciunt ad effi­caciam doctrinae sus. Gloss. ord. in loc. but in these respects desirable: Because 1. Every good, and profitable Teacher, ought to desire, and seek those things which help to make his doctrine effectu­all and taking. 2. Every Minister of Christ is properly called Master, Magistri: ex consortio veri magist [...]i, tanquam nuntii ejus & pro reverentia ejus à quo mittuntur, honorantur, Lyr. in loc. ex consortio veri magistri, &c. as the un­der-master, or usher unto Christ, and as he is Christs messenger, and accordingly to be reverenc'd, and respected, out of that reverence and respect we owe to that great Master and Doctor of his Church, whose minister and messenger he is. Desiderare scien­tiam vel actum docendi non est malum, sed desid [...]rare no­mmem hoc [...]st malum, & p [...]c­catum superbiae, Ibid.

But then in the second place as to the affirmative, these commands of Christ are transgressed three waies.

1. When out of pride and ambition, the place and title of Master, or Teacher is affected: They love, saith the text, to be called of men Rabbi: where not the title, but the love, or ambitious affection of it is reprov'd: to affect the name [Page 96]more then the thing; the place, more then the charge; the title, more then the duty of a Master or Teacher: is one way, whereby all these divine prohibitions are trans­gressed.

2. To give up our faith, and obedience to the sole will, and command of any Rabbi or humane Doctor whatsoever, any further then the word and doctrine of God the Father doth warrant, and direct us, is a breach of this particular prohibition, Call no man Father upon earth, for one is your Fa­ther which is in heaven

3. Now that the Messias was exhibited, to look upon any other save Christ alone, as the great Prophet of the Lord and Doctor of his Church, is a transgression of both these particular commands: Be n [...]t ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ. Neither be ye called Master, for one is your Master, even Christ▪ All Masters of Scholars, were now become learners of Christ; And the Apostles themselves to whom these commands were directed, though under Christ they were the greatest Masters or Teachers of all the world, neverthelesse were the Disciples, or Scholars of Christ, and in this respect not to be called Masters, i. e. not chiefly, primarily, and principally, but secondarily, and instrumental­ly only.

CHAP. VII. That all Revelation is compleated in Christ and his Apostles.

1. WHen amongst the Jewes, their latter Prophets Haggai, Zachary, and Malachy were dead, The ho­ly Ghost went up, say the Hebrew Doctors, and departed from Israel, i. e. All extraordinary waies of divine Revelation had an end, save only the voice from heaven. And this was a prologue, or praesignification of the coming of the true voice from heaven, or rather of the eternal Word himself, in whom [Page 97]all immediate Revelations, and voices from heaven were to cease, as having in him, their perfection and accomplishment.

2. All the Law, and the Prophets prophesied untill John, Mat. 11.13. i. e. The Law, and the Prophets spake of Christ to come. The Law in types, and sigures, the Prophets in predicti­ons, and promises. And this was all the light the Church en­joyed until John came: and he more clearly pointed out the Messias already come in the flesh, saying, This is he, Joh. 1.15. and behold the Lamb of God, vers. 29. The types and figurative services of the Law, were as so many dumb shews, and the predictions of the Prophets as so many inarticulate sounds of the word Christ. But John was vox verbi the very voice of the Word: that's his style, Mat. 3.3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. The Law, and the Prophets, were as dim glimmering tapers; but John was a burning, and a shining light, Joh. 5.35. And this because he was nearest unto Christ the Sun of righ­teousness, and fountain of all divine illuminations, from whom all the Prophets derive their light, as the Moon and the Stars do from the body of the Sun, which is the fountain of light material.

3. And as the light of the Moon, and of the Stars, gives way to the light of the Sun, when it arises: Moyses & Eli­as significam le­gis, & prophe­tarum oracula in Domino com­pl [...]ta. Gloss. ord. so the light of the Law, and of the Prophets gave way unto Christ, when he who is the Light of the world appeared: we read therefore that in the transfiguration of Christ upon the mount, Moses and Elias appeared to him, Mat. 17.3. Moses for the Law, and Elias for the Prophets, acknowledging their Oracles to be com­pleated in Christ, which was ratified by a voice from hea­ven, vers. 5. This is my beloved Son, hear him.

4. Not that the Law and the Prophets are by or in Christ abolished, but compleated, and perfected rather: Christ is the end of the Law, Rom. 10.4. but 'tis finis proficiens, non interficiens, saith the Father, not the end to abolish, but to finish and per­fect the Law, & sic perficiendo confirmare, Aug. and so by com­pleating the Law, to establish it as a standing Rule of righte­ousness to all posterity. To think therefore that Christ hath made void the Law is a great sin, Christ himself having for­bidden us to harbour any such thought, or erroneous opi­nion [Page 98]of him, Mat. 5 17. Mat. 5.17. Think not that I came to destroy the Law, or the Prophets, I came not to destroy, but to fulfil, the word is [...], to fill up: and signifies not only Christs personal perfect obedience to the Law: but also the filling up, with his clear, and full light of Revelation, what was wan­ting, or but obscurely revealed by the Law, and the Pro­phets.

5. Nor is it here unworthy observation, that as that ma­terial light, which is displayed from the body of the Sun ariseth by degrees, and shineth more and more unto the perfect day: For 1. the day breaks, wherein there is more night then day; 2. The day dawns, when 'tis not yet fully nor clearly day; 3. The light is diffused through the air, and the beams are spread upon the mountains, but yet the Sun is under the Horizon; 4. The Sun appears upon the earth, and rises by degrees till it mount up to the vertical point: even so hath the light of divine Truth been revealed from hea­ven to the Church of God: 1. 'Twas but a dark, obscure, and glimmering light in the first period of time from Adam to Moses; 2. 'Twas more lightsome, but yet not clear, and full upon the promulgation of the Law. 3. It increa­sed still upon the rising of the Prophets, as so many Lumi­naries in the Church: by whom line after line, and precept af­ter precept, as so many beams of the increasing light of di­vine Revelation were displayed; till 4. The day of the Lord came, and the Sun of righteousnesse appeared upon the earth. So that as time grew up, so did the Revelation of Gods will, and when Fulness of Time was come, we received a fulness of divine revelation, from him in whom all fulness dwels, Col. 1.19. When fulness of time was come, God sent his Son, Gal. 4.4.

6. So that notwithstanding all the several waies, and manners of divine Revelation both mediate, and immediate be­fore remembred: yet the word comparatively was still as 'twere benighted with ignorance, untill Christ appeared to give light to them that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace, Luk. 1.79. Hence Christ is termed the morning Star, Numb. 24.17. and the [Page 99]day-spring from on high, Luk. 1.78. And the light of his Re­velations, the dawning of the day: and the illumination of our souls therewith, the rising of the Day-star in our hearts, 2 Pet. 1.20.

7. The great difference betwixt the light of divine Reve­lation by the Law, and the Prophets in the Old Testament, and by the Gospel of Christ in the New Testament, is in four re­spects observable from Heb. 1.1. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to our fathers: hath in these last daies spoken unto us by his Son.

1. God revealed himself to the Patriarchs, and prophets of old, at sundry times: the word is [...], i. e. in sundry parts, now a piece, and then a piece of divine Truth, as seemed best to his divine wisdome: But to us under the Go­spel, he hath revealed himself entirely, fully, and wholly by his Son: For it pleased God that in him should all fulness dwell: Col. 1.19. Joh. 1.16. and of his fulness we all receive: in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge, Col. 2.3.

2, God spake to them of old in divers manners: By Dreams, Visions, Angels, Voices, &c. but to us under the Gospel uni­formly, and without variation, by Christ, and his Ministers, which is one respect amongst others, why the Priesthood of Christ is said to be unchangeable, and eternal: and this mani­fests the imperfection of their light of old, and the perfection of ours now: as there are variety of lights for the night, and these lights also are changeable in their courses: but one Sun only for the light of the day, which is the light too that changeth not.

3. God spake to them of old by his Prophets, who were but meer men: but to us, by his Son, who is God as well as man. And herein is that Prophesie accomplished, Isa. 54.13. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord: A text which is too much abused, and wrested to patronize new Revelations, and an immediate teaching from God, without the ministery of man: whereas the Prophesie was fulfilled in the person of Christ, and by Christ himself 'tis applyed to himself, Joh. 6.45. So that we are all taught of God, in that we [Page 100]have the Doctrine or Teaching of Christ, who is God: whose Doctrine is therefore termed a Gospel, i. e. The Speech of God.

4. God spake to our Fathers [...], of old; which implies some new way of speaking to follow: But to us [...], in these last daies, Gal [...]i. in Heb. 1.1. to denote that this is his last way of speaking by his Son: that we must not now ex­pect any new lights or depend upon any new Revelations af­ter this: So Calvin upon the words: Hereby expresly de­claring that God would not now adde Prophesies to Prophesies, and Revelation to Revelation, but that all parts of divine Tea­ching were so compleated in the Son of God, that this should be the last, and unchangeable testimony we should receive from God: whose heavenly Doctrine delivered unto us is therefore termed [...] an eternal Gospel, Rev. 14.6.

8. It were an opinion very much unworthy the Wis­dome, Power, and Goodness of the great God of heaven, that he should send his only begotten Son into the world to re­veal, and make known his will unto his people, himself ex­pressing this to be the last time of his sending also: But last of all he sent his Son, Mat. 21.37. And yet that his Revelation of himself should be still defective, and incomplete. Where­fore is Christ term'd the Light of the world, Quia imp [...]ssibile erat D [...]um si [...]e Deo discere; [...]deo per v [...]um suum d [...]l ho­min [...]s s [...]ire Deum. Iren. l. 4. c. 10. Joh. 1. 1. Cor. 1.24. Joh. 14▪6. Joh. 1.5. and the sun of Righteousness, Mal. 4.2. The storehouse of wisdome and knowledge, Col. 1.19. The only mean of discovering unto us the knowledge of God, without whom it is impossible to know God: For no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father, he hath declared him, Joh. 1.18. Wherefore is he termed the Word of God, and the Wisdome of the Father, the Way, the Truth and the Life: but by these and many more expressions besides these, to signifie unto us, that the knowledge of God, and of his holy will is so fully by Christ revealed, that here we must now six, and not expect any further Re­velations or new Lights to be discovered? He looks be­yond the Moon, that looks for Revelations beyond Christ, and what already stands upon record to be revealed by him. [Page 101] There is no need to be curious after knowledge, N [...]bis [...]uri [...]sitate opus [...]n est p [...]st Christ [...] Jesum, nec in­qu [...]sitione p [...]st [...]angeli [...]n: Cum [...]d [...], nil desider amus ult [...]a [...]de [...]. Hee n. prius [...]dmus non esse quod ul [...]ra [...]redere de [...]a­mus. Tert. de prae. advers. Haer. c. 8. since the Reve­lation of Jesus Christ, saith Tertul. nor is there need of fur­ther search after Truth, since we have found the Gospel: where we beleeve in Christ, we desire not to beleeve any thing beyond this belief, for this we believe first of Christ, and his Gospel, that be­yond this there is nothing ought to be believed.

9. The Apostles of Christ had the honour after him to receive by immediate Revelation, not any new Gospel, but the right understanding, firm remembrance, and powerful publicati­on of the Gospel of Christ. All whose epistles and writings, are as so many Commentaries and illustrations of the Gospel, as the Prophets of old were of the Law: And as Moses and the Prophets compleat the old, so Christ, and his Apostles com­pleat the canon of the new Testament: which was ever re­ceived in all ages by the Church of Christ, Qu [...]d prople [...]ae praec [...]az [...]ve­ [...]unt, p [...]rs [...]a. Christus, Apo­stoli tradiderūn: a quibus [...]eel [...] ­sia accipiens per universu [...] mundum sela bene cust [...]d [...] as tradidit filiis, Iren. l. 5. ad­vers. Haer. as the Rule of Faith, and summary of divine Revelation. So Irenaeus, What the Prophets foretold, Christ hath perfected, and his Apostles have delivered, from whom the Church through the whole world dispersed receiving the same, hath delivered it to her sons, the true Members of the Church Catholick, all which must undoubted­ly believe and professe with the rest of the family: we are built upon the foundation of the Prophets, and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone, Eph. 2.20.

And here it cannot be either impertinent, or unprofitable to observe in what respects sometimes Christ, and sometimes his Apostles are said to be the foundation we are built upon.

1. Christ is called the Foundation, 1 Cor. 3.11. Primari­ly as he is the fountain of all Revealed Truths, originally they flow from him, for no man hath seen the Father but the Son, Joh. 1.18. and he to whom the Son hath revealed him.

The prophets and Apostles are the soundation too Secon­darily, from, and under Christ, as his Stewards, 1 Cor. 4.1. Ambassadors, 2 Cor. 5.20. Workmen together with, but under Christ, 2 Cor. 6.1.

2. Christ is the Foundation as upon whose doctrine, and ex­ample, life and death the faith of the whole Church is set­led, and their salvation fixed: for there is no other name under heaven in whom there is salvation but the name of Jesus, Act. 4.12.

The Prophets and Apostles are the foundation ministerially as they are the Administrators of this faith, and salvation which is in Christ, the Prophets more obscurely, the Apostles more clearly delivering it unto us: Christ is as 'twere the ac­ceptable year of the Lord, Clem. Rec. l. 4. having his twelve Apostles as the twelve moneths, which compleat and fill up the year: Christ is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all divine Re­velation: the end of the Law, the beginning of the Gospel, the Supplement of the Prophets, and the whole Tenor of the Apo­stles preaching: even the corner stone in whom both Law and Gospel, Prophets and Apostles meet, or the centre in whom they are conjoyned.

And in this center we must fix our faith, having found Christ, as by his Prophets and Apostles he hath revealed him­self unto us, Joh. 14.6. we must seek no further; He is the way, the truth, and the life: Let us not seek any new waies or new Truths, lest being misled by the Spirit of Error, we wander in the by-waies of death and ruine: Tert. de virg. v [...]land. The canon, or Rule of our faith, saith Tertullian, is one alone, immovable, and not possible to be better framed anew: And what Rule this is, he sheweth by rehearsing the Articles of the Christian Faith: and Ire­naeus before his time: Pren. advers. Haeres. l. 1, 2. & 3. The Church though scattered through the whole world unto the uttermost borders of the earth, hath re­ceived from the Apostles, and their Disciples what to believe. The parts of which belief he also writeth, the same in substance with Tertullian, and thereupon infers, This Faith, the Church spread far and wide, preserveth as if one house did contain them, Similiter n. fi­des nostra Re­velationi Apo­stolis & Pro­phetis factae qui canenicos libros scripserunt, non a. revelationi, si qua suit, alits doctoribus factae. Aquin. 1 p. sum. q. 2. Art. 8. ad s [...] ­cund. These things it equally embraceth, as though it had one common soul, one heart, and no more: It publisheth, teacheth, and delivereth these things with uniform consent, as if God had given it but one only tongue, where­with to speak. He which amongst the Guides of the Church is best able to speak uttereth no more then this, and lesse then this the most simple doth not utter, i.e. when they make profession of their Faith.

And to conclude this second General, Our Faith, saith the Schoolman, depends and is grounded upon that divine Revela­tion, which those Prophets and Apostles received, which wrote [Page 103]the canonical books of holy Scripture, and not upon any other Re­velation (if ever there were any such) received by any other lear­ned, or holy persons whatsoever. Non n. novis Revelationibus, nunc regitur, &c. The Chuch is not now guided by any Reve­lations, but persists and perseveres in those things which the Prophets and Apostles have revealed, and delivered unto us, who were the Ministers of the word revealed.

CHAP. VIII. Of the necessity of learning as to the understanding of Gods revealed will in his word.

AS God hath graciously pleas'd in his holy Word to reveal himself unto us, The 2. Gene­ral. Deut. 17.19. 1 Tim. 4.13. Rev. 1.3. 2 Tim. 2.15. 1 Tim. 5.17. so he hath commanded us to read, study, and labour in this word, that the light of divine Revelation therein, may shine into our hearts and guide us in the sacred paths of life eternal.

But as unto every thing of price, and value there is art and skill required rightly to make use thereof: and also there are means and instruments fitted for the acquiring of this skill, so rightly to use this precious jewel of Gods holy Word for the illumination of our souls, there is much art and skill re­quired: and this skill must be attained in the use of all those instruments, and helps which God hath for this end gra­ciously afforded unto us: it being most agreeable to the wis­dome and goodnesse of God, to work upon humane under­standing by humane means and helps, And according as we are more or lesse industrious in the use of these means, God imparts a more or lesse treasure of understanding unto us.

Not as if the holy Spirit of God could not without means communicate his gifts of wisdome, and open our understanding to understand the Scriptures: Luk 24.45. But that ordinarily he doth not do this, but commands us not lazily to sit still, Prov. 2.4. and wait upon his immediate Revelations, but to seck for knowledge, and search for wisdome as for hid treasures: and how shall we seek for it, but [Page 104]in the use of those means, he hath sitted for this search? And these means are either outward or inward. The outward and humane helps are the knowledge and understanding of tongues, and sciences. The inward or divine means, are the purity, and holiness, of the hearts and life.

The first are necessary, as to the formale externum, to un­derstand the outward letter of the word in its proper and ge­nuine sense.

The second as to the formale internum, rightly to apply the word, according to the minde of the holy Spirit therein: And experimentally to feel those sacred truths accomplished in our selves.

As to the former whereupon this controversie depends, the knowledge of tongues and languages, arts and sciences; here­withall the holy Scripture doth presuppose those men to be fur­nished, that will dive into the secret and hidden mysteries therein contained; for all kindes of knowledge have their cer­tain bounds and limits, and each of them presupposes many necessary things, learned in other sciences, before we can know the secrets of this; as the Art of Rhetorick presupposeth the understanding of words: as the cabinet must be first opened be­fore the jewel therein can be found out.

There is a threefold knowledge of things, natural, moral, and divine. By the first we are guided to live as men. By the second, as reasonable men, and members of a civil society. By the third, as Christian men, and parts of Christs body the Church. And each of these presupposes the other, as moral wisdome presupposes that which is natural, and divine wis­dome presupposes both: to this end God hath endued us not only, 1. With sense to know the things that concern our present life and being; [...], Phil. de. Mos. And 2. with reason to know what con­cerns our well being, in the peace, contentment, and happi­ness of the soul. But 3. He hath added also the heavenly revelations of his holy Word, whereby what sense and reason could never sinde out, as conducible to eternal happiness, is made known unto us: And as reason doth imply, and presup­pose a man to be endued with sense; so Religion and divine [Page 105]Revelation presupposes as to endued with sense and reason.

2. Divinity, which is the body of divine Revolation, is the Art of arts, and comprehends with it what ever other Arts do teach. And the holy Scriptures, the contents whereof are the precepts of this Art, both contains all kindes of knowledge und relates to all sorts of truth both natural. Eph. 5.20. Civil, Rom. 13.4. Historical, 2 Tim. 3.8. Forein, Tit. 1.12. And consequently to the understanding thereof, the knowledge of such Truths are necessarily subservient to the supernatural, and divine assistance.

Humane Arts are the Handmaids of Religion, which they serve and wait upon as their Queen and Soveraign. And as great Fersons are not approached unto, without the mediati­on of servants: and great Houses have their through-fare be­fore you come to rooms of state: and great Cities have their suburbs, before you come to the high streets; So the great and sacred body of Divinity is not approached unto ordinarily [...] she sits in the height and perfection of understanding, but by the mediation of her Handmaids, or through the several passages of Tongues, and Sciences.

3. Though many things in holy Scripture be plain and ea­sie to be understood, without the help of much learning or art, yet there are also many things obscure, dark, and mysteri­ous, which too many men for want of learning and sobriety do misconster, pervert, and abuse to their own ruine, which is expresly affirmed both of St. Pauls Epistles, and of other Scriptures also, 2 Pet 3.16. As also in all his Epistles speak­ing in them of those things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own de­struction. In which (meaning St. Pauls Epistles) are some­things hard. Non temere a Spiritu Sto. Scripturas esse tectas, sed eb id me [...]imè ne v [...] ­leseam: & exerceant u [...] pascant, Aug. And the holy Ghost hath therefore left Gods word in many places veil'd and obscure: saith St. August, 1. No­vileseat, that we might not undervalue it. 2. Ʋt exerceat, to keep us in the exercise of prayers and meditations, studies and labours; for all kinde of knowledge, the more hardly it is at­tained, the more we esteem it, and the more also it doth feed [Page 106]and nourish the soul, as making a deeper impression therein.

4. Such is the height, and sublime perfection of those holy mysteries in sacred Scripture contained, that vulgar and lear­ned men have need of an interpreter, as Act. 8.31. Learned Guides therefore God hath in all ages raised up, both Priests and Prophets under the Law, and under the Gospel, whom he hath appointed the treasurers of knowledge, and unlearning, in the sound and sincere Expasition of holy Scripture, and in­struction of his people.

5. The necessity and honour of humane learning as to the re­ception and right understanding of divine Revelations doth ap­pear from the antiquity: for those first Patriarchs of the world, who honoured with immediat Revelation, and invested with the sacred office of the Priesthood, were all of them learned men, either so found or so made by the God of wisdome and know­ledge when he spake unto them.

Adam as the first man, so the first to whom God revealed himself, and first Priest or Prophet of the Lord, was not a [...]o­vice in Philosophy, nor ignorant of any part of what we call hu­mane learning: he knew undoubtedly the nature, properties, ver­tues, effects, and workings of all creatures: and therefore God permitted him to give them names according to their natures, Gen. 2.19.20. And out of the ground the Lord God formed eve­ry beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof: and Adam gave names to all cattell, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.

Noah the Preacher of righteousnesse was much given to the study of arts and sciences, Jos adtiq l. 1. c. 4. both he and his sons: And 'tis one reason remembred by Josephus, why God blessed him, and those firster Fathers of the world with so long a life, that they might bring to some perfection their studies of moral vertues, and invention of profitable sciences, as Astronomy, Geography, &c.

Abraham the father of the faithful, Idem. cap. 8. was a wise man and very eloquent and of a piercing Judgement, saith the same Author of him, He both learned himself, and preached to others, the know­ledge [Page 107]of the true God, which he learned by study and con­templation of Gods works by observing the sea and the land, the sun, the moon, and the stars: Whereupon the Caldeans con­spiring against him being warned of God he came into the land of Canaan. Philo cals him, [...], Philo de Ab [...]. A man much skil'd in natural Philosophy.

Moses, Deut. 31.10. who of all persons is said to have the nearest and most immediate converse with God, and was honoured as Gods in­strument for the publication of his own Lawes: was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, Act. 7.22. And Philo brings him in exhorting all men to the study of Philosophy who desire to enrich their mindes with true knowledge and wisdome. Phi de septenae­rio & fest.

Daniel who was greatly beloved of God, and honoured with manifold visions, and revelations, Dan. 1.4.17.20. was bred up and well skil'd in the Loarning, and Tongue of the Chaldeans. And ge­nerally all the Prophets of the Lord both ordinary and extra­ordinary, some few excepted, were bred up in the Schooles of the Prophets. The Hebrewes themselves say, that where the holy Scripture addes to the name of a Prophet, the name of his father, that such a one was alwaies the son of a Prophet, as Isaiah the son of Amos, Hosea the son of Buri &c. but with­all confesse that when the Prophet is named, and not his fa­ther, that such a one was a Prophet, but not the son of a Prophet.

When Samuel had anointed Saul King over Israel, and the Lord gave him another heart, 1 Sam. 10.9. so that he prophe­sied according to the word of Samuel amongst the rest of the Prophets, vers. 10. The people were astonished hereat, as a thing unusual, and extraordinary, that any one should pro­phesie, who was not the son of a Prophet, therefore one deman­ding of another, but who is their father? vers. 12. which being not known, it grew into a proverb, Is Saul also amongst the Prophets?

6. The great necessity of learning and learned men will ap­pear, if we will consider how in all ages they have been what Cyril of Alexandria styles them, Sanctos, mystagagos, pulchri­tudine intelligentiae resplendescentes tanquam propugnacula, &c. Such as stand against Sects like Bulwarks: and are the Rescuers [Page 108]of Truth from the captivity of Hereticks, and the bold in­trusions of their fallacies and deceits: The multitude of the wise, is the welfare of the world; saith the wisest of men, Wisd. 6.24. Both Religion, and the true use of Reason: both Church and Common-wealth; Law, and Gospel, all societies both Civil and Ecclesiastick, are upheld and maintained in peace and prosperity by the hands and heads of learned men, and power of learning: And the more any people or nation are estran­ged from the knowledge of liberal arts and sciences, the fur­ther they are off from that dignity, whereby men do excell beasts, and irrational creatures. The end of learning, being no other but the rectifying of depraved Reason, the strengthning of the weakned judgement, and the clearing of that eye of the soul, the understanding, whereby man is stampt to the image of the most understanding, and all knowing God.

And when the natural light of the soul is thus cleared by learning, the lives and manners of men are thereby raised to the perfection of vertue, and civility of conversation, beyond the rudeness of salvages, and beasts:

The Prophet Amos threatning a famine of the word, ch. 8.11. adds vers. 13. In that day shall the fair virgins, and young men faint for thirst: meaning not a corporal, but a spiritual thirst: The Hebrews (saith Hier.) interpret the fair virgins, to be their Synagogues, and Schooles of learning, and the young men to be the choice Doctors, and Masters of Israel, for the word [...] signifies both: And when these shall faint, and fail, and learned teaching cease in the Church, then chastity, pu­rity and integrity shall perish, and all vertues shall decay amongst men.

CHAP. IX. Some vulgar Objections against Vniversities, and hu­mane learning considered.

LEarning and knowledge, knowes no other enemies, but the igno­rant and unlearned; And 'tis ever the nature of Pride, and an essential property of Hereticks, to decry and seemingly to contemn those gifts, whereof themselves are destitute: they are thus characterized by S. Jude vers. 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: and for no other rea­son, but to exalt themselves above those, who have that knowledge which they want; upon this very ground, many now a daies cry down Ʋniversities and humane learning; and why? only that they may lift up themselves above their brethren, upon the fancied wings of counterfeit Revelations, who so much flag, and fall below them in the gifts of know­ledge, understanding and wisdome. And to support this de­structive principle of pride, they want not some seemingly probable arguments.

Object. 1 The grand Objection of all [...]thusiasts against Colledges, and humane learning, and all studying for the knowledge of Gods revealed will in his word, is drawn from the examples of Elisha called from the plow, and Amos who was an herd­man, in the Old Testament: And the Apostles, who were un­learned simple fishermen, in the New.

For Answer whereunto: consider,

Answ. 1. That the calling of these persons was not only extra­ordinary, but singular and unusual: For usually all the Prophets of the Lord both ordinary, and extraordinary were bred up in the Schools of the Prophets, as hath been already intimated: so that this is no warrant for any Shepheard, Ploughman, Fisher­man, or other ordinary person whatsoever to hope, or wait for the like call.

2. There is a great difference betwixt Elisha the plough­man, [Page 110]and Elisha the Prophet; betwixt Peter a Fisherman, and St. Peter an Apostle; every extraordinary calling from God is both confirmed by miracles, and accompanied also with ex­traordinary gifts, to execute the duties of this calling, it be­ing as easie with God, when he pleases to make men learned as to finde them so.

And to descend to particulars,

1. Elisha, though he was at the first called from the plough, yet was he so instructed by the Prophet Elijah, and upon his prayers so extraordinarily endued with the spiritual gifts of wisdome and knowledge, that he became Master of one of the Schools of the Prophets, whose Colledge was so full, that the Students desired him to have it enlarged. 2 King. 6.1. And 'twas one of his own Colledge, no stranger, or illiterate person, that he sent upon the Lords message, to anoint Jehu King over Israel, 2 King. 9.1.

2. Amos indeed professeth of himself, Amos 7.14. I was no Prophet, neither was I Prophets son, but I was an Herdman and gatherer of Sycomore fruits, and the Lord said unto me, Go, and prophesie to this people: But then this is noted withall as a thing singular, and rare, that such a one should be called a Prophet, who was not the Son of a prophet, nor bred up in their Schools, whereby he might be enfitted for so great a calling. And undoubtedly the mouth of this Prophet would soon have been stopt, and severe punishment inflicted on him for presuming to prophesie in the name of the Lord, had he not by miracles, or some infallible signs prov'd his calling to be extraordinary, and divine. And although no miracle be re­corded for the confirmation of this Prophets extraordinary calling; yet of Elisha who was called from the plough, we read, that he made Iron to swim, raised the dead, revealed the secret counsels of the King of Syria, being many miles distant. And of the Apostles, that they spake diverse languages, healed all diseases, &c. If therefore any of these persons who pre­tend to immediate Revelation, and consequently to be extraor­dinarily called to preach the Gospel, can confirm the same by any such miracle, 'twould be a very great sin against the good Spirit of God, to deny that he were in them of a truth: [Page 111]but since this they cannot do, they speak not with tongues, but against them rather; they cure no diseases, but increase them the more, those especially of melancholy, frenzy, &c. you may know their disciples by their pale complexions, lean cheeks, wilde distorted looks: In a word, since they pre­tend to extraordinary matters, and yet can by no extraordina­ry means, or miracle confirm the same; 'tis too evident, that their pretended Revelations are the delusions of their own hearts, and not the inspirations of the Spirit of truth.

3. For the Apostles of Christ, though they were but ig­norant and unlearned persons, when first called, yet through the instructions of Christ himself in person for three years to­gether, and the extraordinary inspirations of his holy Spirit, they were afterwards endued with the gifts of learning, both divine and humane: whereof the very appearances of the ho­ly Ghost descending upon them may put us in minde, 1. In tongues, enabling them to understand, and speak all languages. 2. In cloven Tongues, enduing them with ithe Art of Rheto­rical elocution, and Logical Analyse, to divide, distinguish, and resolve Gods word into its proper parts and portions. 3. In fiery Tongues, that by the knowledge of things both natural, and moral, they might illustrate, clear and make ma­nifest things divine. All which parts of learning evidently appear, both in their Sermons, and Epistles included in the sacred canon of Scripture, and those also that stand upon record in other Ecclesiastical writings.

Such persons then as from the example of the Apostles, pretend to the knowledge of Gods will by immediate Re­velation, must also be assur'd, that they have the gifts of lear­ning by immediate inspiration also: For Learning, and Religion, are two inseparable twins, no rude and illiterrate Ignora­mo's, being capable whilest they so continue, of the sublime and celestial mysteries of godliness.

And undoubtedly it had been a very unfitting thing, that the Apostles of Christ at first, or any of his Ministers since, should be an ignorant and illiterate generation: Greg. in 1 Kin. Sinoe our Redeemer himself (as a Father observes) as he is the Word of the eternal Father, is the Master of all Arts and Sciences: He [Page 112]professes himself to have received the Tongue of the learned, Isa. 50.4. And therefore 'tis not to be neglected by any of his members, much lesse of his Ministers. And they to whom learning is offensive, wherewithall Christ himself was enrich­ed, to them, Christ is become a stumbling block and a stone of offence: For Christ cannot be against himself, neither can any true member of Christ either be against what was emi­nent in him, or against those gifts that were bestowed by him. He gave the gifts of Tongues and Sciences, and he both will own them, and does require them. For as under the Law, a lame and a blinde sacrifice was hateful unto God: so both under Law and Gospel he requires that the Priests and Prophets, which are the portion of his inheritance, should be sound, and seeing persons, neither lame through negligence, nor blinde through ignorance: Mal. 2 7. 1 Tim. 5.17. 2 Tim. 2.15. 2 Tim. 3.17. but such whose lips preserve knowledge: and also labour in the Word and Doctrine Such, who study to shew themselves approved, and are thoroughly fur­nished unto every good work.

Object. 2 But do not we hear many unlearned men preach the Word, expound Scriptures, and the most difficult parts of them, even hard Prophesies, and the mystical Revelation it self, and this to the great liking and almost admiration of the hearers? Do not we hear them dispute with their Ministers, and write books against all that oppose them, and shall we yet doubt of their inspiration, and the uselesnesse of humane learning, since these persons can do all this without it?

Answ. 'Tis most true, that such like things as these are performed by unlearned men, and make a great noise in the world, and bear sway with the vulgar very much: but when these Ser­mons, discourses, and books come to the scanning of judicious ears, and such who have the gift of discerning spirits, all their preachments prove but unprofitable prattle, if not pro­fanations of Gods holy word: Their discourses of Reli­gion unreasonable, and endlesse brabbles, and their books fraught with impertinencies, railings, and lies: For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, they shall be taken in their pride; for why? their preaching is of cursing, and lies, Ps. 59.12.

Object. 3 But do not we hear many good things come from them, and many sweet truths, to the great contentment, and edification of the hearers?

There are many sentences and sayings in holy Scripture, Answ. and other good English books, which are so plain and con­vincing, that they cannot be wrested, or perverted: but when these come to be formed into a Sermon, or into a continued discourse by rude and illiterate persons, they are generally so disorderly and confusedly delivered, so maim'd and obscur'd by insignificant, impertinent and erroneous ex­pressions, which like dirt or poyson intermixt with whol­some food, doth choak, and kill, rather then nourish and edifie the souls of the hearers. The word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, in the mouth of an ignorant blinde zelot is like a sword in a mad mans hand, wherewith he wounds both himself and others for want of judgement to use it aright: or as an unskilful Physitian, though he have very good books of Physick, and excellent physical receits, if yet he do not fully understand these books, and the na­ture and working of these receits, and the several tempers withal to whom severally they are appliable, he shall more often kill then cure his Patients: Even so it is with the un­skilful Physitians of the soul, when they understand not the holy Word of God aright, nor yet how, where, when, and to whom the several divine receits therein are appliable, they con­vert the soul-saving Physick thereof to a soul-killing poyson: And the Word which is in it self the fountain of holy truths, becomes through the misunderstanding and misapplication of ignorant interpreters, and deceitful workers, the nursery of Haeresies and errors. And as in natural things, corruptio opti­mi est pessima, The best things corrupted are of all corrupti­ons the worst: so in supernatural and divine mysteries, when the word of Truth it self is corrupted, and deceitfully han­dled by ignorant, and misguided persons, there is nothing more baneful to the truth of Religion, nor to the souls of men, whereof true Religion is the Physitian and Guide.

Object. 4 But hath not God expresly and plainly told us in his holy Word, that he makes choice of such whom you call ignorant, and illiterate persons, to be the instruments of his grace, and salva­tion unto men? as Mat. 11.25. I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise, and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: and 1 Cor. 1.26. Not many wise men after the flesh, &c.

Answ. 1. With all thankfulness and devotion of soul we ac­knowledge Gods infinite goodness and wisdome in the choice of Apostles, and first preachers of the Gospel, Non sapientes &c Ne traduxisse prudentia, Ambr. in Luc. 6. ne redemisse divitiis, ne potentiae nobilitatís (que) authoritate traxisse aliquos videretur: 1. Not many wise, lest any might seem to have been inveigled, and se­duc't to Christianity by the inticing words of mans wisdome. 2. Not many Rich, lest our redemption might seem to be purchased with gold or silver; or that worldly gain should become the motive to godliness. 3. Not many Noble, lest the authority of earthly powers, and dignities, rather then the authority of Christ, and the convincing power of his truth, might seem the allurement of our conversion: there­fore God hath chosen the foolish — even Fishermen to confound the Philosophers; Publicans, and sinners to reprove the most rigid Stoicks, and morally vertuous; poor, weak, and unarmed men to make conquest of all nations, to dis­solve the armed powers of the world, and without any car­nall weapons to be mighty through God, 2 Cor. 10 4. for the pulling down of strong holds — that so all the world might acknowledge the work of grace and salvation in Christ, to be his Revelation, not mans invention, and that no flesh might glory in his presence, presuming to ascribe to his own power, wisdome, wealth, dig­nity, &c. what is the sole work of Gods grace and good­nesse.

But 2. It doth not hence follow, that all vulgar and un­learned persons may understand, and expound the Scriptures as well as the wise and learned, for the reasons already al­ledged in answer to the first objection. And because fur­ther [Page 115]under the notion of babes, little ones, foolish, and weak things of the world, Quid est par­vos &c. elegit, i.e. non superbos, & elatos, sed humiles, & mites, Aug. is not meant so much the ignorant and un­learned, as the meek, lowly, humble, whom no spirit of pride and self-conceited knowledge, and holiness had puffed up: For it is not ignorance and want of learning, but humility, and self-dejection, that enfits the soul for the impressions of Grace and Truth. So that those unlearned persons who have so good an esteem of themselves, as to prefer their own sense and judgement in spiritual things, before that of the learned, and of their Teachers; cannot be of the number of those babes and little ones to whom the mysteries of Christ are re­vealed, but rather to be rankt amongst those wise men after the flesh, who are rejected.

Object. 5 But against humane learning we are admonisht to take heed of it as dangerous, Col. 2.8. Let no man spoyle you through Phi­losophy—

Answ. The best things may be, and too commonly are cor­rupted and abused: the holy Scriptures themselves, which are given by divine inspiration for our guidance to eternal hap­piness, have been and daily are by Hereticks and Schismaticks wrested to their own condemnation. And so it fares with Philosophy and all the parts of humane learning. 'Tis confes­sed, that many Philosophers opposed holy Christian Religion at the first, as contradictory to some of their false erroneous positions: and many Hereticks arose in the Church being seduced, and seducing others, with principles taken out of the heathenish Pythagorean Philosophy: from the knowledge whereof they were called Gnosticks: But true Philosophy is not therefore to be condemned because Heathen Philosophers held many false tenents, no more then true Religion is to be condemned, because some seduced professors thereof hold many Heretical and false opinions therein. And herein the necessary use of Philosophy is apparent, in that though many Heresies sprung from Philosophers, Erasm. in prae­fat. ad Irenae. yet by Philosophers they have been supprest, and the truth maintained: witness Moses skil'd in all the learning of the Egyptians, against Jannes and Jambres, with the rest of the Egyptian Magi­cians [Page 116]and Philosophers. And S. Paul by the help of his great learning and judgement, Act. 17. confuted the Stoick Philosophers, and Epicureans, and maintain'd the truth of Christs resur­rection, which they denied: witness also Justin Martyr a Philosopher, maintaining the truth against that Philosopher and grand Heretick Valentinus: so Tertulliama Philosophers against Marcion a Philosopher: Origen against Celsus: Chnysostome against Libanius: Prudentius against Symmachus: And many of the Fathers more by the help of Philosophy and humane Bearing, confuted the false positions of Heathen Philosophy, and the many errors that from thence crept in, and infested the holy Christian Religion: So that 'tis not against Philo­sophy and humane learning, but the abuse of it to the forging, and maintaining of false opinions, that the Apostles admoni­tion is directed.

Object. 6 But against the present way of breeding up Ministers in Colledges, it is yet further objected by the Enthusiasts, that the very end of all such breeding, is meerly to make a trade of the Ministery; that they may get livings and preferments in the world: The Scholars study for Benefices, and Tithes, and Degrees, and the Priests teach for hire, and the Pro­phets prophesie for money: thus the holy Ghost is bought, and sold, and the office of the Ministery it self being Simo­niacal, is thereby unlawfull.

Answ. 'Tis confessed, That if Livings, and preferments were the only end of our studies and endevours, either for, or in the work of the Ministery, it were iniquity in us: And although it cannot be denied, but that some persons amongst us are too much guilty of this iniquity, yet the guilt of some few, and their ambitious and covetous desires, do's neither first impeach the way of breeding in Colledges, and Schooles: nor yet secondly any way impugn the use and necessity of the Mi­nisterial office.

As to the first: not only under the Law, the Prophets of the Lord, both ordinary and extraordinary, were generally such as were bred up in the Schools of the Prophets, as be­fore, but under the Gospel, we read of Christ himself, that [Page 117]he had recourse unto the Temple, where he sate amongst the Doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions, Ex [...]mplo ejus nobis estendem, ne infirmus do­cere quis [...]ude­at si ille puer doceri interro­gando voluit, qui per divini­tat [...] potentiam ve [...]bam scientiae ipsis doctoribus m [...]n [...]stravit. Lyra. Luk. 2.46. not that he who was the wisdome of the Father had need of any instruction from men; but to give us an example by this gracious act of condescension, first to hear and learn from them, whom God and publique order has plac't [...] over us, be­fore we presume to be the teachers of others: As in tempo­rall and civill affairs, He to whom all things in heaven, and ca [...]th do bow and obey, was notwithstanding obedient to his parents, and to Caesar; that he might be unto us a pat­ter most the like obedience: so in spiritual and divine things, He who is the fountain of wisdome and truth; vouchsafe not­withstanding to be taught by, learn from the Doctors of the Law, that he might be unto us an example to observe the same way of instruction, and breeding.

The example of S. Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles bred up at the fect of Gamaliel, his Divinity Lectures for the space of seven years together, Exemplified. preached in the School of one Tyran­nus, hath both warranted and exemplified the joynt use of Philosophy, and Divinity, Lectures in our Colledges; and the useful combination of humane and divine learning, of humane Arts, and divine Theologie, Reason, and Religion, the one as the Handmaid, and the other as the Mistresse, or rather the Queen of saving knowledge and wisdome.

As to the second, Those who either study to preach, or preach what they have studied, and learnt, out of ambitious and cove­tous desires only: as their intentions & desires are best known unto God the Judge of all, so to his just judgement 'tis our Christian duty to refer them: B [...]r. in cant. Serm. 3 [...]. [...]i­tat. p [...]r. Th. Aq. & Est. in 1 Cor. 8.1. And herein 'tis to be heartily wished, that those pious and prudent directions of S. Bernard, might by all students, and preachers both be remembred, and observ'd: Necesse est ut scias &c. He that will study aright for knowledge, and rightly imploy it, when he hath obtained it, it is necessary that he consider and observe 1. A right order. 2 A right endevour. 3. A right end in his studies, and spiritual labours And. 1. He observes a right order, who studies to know that first which is most conduceable to eternal salvation. 2. A right endeavour is observed, when that is most earnestly laboured [Page 118]for which most tends to the inflaming of the soul with the celestial fire of holy charity. 3. He observes a right end in his studies, who studies not, either 1. out of curiosity, or 2. of vain-glory, or 3. for filthy lucre and preferment; or in a word, for any sordid and worldly ends, but only for the edification of himself and others. For, 1. there are some (saith the Father) who study to know, only that they may know: and this is a fantastick, and misbecoming curiosity. Others 2. study to know that they may be known, and taken notice of for learned, and knowing men: and this is pride and vain-glorious ostentation, against whom that satyrical lash of the Poet is directed, Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter. Others 3. study to know, that they may make sale and gain of their knowledge; and this is filthy covetousness. Others 4. do study for knowledge and widom for their own edi­fication in the most holy Faith: and this in prudence. And others 5. study for the aedification of others: And this is Charity. Only the two last, (saith the Father) abuse not their knowledge, be­cause for this end only they labour for knowledge, that they may know to do good, both to themselves and to others.

The necessity of learning as to the understanding of ho­ly Scriptures, will further appear by induction of parti­culars.—

CHAP. X. The several parts of Learning required to the under­standing of the holy Scriptures.

I. TO the right understanding of the true and genuine sense of Gods holy Word, first, The knowledge of Tongues and Languages is requisite. For tongues are the gates of know­ledge, or the doors to the house of wisdome: and as ordina­rily no man enters a house but by the doors thereof; so no man, how piercing soever his understanding be, can enter the cabinet of divine mysteries contained in holy Scriptures, but by some insight in those languages wherein they were [Page 119]written. For 1. 'tis not enough to see these waters of life in their streams, except we see them also in their fountain, not only as they are severally and variously translated by men, but as they are the immediate dictates of the Spirit of God: for as waters are more clear in the fountain then in the stream, so the holy Scriptures appear more clear and intel­ligible in the Original and fountain Language, then as they are conveighed unto us in the stream of Translations into other languages.

2. The holy Scripture is full of Metaphors, Multa dicuntur in sac. Script. [...], & omnis meta­phora, si de-alia in aliam lin­guam transfera­tur ad verbum, quibusdam qua­si sentibus ora­tionis sensus & germina suffo­cantur, Hier. in Eph. 4. and as Hier. observes, When a Metaphor is transferred out of one Language into another, if it be done exactly, and to a word, it loses its pro­per emphasis, and the sense and fruitfulness thereof is stifled and choakt.

3. There is no Translation, how accurate soever, can in all words and phrases punctually agree with the Original: because there are but few words to be found in any language which have not divers significations.

II. The knowledge of Geography, History, Arts, and monu­ments of antiquity. For 1. The holy Scriptures being the Language of other Countreys, how shall they understand them, that know nothing of the situation of those countreys and places, or of their rites and customes, particular idiomes, phrases, and proverbial speeches, which must needs seem strange, improper and insignificant to them, who know no more but the ordinary places, customes and expressions of their own nation?

2. The Scriptures are of all books in the world, the most ancient: now as times do alter and vary, so do the customes and constitutions, actions and affections, manners, and pro­verbial sayings of all people alter also: hence the 14. chapter of the 1 Cor. is so hard to be understood. Because those customes are so long since out of date. And this may seem to be one reason, why God in his wisdome, hath so often al­tered his waies of dispensation, and the revelaton of his truth unto his Church: and 'tis the ground of that wise direction of the Father, Distingue tempora & intelliguntur Scripturae, he must warily distinguish, betwixt ancient and modern times, that will rightly understand the Scriptures.

III. The knowledge of Rhetorick, Logick, &c. by the help whereof we are enabled to take notice, 1. Of those tropes and figures, and metaphorical expressions, whereof the holy Scripture is full, to know what is properly, and what figuratively expressed, what is the literal, and what the mystical sense therein; what is delivered by way of History, and what by way of parable, and similitude; what by way of command, and what by way of counsel; to compare the more obscure, and dark places, with the more plain and perspicuous: the like saying in one place, with its like in another; and the differing and unlike, with its unlike and differing expression.

2. To observe the causes and grounds, the scope and drift of every saying, with the reasons, and arguments to enforce it, and warily to distinguish, betwixt the substance and cir­cumstances of each command and admonition.

3. By way of Logical Analyse to open, divide, and resolve the holy Word into its proper parts, that each who hears and reads the same may know his own portion, and what particularly is applyable to him: An art which Timothy was commanded to study for: Study to shew thy self approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, 1 Tim. 2.15.

IV. The knowledge of natural causes, vertues, operations, and effects; which is the sum of Natural Philosophy. For, 1. The holy Scripture as well sets forth unto us the works of God, Adoro scripturae plenitudinem, quae mihi facto­rem manif [...]stat, & facta, Tert. cont. Herm. as his words, of command, admonition, &c. Witness the history of the creation, Gen. 1. which is in it self a little epitome of all natural Philosophy, and the admirable discourses of Gods works in the book of Job, and in the Psalmes of David, and many other places; and this because the works of God are, as the great Basil styles the world, [...], the School of Gods knowledge; For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, Rom. 1.20. The most wise God who hath revealed himself unto us in his works as well as in his word, hath also used the one as a means to illustrate and clear the meaning of the other: so that as the word of God sets forth his marvellous works, [Page 121]so by his works, and by similitudes and resemblances taken from his creatures, he teacheth us in his word, both the knowledge of himself, and of his holy will, touching the waies of his worship: witnesse the manifold commands and admonitions expressed under the notion of several creatures: The Oxe and the Asse, the Stork, the Crane, Isa. 1.3. and the Swallow. To exemplifie but in one text, which is also a positive com­mand of the Gospel, Mat. 10.16. Be ye therefore wise as Ser­pents, but innocent as Doves: He then that knowes nothing of the nature of the Serpent, and of the Dove, how shall he understand the meaning or yeeld obedience to this com­mand? And that very appearance of the holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove upon our Saviour, Mat. 3.16. Act. 2.2, 3. and in winde and fire upon his Apostles, implies the necessity of this price of hu­mane Learning, to understand something of the properties of that creature, and of these elements, to understand aright the several qualifications of the holy Ghost.

V. The knowledge of moral Philosophy: for rightly to un­derstand the nature, properties, &c. of moral vertues, must needs conduce exceedingly to the right understanding of the perfection and excellency of spirituall graces: the one being but the elevation and raising up of the other to an higher pitch of perfection. The light of nature being not ex­tinguished, but made more clearly seeing, by the light of Grace. And the guidance of natural reason being not abolisht, [...] Just. Mart. Diol. cum Tryph. but rectified, perfected, and confirmed by the dictates, and com­mands of the holy Christian Faith. Therefore Justin Martyr stiles Philosophy (meaning I believe natural and moral Phi­losophy as subservient to Divinity) The greatest possession and most acceptable unto God, as the means whereby we are brought to the knowledge of God, and of his holy will.

CHAP. XI. Of the Analogie of faith: and the Doctrine of the Church.

TO the right understanding of holy Scriptures 'tis fur­ther required to know what sense and meaning the ancient Fathers, the learned and pious Doctors of the Church in all ages have given of them: for no Scripture is of private interpre­tation. But interpreted and understood it must be accor­ding to the general Canon, or Analogie of Faith; that faith which was once given to the Saints by the Apostles, the articles whereof are summarily comprehended in the Apostles Creed: That Faith which so delivered and received, hath been pre­served and maintained, Winc. vi [...]. semper, abi (que) & ab omnibus, at all times, in all places, by all persons, Councels, and Fathers; and is by the merciful providence of God (in spite of all opposition from Infidels, Heretiques, and Schismatiques) brought down unto us. Prov. 3.5. This Faith, must be the rule according to which we must steer our interpretations of holy Scriptures: not leaning to our own understanding, or abounding in our own sense, but ever submitting our private judgement to the publique judgement of the Church: which in the Apostles own times was commanded, when the gift of prophesie or interpreta­tion of Scripture was by more immediate and extraordinary inspiration communicated, yet even then the judgement of the Church was to be allowed in the interpretation of Scripture, 1 Cor. 14.29. Let the Prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

Object. But 'tis here objected: Numb. 16.14. Wilt thou put out the eyes of these people? must we not see with our own eyes, but only with those of the Church? Shall we pin our faith upon any mens sleeves? What need we the authority of men, when we have Gods own au­thority for our direction; and men are but men, i. e. frail and liable to error, so that all they affirm is not to be taken for Go­spel?

In answer whereunto, consider,

Answ. 1. That there is a great deal of difference betwixt an im­plicite faith and blinde obedience to the dictates of the Church, and a submission to the publique judgement thereof: The first deprives the people of their reason and judgement; the second renders them more meek, humble, submissive and obedient; and thereby more capable to receive the impres­sion of the knowledge of celestial mysteries.

2. That we assert not the ancient and learned Fathers of the Church, ut dominos, sed ut duces sidei, Nihil carum rerum scire quae antè nascereris facta sunt, hoc est sem­per esse puerum. Cic. Not as Lords over our faith, but as guides in the true belief: And he that knows nothing of the Religion of the Fathers for his guidance and di­rection, is most likely still to continue a childe in his religion.

Nor, 3. are we to receive for Oracle, all that the ancient reverend Fathers of the Church did affirm, being very few amongst them, Quicquid omnes vel plures uno eodem (que) sensu, manifeste, frequenter, perseveran­ter velut quodam sibi consentiente conci­lio, accipiendo, tenendo, tradendo firma­verint, id pro indubitato, certo ratc (que) habeatur. Quicquid vero quamvis ille doctus, & san [...]tus, quamvis Episcopus, praeter omnes, aut etiam contra omnes senserit, id inter proprias, & privatas opiniunculas à communis & publicae ge­neralis sententiae authoritate secretum sit. Vinc. Lyr. but had their particu­lar errors and mistakes: and in many particulars also ('tis confessed) they did contradict each other. 'Tis not therefore the affirmations and private opinions of particular persons we must look upon as the Doctrine of true Re­ligion, and true meaning of the Scri­ptures: but the general and universal consent of all, for that all should erre and fall from the truth is contrary to what our Lord hath promised, who will undoubtedly be as good as his word, Mat. 16.18. Ʋpon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it, and Mat. 28.20. I am with you alway even to the end of the world.

In a word, in the interpretation of Scriptures and for the confirmation of holy truths thence deduced, the authority of the ancient Fathers, and Doctors of the Church is to be consulted and known for these reasons.

1. Because they are certain and undeniable witnesses of what the Church, and the people of Christ did in their re­spective times, believe and hold for orthodox Doctrine. If [Page 124]the same doctrine St. Augustine taught in Africk, was also taught by St. Chrysostome in Greece, by St. Ambrose in Italy, by St. Hierome in Palestine, and so in other places by holy and reverend Bishops, and Pastors of the Church, then this undoubtedly was the doctrine of the Church: and thus were the holy Scriptures understood in those ages of the Church, Ita intellexit. Ambrosius, ita Cyprianus, &c. Thus Ambrose, thus Cyprian understood, such or such a place of Scripture, this had some weight in St. August. time, and St. Aug. opi­nion, and there is no reason, but that it should be of the same force still amongst us.

'Tis no way probable but that persons so eminent in learning and in piety, so frequent in holy prayers and medi­tations, in fastings and wailings, so indefatigable in their studies and labours in the Word and Doctrine, and who laid down their lives, and fortunes for the doctrine they prea­ched, should more truly understand the Scriptures, and the truth of Christian Religion then we, who if there be any thing of Modesty and Humility in our hearts, must confesse our selves far inferiour to them in the said gifts, and graces of the holy Spirit. Aug. Ʋs (que) adeo promiscuit imis summa longus dies, &c. Hath time so confounded all things, is light so changed into darkness, and darkness become light, ut videant Pelagius &c. that Haeretiques now are the only seers, Et caeci sunt Hilarius, Cyprianus, Ambrosius, And the learned pious Fathers of the Church become blinde? The words are too much appliable to the Heretiques of the times.

3. The judgement of the Fathers being so far remote from these times wherein we live, must needs be impartial as to the controversies amongst us, touching the interpretation of any texts of Scripture, or doctrines therein delivered, as being altogether disinterested, and knowing nothing of our disputes and contestations thereabouts, Aug. contra Julian Pelag Nullas nobiscum vel vobiscum amicitias attenderunt, &c. They were neither in friendship nor in community with us, or with them, who in this age are of a contrary opinion to us, they were neither angry with us, nor them, neither did they pity either of us, but what they found professed in the Church, they faith, [Page 125]fully preserved, what they learned they taught, and what they received from their fathers, they delivered unto us their children: and undoubtedly, Survey of the pretended di­scipline. as a learned man of our Church observes, they that contemn the learned Fathers that went be­fore them, do but open a gap to their own discredit, making way thereby to be contemned themselves, by all those that shall come after.

4. We cannot but reasonably imagine, that those holy and learned persons, who lived nearer the Apostles times, should proportionably know better the Apostles meaning in their writings, and the doctrine they preached, then any of us who live so many hundred years since. Iren. l. 3. ch. 4. Therefore saith Irenaeus, who was the Disciple of Polycarpus, the Disciple of St. John, Where any question ariseth, and the holy Scripture (as 'tis too common) is so perverted, Vinc. Ler. as to be made speak for both sides; whither shall we have recourse for satisfaction, but to the ancient Churches of Christ, in which the Apostles converst? from thence to hear what the truth is, viz. Quid Apostoli, quid primi fideles, quid eorum successores, &c. what the Apostles, what their Disciples, and successors, what the primitive Saints and Martyrs, Councels and Fathers have received, taught and de­livered unto others: For what? came the word of God our from you, or came it unto you only? 1 Cor. 14.36. Since the Word of God comes not first to us, but by and from the Church it is delivered, it followes that the sense and meaning of Gods word, must not spring from our own heads, but to be by and from the Church delivered together with the word.

The learned Doctor Whittaker in his disputes against the authority of the Church, Whit. de sac. Q. 3. con. 1. c. 2. Du [...]l. adv [...]s. Staplet. as it is by some Romanists prefer­red before the authority of holy Scriptures, doth yet ac­knowledge these four offices in the Church in order to the Scriptures:

• 1. That the Church is the Register, and conserver of the Scriptures.
• 2. The Judge both to discern and define, what Scriptures are Canonical, and what Apocryphal.
• 3. To be the promulgator or publisher of them to all its members the people of God, where ever dispersed over the face of the earth. And,
• [Page 126]4. To be the interpreter and expounder of them: and in these respects to contemn, or neglect the Ministry and Testi­mony of the Church, is the way to erre from the faith; (saith he) to rush into certain destruction: And in these cases I may very well adde the words of our Lord, He that will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a Heathen or a Publican, Mat. 18.17.

CHAP. XII. Three inferences hence appliable to the general subject of the whole discourse.

ANd now if we lay all these together: The knowledge of Tongues and Languages: of History and Antiquity: of Arts and Sciences, as Rhetorick, Logick, natural and moral Phi­losophy: of the Analogie of the true Faith, and of the Do­ctrine of the Church, Councels, and Fathers: all which do ap­pear necessary to the right understanding of holy Scriptures: we may very well hence infer,

1. That the work of the Ministry in the interpretation of the Scriptures, is not so slight and easie a business, as too many persons now a daies make of it. And they who can so easily run from the plough to the pulpit, and from the meanest trades and employments of the world to inter­meddle with the most sublime and celestial mysteries of god­liness: who pretending to the Spirit, and yet have not these gifts of the Spirit: and to divine Revelation, being alto­gether devoid and destitute of the means thereof, do thereby become vain in their imaginations, liable to strong delusions, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils, and that for want of learning, (which they do therefore despise only because they want it) they do pervert and wrest the Scriptures to their destruction. 1 Tim. 4.1. And,

2. That 'tis not immediate Revelation we must depend upon for the right understanding of holy Scriptures: since these se­veral [Page 127]parts of what is called humane learning, hath appeared necessary thereunto: for otherwise 'twas in vain that

• 1. The Apostles of Christ, which at the first were illiterate, should be extraordinarily, and miraculously endued with the gifts of learning.
• 2. That such persons should be called both ordinarily, and extraordinarily to the Prophetical office as were emi­nent for learning and knowledge, not immediately infused, but by their studies, and industry, and Gods blessing there­upon acquired.
• 3. That it were also in vain, we should be commanded to hear, read, study, mediate, seek, search and dive for know­ledge.
• 4. That in vain also hath God of his great mercy affor­ded us the writings, directions, and instructions of holy and learned men in all ages: 'Tis an undeniable truth, that Deus & natura nihil faciunt frustra.

There are no arts of the divine Providence useless and unprofitable: But as God of his great mercy is never wanting to give what is needful: so of his great wisdome he is never lavish in giving more then is needfull. Ʋnumquod (que) propter operationem suam, God hath made all things for their uses: every book, and every writing of the learned, orthodox and holy, and every tongue, and every science in every such book is for the manifestation of some truth, and the profit of some soul. That I am sure is the end of Gods Spirit there­by, what ever may be the end of mans: For the manifesta­tion of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall, 1 Cor. 12.7.

3. And thirdly, we may very well hence infer also that 'tis an over bold, rash and saucy presumption in any persons of what quality or breeding soever, to assume the office of Priesthood, and start up preachers of the Gospel, being not first well studied and endowed with the several qualifica­tions of learning and knowledge requisite thereunto. Adde hereunto the dignity of those precious jewels committed to their charge, viz. The immortal souls of men, which are of so great value before God as neither gold, silver, nor [Page 128]any corruptible thing could redeem them, but the bloud of Christ the eternal Son of God, 1. Pet. 1.18. as a lamb without blemish: now that which cost our Redeemer so dear, and is designed either to eternal happiness, or eternal misery, according as 'tis more or lesse wisely and carefully ordered; requires surely such a guide and pastor, as is not only wise, learned, and discreet, but also vigilant, careful and conscientious.

Under the Law, how unwilling was Moses to be sent on the Lords message though he was a learned man? Exod. 3. and so was Jeremy also: I am a childe and cannot speak, Jer. 1.6. And many others cautious of their own weaknesse, and of the great abilities required to the execution of so great a function, have more safely declined then arrogantly assumed the same. Greg. de cura past. l. 2. c. 7. Hinc qui (que) praecipites colligant, &c. from hence all forward novices may observe, how great a guilt of sinful pre­sumption they contract, who set up themselves to be tea­chers of others, whilest they have yet need to be taught themselves: since that yet holy men of God, were afraid to undertake so weighty a calling, even when God himself called and commanded them thereunto. Under the Gospel Christ himself who is the word of God and the wisdome of the Father, would not preach till he was 30. years old, Ʋt vim saluberrimi timoris, Greg. ibid. &c. That he might infuse the ver­tue and efficacy of wholsome fear and caution into the hearts of the over forward; since he who could not erre in his preachings, would not yet preach the waies of perfection and felicity till he was of perfect age.

The Apostles of Christ notwithstanding that they were conversant with Christ all the while he continued prea­ching the Gospel upon earth, daily heard his heavenly Do­ctrine as it distilled from his own mouth, and saw the mira­cles he did for the confirmation thereof: and though they were endued in some measure with the gifts and graces of the Spirit before his ascension; For he breathed on them, &c. Luk. 24.45. He opened their understandings, to understand the Scriptures, yet all this was not thought sufficient to preach, and open the mysteries of the Gospel to the world: but they were forbidden to do it, till they received additional gifts of [Page 129] learning and knowledge from above, Luk. 24.49. Tarry you at Hierusalem, till you be endued with power from on high: Gloss. ordin. in Loc. Ʋt exemplum sequentibus daretur, &c. Giving example to all poste­rity, that no weak and illiterate persons, wanting the gifts of Tongues, Arts, &c. presume to intermeddle with preaching or unfolding the mysteries of the Gospel.

'Tis recorded of the great St. Basil, and Nazianzen, that af­ter their long studies in saecular learning, Russin Lib. 2. cap. 9. they continued for the space of thirteen yeers together in a monastery, giving themselves to the study of holy Scriptures, the sense and meaning whereof, they fetcht not out of their own heads, but out of the wri­tings and authority of the ancients to whom by succession from the Apostles, the rule of right understanding the Scriptures was apparently known.

The order of divine wisdome and providence in the dispen­sation of holy truths to the world, is worth our observati­on out of 1 Cor. 12.4, 5, 6. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God that worketh all in all: From hence it is easie to ob­serve, that there must be gifts before administrations, (i. e.) 1. A man must be qualified with gifts fit for every calling, before he receive administration, or be ordained to that calling. 2. There must be administration before operation, i. e. A man must be lawfully ordained to a calling, before he work or la­bour therein: So in the great calling of the Ministry, the gifts of the Spirit must precede or go before, before Letters of admi­nistration be taken. And, 2. a lawful ordination must be taken before operation, or working therein. And he that either 1. assumes this high and sacred function, Bish Andr. serm. in 1 Cor. 12.14, &c. being not qualified with gifts, contemns the Spirit from whom they come: Or, 2. He that labours in the word and Doctrine, though he be gifted, being not also lawfully ordained, contemns the Lord from whom all administrations come, and who hath instituted and commanded ordination thereunto: Or, 3. He that be­ing both gifted and lawfully ordained is not industrious in this calling, contemns God the Father of all operations, who worketh all in all. He that thinks any of these superfluous, may as well [Page 130]question whether some one Person of the Trinity be not superfluous also, even that Person from whom comes that part of the division, which he slights and contemns. As it is therefore in the order of the Trinity, as the Father begets the Son, and from the Father and the Son proceeds the holy Ghost: So in this Division, the gifts of the Spirit beget the Lords Administration, or calling to the Ministry, and both to­gether produce the operation or labour therein, which is the work of God: and as no man comes to Christ, but by the holy Ghost; so no man comes lawfully to the calling, but by the gifts; and as no man comes to the Father, but by the Son, so no man comes to the work, but by the calling.

CHAP. XIII. The internal and divine qualifications of the soul, as to the understanding of holy Scriptures.

1. TIs confessed, that all the external parts of humane learning already remembred, though they be the gifts, and blessings of Gods Spirit, and necessary helps to the opening of the Letter, and right understanding of the literal and genuine sense of Gods word, yet are not in themselves alone sufficient to attain a true, and throughly saving know­ledge thereof: except our souls be enricht as with the out­ward gifts, so with inward graces of the holy Spirit also.

Truth and Holiness are the two inseparable constituent parts of spiritual wisdome: and to understand the truth or true meaning of the Spirit of Truth in the word, the Spirit of holiness must necessarily concur. And this is most eloquent­ly expressed Job. 28. where after a most high, and magni­ficent expression of the praises, great price and value of true wisdome, a view is taken of all the parts of the world, where it might be found: gold and silver, iron and brasse, all useful metals, and precious stones, have their places, though secret, designed them: but where shall this rich pearl, [Page 131] where shall wisdome be found, and what is the place of understan­dings? Vers. 12. It is not found in the land of the living: the depth saith, It is not in me, and the sea saith, It is not in me. Vers. 14. It is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air, vers. 21. The most Eagly sighted Philosophers, and wisemen of the world, who have viewed the natures, properties, and causes of all things, not in the earth alone, but in the heavens also, even the courses, influ­ences, and operations of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, have not yet attained true wisdome: how then shall we finde it out? it followes, God knoweth the place thereof, and he understandeth the way thereof, vers. 23. — And he hath said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdome, and to depart from evil is un­derstanding: briefly describing both the place of wisdome, and the way thereunto; even the way of piety, and obedience.

And of that piety, which is necessarily requisite to the un­derstanding of holy Truth, there are several species or par­ticular parts, which from the example of holy Bernard, may be thus reckoned up: Qui ut legeret, intelligendi fecit cupi­ditas; ut intelligeret, oratio impetravit; ut impetraret, quid nisi vitae sanctitas promeruit? His earnest desire of knowledge, made him studious and industrious in reading: his fervent prayers obtained the understanding of what he read: and his holy life made his prayers effectual for the enlightning of his understanding: and thus he must desire, thus study, thus pray, and thus live, who will attain that knowledge, which shall make him wise to salvation.

1. The first divine qualification of the soul requisite unto knowledge is the desire thereof: The beginning of wisdome it the desire of instruction, Wisd. 6.17. Come unto me all ye that be desirious of me, and fill your selves with my fruits, Ecclesiasticus 24.19. and what is more authentick▪ If thou seekest wis­dome as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and finde the know­ledge of God, Prov. 2.4. Such desires, and studies for wis­dome, the holy Ghost undoubtedly would never 1. exem­plifie, 2. exhort unto, 3. enkindle in the hearts of men, but that they should tend not to vexation, and trouble, but to [Page 132]satisfaction and accomplishment in the prosecution of them: Et hoc modo priùs invenire oportet ut quaeras, deinde quaerere ut pleniùs invenias.

This desire of knowledge must not be only earnest, but also sincere, Pura erit in­tentio si in om­ni actione aut honorem Dei, aut militatem proximi, aut bonam consci [...]n­tiam conscien­tiam quaeramus, Bern. serm. par. free from partialities, prejudices, and prepossessi­ons, free from pride, covetousnesse, ambition, emulation, and all base, carnal, and worldly ends, and interests: denoted by the singleness of the eye, Mat. 6.22. which is generally inter­preted to be purity of intention in all our studies, and ende­vours; which renders the whole body of our actions clear and successeful.

2. This earnest, and sincere desire of wisdome, must be prosecuted as with diligent studies, Mens obcaecatur in divinis nisi à Domino illumi­nata. so with fervent prayers unto God for his daily blessing thereupon: For the minde (which is the eye of the soul) sees nothing of the things of God, but as by God 'tis enlightned therein: therefore to him we are commanded to apply our selves for wisdome, Jam. 1.5. So the wise man obtained it, Wisd. 7.7. Wherefore I prayed, and un­derstanding was given me— Prayer is the key that opens the cabinet of Gods secrets; Meliùs solvun­tur dubia [...]rae­tione, quàm hu­mana inquisiti­one, Aug. the bucket wherewithall we dive, and draw forth the waters of life of the fountain of wis­dome: And the mysteries of godlinesse, saith the Father, are more easily unfolded by the efficacy of fervent prayers, then by the force of humane studies.

3. But all mens prayers are not effectual to the obtaining of true wisdome: Joh. 9.21. Jam. 5.16. For God heareth not sinners, 'tis the fervent prayer of the righteous man, that prevailes with God: In the third place therefore, our prayers must be enliven'd by the piety and purity of our hearts and lives. And herein these two divine qualifications of the soul are most especially re­quired, Innocence and Obedience.

1. And first Innocence, or the purity and cleannesse of the soul is necessary to the reception of saving knowledge: for wickednesss, W [...]sd. 4.11, 12. saith the wise man, alters the understanding, and deceit beguiles the soul: or the deceitful lusts of the flesh, and of the world, cousen the soul of its right understanding, so it follows, for the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest, and the wandring of concupiscence doth undermine the simple minde.

For as in a renewed, and righteous soul, all the faculties thereof move forward, in their proper place and order; the understanding first rules the will, and affections of the rea­sonable soul, and these guide the inferior desires, or lusts of the sensitive soul, and keep them within their due bounds, and limits: so in a sinful soul the government is perverted, and all moves disorderly and backward: 1. The inferior lusts of the sensitive soul, or carnal concupiscence masters the will and affections: and 2. these master the understanding and per­vert the judgement. So that to the right understanding of holy Mysteries, a holy and renewed soul is most necessarily requi­site: Blessed are the pure in spirit, for they shall see God, Deus est purga­tae mentis sa­pientia, Aug. Mat. 5.8. For God (saith the Father) is the wisdome of the purified minde.

2. Obedience is that second specification of piety, which renders our souls capable of saving knowledge: meaning by obedience, not that universal obedience to the Lawes of God, which includes all the parts of piety, Citius exaudi­tur una oratio obedientis quàm decem millia contemptoris, Aug. Hom. 3. ad monac. but that obediential meekness, and humility of spirit, which makes us ready to re­ceive the impressions, and willing to submit to the judge­ments of our superiors: And one prayer, saith the Father, of such an obedient person is sooner heard then ten thousand of the scornful, and such as are wise in their own conceit: Surely he scorneth the scorners, but giveth grace to the lowly, Quanto obedi­entiores fucri­mus Praeposi­tis, & patribus, tanto obediet Deus orationi­bus nostris, Euseb. limiss. Prov. 3.34. And Eusebius Emissenus saith, By how much more we are obedi­ent to our Ecclesiastical or spiritual governors, and fathers who have the rule over us, and watch sor our souls; by so much the more God will be obedient to our prayers, and yeeld to our desires: see for further proof hereof, Ps. 25.9. Joh. 7.17. Jam. 4.6. 1 Pet. 5.5.

These divine qualifications of the souls, as to the right understanding of holy Truths, have these ensuing be­nefits.

1. Hereby the Mysteries of godliness appear more plain, easie and intelligible to the soul: For the waies of God are plain to the holy, but stumbling blocks to the wicked, Ecclus. 39.24.

2. Hereby the soul doth really taste and is delighted [Page 134]with the bread of life: For, saith the Father, as bread is sweet to the sound and healthful palat, Palato non sano poena est panis, qui sano est sua­vis, & oculis agris odiosa est lux, quae puris est amabilis. Aug. which to the sickly, and unsound is unsavoury: and as light is pleasant to the clear eyes, but to the weak and sickly troublesome, and offensive: so the bread of life, and light of divine knowledge, is to the pure and holy, sweet, savoury, and pleasant: To the pure all things are pure, but to the impure and unclean, even holy things them­selves become unholy, Tit. 11.15.

3. Hereby God is invited, and won to preserve, and guide us in the waies of Truth, and to scatter and dispell all tem­ptations, and seductions to error, and deceit, Ps. 25.11.14.

4. Hereby that doctrinal knowledge of God, and literal understanding of his word in the use of outward means ob­tained, is made perfect, and compleated: The former being but the body, and carkass, but this the soul, and spirit of sa­ving knowledge: If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them, Joh. 13.17.

Hereby the heart is prepared, and the minde made capa­ble of a greater, and more full light of true wisdome, accor­ding to that promise of the Lord, Habenti dabitur, Mat. 25.29. To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abun­dance: to him that makes a right use of his knowledge, more shall be added: therefore the paths of the just are compared to the shining light, which shineth more and more to the perfect day, Prov. 14.8.

CHAP. XIV. The objection from the misdemeanors of the Ministry considered.

THE necessity of piety and integrity, as to the sacred and saving knowledge of Gods Revealed will being thus apparent, the want hereof in some persons of the Clergy hath brought, even upon the sacred function it self, that great contempt and reproach under which it now lies oppressed: [Page 357]there being nothing so frequent in the mouthes of the peo­ple, as the sins of their ministers: the Perjury, time-serving, and wavering inconstancy of some, the faction and sedition of others; the pride, the covetousness, the drunkenness of others, Etenim non so­lum docti esse volumus, sed & docti, & bom: qualis omnin [...] est, qui rectè quidem verbis, sed multo recti­ùs mo [...]ibus & vita philoso phantur. Sabel. orat. 7. have made even the profession contemptible, and our labours in the word and doctrine ineffectual, and vain: fervent prayers, and holy living being those spiritual engines, where­by those holy truths delivered in sermons, have their influ­ence upon the hearts and lives of the hearers: and where an exemplary purity of life is wanting, 'tis no mervail, that God, who is the fountain of purity, deny his blessings upon our labours, and turn our preaching into foolishness.

And herein the Enthusiasts of the age, have found so great a flaw in the Ministery, as that they absolutely decry the calling: or if not so, yet the best terms they can af­ford the most upright, and conscientious amongst us, is false Prophets, and deceivers of the people.

But yet that the error of this opinion, and sinfulness of the railing accusations, though against some persons they have too much of truth, may appear; 'tis necessary to take notice of these following considerations:

1. That 'tis the sins of the people, that provokes God to give them ignorant and sinful shepheards; And there shall be like people like Priests, saith the Lord, and I will punish them for their waies, and reward them their doings, Hos. 4.9. and again, The daies of visitation are come, the daies of recompence are come, Israel shal know it: The Prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad: and what's the reason? for the multitude of thine ini­quity, and the great hatred, Hos. 9.7. Non est a pl [...]be, aut vulgaribus hominibus ar­guendus, aut accu [...]andus epis­copus lices sit inordinatus, quia pro meritis subdit [...]rum dis­ponitur a Deo vita dectorum. Evar. ep. fra­tribus Aegypt. And therefore saith Eva­ristus: A Bishop, and Pastor of souls is not to be reviled by the people, though be disorderly, because God disposeth of the lives of the Teachers according to the deserts, and qualities of the hea­rers. And so of Princes as well as of Priests: wicked Princes God gives in his wrath, Hos. 13.11. viz. when he is angry with a people for their sins: And even the errors of the best kings are ascribed to the sins of their subjects: As Da­vids sin in numbring the people was caused by the anger of the Lord against Israel, 2 Sam. 24.1. For the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord, and he turneth it whither soever he will, Prov. [Page 136]21.1. either for a blessing or curse upon their subjects: Sic pro meritis plebis saepe pastores depravantur ecclesiae, Anacleti epist. tertia. ut pro­cliviùs corruant qui sequuntur: 'Tis even so with the Pastors of the Church, who are deprav'd, and diorder­ly in their lives, because the people by their sins have de­serv'd to have such leaders, whose directions shall sooner tend to the ruine, then to the health of their souls.

2. 'Tis the duty of all Christian people, rather to cover and veil, then to disclose, and publish the enormities of their Pa­stors: For they are their spiritual Fathers, 1 Cor. 4.15. And the nakedness of Fathers must not be discovered by the children, that the curse of Cham fall not upon them, Gen. 9.22.25. If the Pastors neglect their duty towards God, the people must not therefore neglect their duty to their Pa­stors, but wisely distinguish betwixt their example and do­ctrine, obeying the truths they deliver, but avoiding the sin­full practises they follow: which is positively commanded by our Lord, Mat. 23.2, 3. The Scribes and Pharises sit in Moses chair,— All therefore whatsoever they bid observe, that observe and do: but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not: Etiam si quisquam traditor subrepsisset, &c. saith Aug. Though some traytor or wicked person creep into the chair of Moses, Aug. Epis. 165. it should nothing hurt the Church, or innocent Christians, for whom Christ hath provided, saying of evil prelats, what they say, do ye.

3. The knowledge of the Truth may be obtained in the use of outward means, and the ministerial office thereupon conferred upon such persons, as want the internal qualifica­tion of true piety: which is clear from the examples of Ba­laam, who loved the wages of righteousness, and yet had the gift of prophesie: of Judas who was sent out by the Lord himself to preach the Gospel, and yet had a De­vil: and Nicholas chosen by the Apostles, one of the Dea­cons, and yet was the father of the Nicholaitan Haeresie, so much detested by God, Rev. 2.6. Shall we therefore accuse, and rail upon the Prophets of the Lord for the sin of Balaam, or disparage the Apostles of Christ for the sin of Judas; or impute to the rest of the holy Deacons the error of Ni­cholas? or shall we not hear and obey the truth, because it [Page 137]comes from the mouthes of some wicked as well as good Mini­sters? It is rather our duty to admire the wisdome, and mag­nifie the goodness of God, who to give the greater testimo­ny to the Truth, and to make it more illustrious and evident, is pleased to deliver it unto us by his Ministers of both sorts, good and bad, both by the holy, and by the profane. And 'tis the Spirit of God undoubtedly that works in, and by all persons that deliver the truth: though not in all alike, but in men of divers qualifications after a different manner: in good men as ingredient, and insident: in bad men, as urgent, and impellent: by good men more frequently and effectually he works the conversion of his people; and by bad men some­times also, though more rarely, that the working of his grace may appear in all, and the glory thereof may to him as the supreme cause, and not to his instruments be ascribed.

4. That the gifts of Gods holy Spirit, are not limited to those that receive his graces, is further clear, Mat. 7.22, 23. Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we pro­phesied in thy name— Here were great gifts bestowed, and that upon wicked, and unsanctified persons: for it followes immediately, Then will I professe unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye workers of iniquity: so also 1 Cor. 13.2. Though I have the gift of prophesie, and understand all mysteries, and though I have all faith so as to remove mountains (viz. of seeming impossibilities) and have not charity, I am nothing. From whence two things are plainly, and clearly ob­servable.

1. That the understanding of holy Scriptures, and of the mysteries of godliness, or prophetical and ministerial gifts, may be obtained in the use of outward means, without the internal sanctification of soul which consists in charity or love, which is the fulfilling of the Law.

2. But then secondly, The gift of prophesie, with all the wisdome and knowledge of holy things, though they may be, and often are useful for the edification of others; yet are they altogether fruitless, and ineffectual to the person that hath them, if not animated by the grace of charity, or obe­dience to the Lawes of God, for so they are not much unlike [Page 138]a candle in a dark lanthorn, which casteth its light abroad upon others, leaving the person that holds it in dark­nesse.

CHAP. XV. The dangerous and destructive consequences of, and de­pending upon immediate Revelation.

HEe that pretends unto or depends upon any further Re­velations from heaven then God in his great mercy hath already afforded unto his Church and people, viz. 1. His written Word, 2. Those several means and helps forementioned, both divine and humane, outward and inward, for the right understanding of his Word, by the blessing of God, and the secret influence of his holy Spirit upon our studies, and meditations therein: laies himself open to manifold tempta­tions, and dangerous seductions of the spirit of error and delusion: and as much as in him lies, subverts the very foun­dation of the holy Christian Faith: for hereupon these de­structive inconveniencies must needs ensue.

1. The canon of holy Scripture is transgrest and dissolv'd, by the superaddition of new Revelations: and the authori­ty of Gods Word is made null, and void; that must passe for a dead letter, when the fictitious dreams, and delusions of every idle enthusiastical brain, under the mask of Revelati­ons, shall be mistaken and miscalled too, The quickning Spirit.

And he that sets up any thing of Religion to the disho­nour of holy Scriptures, Opta [...]. l. 3. 1. saith the Father, he doth, adi­ficium de ruina construere, erect a building upon the ruines of Gods truth; and such a building can be no better but an heap of errors and deceits: For what will not he dare to affirm, and hold, who holds any thing besides, or above, or but equal to the Word of God, for the Rule of Faith? Hereupon the Resurrection hath been denied, and the last judgement, [Page 139]and the necessity of all holy, just, and good works, the neces­sary consequences of these points of our faith: for he that believes not the Resurrection, and last judgement, Quid bo­ni aut veri, what holy Truth will he care to believe, or what good action will he make conscience to practise?

2. He opposes himself to the doctrine of the universal Church of Christ, for 1600 years together, who with one unanimous, and common consent, have received the holy Scriptures as the very canon of Faith, without addition or diminution, without ever hoping or waiting for any new Revelations to be superadded thereunto: and very good rea­son sure, if that dismal curse wherewith the canon of holy Scripture is concluded, have any influence upon the mindes of men, Rev. 22.18.19. If any man adde unto these things, God shall adde unto him, the plagues that are written in this book, &c.

3. And more particularly he makes void all those com­mandements of God to search the Scriptures, to hear, read, meditate, and study, and delight our selves in the Lawes of God: For all immediate Revelation of Gods will, presuppo­ses the knowledge of the truth, without any search, study, &c. The contempt or neglect of which duty hath sad and heavie judgements threatned thereunto, as Jer. 9.13, &c. And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my Law, which I set before them — And have walked after the imagination of their own heart — I will seed them with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink, I will scatter them among the hea­then, &c. with manifold texts to the same purpose, both in the old and new Testament, as Prov. 13.13. & 28.9. Psal. 81.11, 12. Zach. 7.12.13. Joh. 5.45, 46. & 12.48.

4. He makes void and unnecessary the sacred function of the Priesthood, or Ministery, which God hath in all ages or­dained and setled in his Church, as to mediate with God for the people, so to instruct the people from God: And this sacred office God hath both confirmed by miracles, and by testimony of his blessings ordinary and extraordinary, and guarded the same by many direful threatnings denounced, and many heavie judgements inflicted upon such as have, or [Page 140]shal sacrilegiously violate, infringe, or usurp this office, or neg­lect, refuse, or contemn to hear the word of God in the mouthes of his Prophets, and faithful Ministers: See amongst many other places, Jer. 5.12, &c. Because the people belied the Lord, and said, It is not he, when he spake by his Prophet; And because they said moreover, The Prophets shall become [...]inde, and the word is not in them— Therefore thus saith the Lord, Because ye speak this word, I will make my words in thy mouth, fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them: And to the same purpose, Jer. 6.10, 11, 12. & Mat. 10.14, 15. Luk. 10.11, 12.

5. All pretence to immediate Revelation lords it over the faith of our Christian brethren: For an immediate Revelation commands an immediate belief, and blinde obedience, with­out any further fearch or trial at all: contrary to those ex­presse commands, 1 Joh. 4.1. Beleeve not every spirit, but try the spirits: 1 Thess. 5.21. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, or agreeable to the word of God: but reject that which is not so, and hold for accursed the publishers, and promoters thereof: Gal. 1.8. Though we, or an Angel from heaven should preach unto you another Gospel besides what ye have received, let him be accursed.

6. The faith of the Enthusiast (if it may be called a faith, and not rather an illusion of his fancy) is not built upon the same grounds with the faith of Christs Church; which is the pillar and ground of truth: the Church is built upon the foundation of the Prophets, and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone, Eph. 2.20. i. e. what the Prophets of the Old Testament, and the Apostles of the New, have re­vealed to be the doctrine of salvation in Christ, is the foun­dation which the faith of all true Christians is built upon: But the Enthusiasts faith, is not built upon old, but upon new Revelations, not upon what is revealed already through the mediation of the Prophets and Apostles, and communicated by their successors, but upon what shall be immediately re­vealed from heaven: and this groundless ground of faith is opposed to that which is the true ground of faith indeed, and made of equal authority therewith; so that upon this ground [Page 141]every private mans sayings, and affirmations are of as great authority, and as much to be regarded, as the divinely in­spired sayings of the Prophets and Apostles; and this must needs be so, were there any truth in mens p [...]etended Reve­lations: for undoubtedly we owe as much faith, reverence, and obedience to every Revelation from heaven, how mean soever the person be, that receives it, as we do to any part of Gods Word already revealed, though by the greatest Patri­arch or Prophet, that ever lived upon earth.

7. All dependence upon new Revelations, laies a secret stain of dishonour upon God: and this in two respects:

1. That God, notwithstanding his several methods of di­vine Revelation, by the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, by his own Son Jesus Christ, and his Apostles in these last daies, should yet be defective in making known to his people the waies of his service, and of their own salvation.

2. All pretence to new lights and Revelations, makes God, the Father of Lights, with whom is no variablenesse, or shadow of change, to vary and change his minde as oft as the fickle and deceitful mindes of men do alter: Nay, thus God is made to speak things quite opposite and contrary to himself; whilest the several conceits, secret suggestions, and whis­pers of mens hearts, which are as numerous as the sand, and contrarious as light, and darkness, are yet all under pretence of immediate Revelation fixed upon God, who chan­geth not.

8. It doth extremely much derogate, and detract from the honour of holy Christian Religion to have no better ground and foundation, then either the divinity of the Heathens of old, or that of the Mahometans, which of later times hath so far overspread, and swallowed up so many Christian King­domes, and flourishing Common-wealths in the world; and both the one and the other of these, not only derive their original, but also their progresse, successe, and present continuance doth depend upon immediate Revelations: which no good Christian surely doth doubt to be any other then Diabolical Delusions: The Divinity of the Heathens was such, as the Priests of their respective Temples and Oracles delivered [Page 142]to the people in their prophetick trances, for celestial Re­sponses, and divine inspirations: And the more subtil, and sublime of the heathen Philosophers recommend unto us, an Ecstatical contemplation, even to the abolition of the understanding, and Reason, as the highest and most per­fect way of divine knowledge. Mahomet began with Raptures, and extasies, and supposed Revelations of Angels. He there­fore, that shall seriously consider the monstrous Idolatries of the one, and the horrid Blasphemies of the other, will be careful surely how he trusts unto, or depends upon immediate Revelations.

9. This doctrine of immediate Revelation (should it be granted) is not safe for sober and peaceable-minded Christi­ans to embrace, or depend upon it: but is fittest rather for such persons, whose destructive plots, and designs, under the mask of Religion, are to dethrone, and murder Chri­stian Princes, ruine well establisht government, and gover­nors, both Ecclesiastick and Civil, massacre their Christian brethren, rob, ruine, and destroy whatever opposes their de­signs, and private perswasions in point of faith, and man­ners, how sacred and useful soever it be: such mischiefs and barbarous cruelties, when open force is wanting to effect, may be, and too often have been effected by pretended Re­velations, and men of ecstatical, and seduced fancies; who have though they have greatly merited thereby, and done God good service by destroying the enemies of his Truth, and abolishing Haeresie, Superstition, &c. when as indeed they have made havock of a people more righteous then them­selves, destroy'd the truth, and true worship of God, open'd the way to disorder and confusion, and this through perju­ry, sacriledge, murder, rebellion, and the breach of all the lawes of piety, justice, and charity.

10. The neglect of the means of saving knowledge, viz. learning, divine and humane, and to depend upon Revelation, without the use of such means, is the way to advance Lady Ignorance again as the mother of devotion, to drown the world in Barbarism, Espencaeus. & to reduce the Church of Christ to that sad condition, wherin it was in the ninth age, which was called, [Page 143] The unlearned, and the unhappy age of the Church: wherein he that studied Philosophy, and the Mathematicks was counted a Magician: he that knew the Greek tongue was shrewdly suspected, but if he understood Hebrew also, he was no bet­ter then an Haeretique. 'Tis observed by the learned, both Historians and Divines, that all the ten bloudy persecutions of the Church by the Heathen Emperors, did not so da­mage holy Christian Religion, as did the subtil underminings of Julian the Apostate, Euseb. eccl. hist. l. 10. c. 32. Soz. l. 5. c. 5. Theod. l. 3. c. 7. who fought not against Christian Religion, as did the rest of the persecuting Emperors with fire and faggot; but by taking from them all offices of dig­nity, and places of preferment: all Ecclesiastical promotions, and Church priviledges, and more especially by putting down, and forbidding all Schools of learning, for the training up their youth in the knowledge of tongues and sciences: that so the light of holy Religion might be lost in the dark of ig­norance and decay of arts: For Arts and Tongues are the handmaids to holy Religion: these as 'twere hold the candle, whilest the sacred light of Truth is display'd for our direction in the waies of light and life everla­sting.

11. He tempts the good Spirit of God, who expects to re­ceive the knowledge of Truth by immediate Revelation and miracle, which by ordinary, common, and known means is at­tainable: Dominum ten­tare, est novo miraculo velle p [...]rficere, quod aliis rationibus sieri potest. so the Devil tempted our Lord to seed himself with the bread of a miracle, when Gods ordinary and common providence yeelded bread enough, Mat. 4.3. and to cast him self down from the pinnacle of the Temple, when the way to come down by steps, was plain and easie without any such praecipitation.

That dependence upon immediate Revelation is unnecessary, and consequently uselesse and unprofitable, is manifest from what hath been already said from the sufficiency of Gods revealed Truth: and is yet further manifest from the vain, and bootlesse issue of all such dependence; For what sacred Mysteries of holy Religion have been either made known, or more plainly unfolded by immediate Revelation in these last daies since the time of Christ and his Apostles? many Impo­stures, [Page 144]and lies, many Haeresies and errors, many Schismes and divisions, have fancied Revelations brought forth: but that any sound soul-saving truth hath been of later times immedi­ately revealed, I could yet never hear or read of by any au­thentick witnesses: and it is most just with God to give men up to the vanity of their minde, and to the delusions of their own hearts, who thus tempt his holy Spirit, by leaving the known and beaten paths of Truth revealed, to depend upon what is unnecessary, useless, and vain: and not only so, but also,

12. Dependence upon immediate Revelations laies us open to the delusions of Satan, 2 Cor. 11.14. who transforming himself into an angel of light, insinuates his suggestions, and diabolical do­ctrines under the shew and vizard of divine Revelations: Many pious men have been deluded by this wile of the De­vill, and have faln into grosse errors. Tert. de anima c. 9. Tertullian though he observed this, and saw how grosly many of Montanus sect were cheated into foul mistakes and errors, upon fancied Revelations, yet notwithstanding so strongly doth the Devil work upon the fancy by the force of this inchantment, that he himself was deceived also, and became a Montanist, being cousened hereunto, especially by the pretended Revelations of a holy sister, whom he much extols in his tract de Animâ: whose pretended vision of the substance of a soul corporally exhibited to her view, made him believe the soul to be cor­poreal: and although for this opinion he was not condem­ned for haeresie; neither yet was guilty of those more gross and blasphemous opinions of the Montanists, which their fancied Revelations brought forth: yet because more zea­lously then discreetly he maintained private Revelations, the Church of that age seeing the many mischiefs, that ensued upon that doctrine, severely censured him for it: which made him desert the communion of the Catholick Church, and set up a congregation of his own, which were called from him Tertullianists, and are reckoned by S. Aug. amongst his Catalogue of Haereticks.

A story not much unlike this of Tertullian, Jos. Acost. de temp. noviss. l. 2. c. 11. is re­membred by Doctor, Casaubon out of Acosta: who re­cords [Page 145]of a learned Doctor of Divinity, and a very great zea­lot, who was cousened into strange and blasphemous opini­ons, first by the pretended Revelations of an ordinary woman: the story is at large set down in English by the said Doctor in his 3. ch. of Enthusiasm, with many other remarka­ble stories of deluded persons, under pretence of Revela­tions.

Those two great pretenders to Revelation, Prisca and Pri­scilla, Montanus his minions, were so long cousened with Sa­tanical illusions, which they took for divine Revelations, that at the last it was revealed unto them, that they should hang themselves, that they might passe from the miseries of this life, to the joyes of the other: Euseb. eccl. hist. lib. 5. c. 16. And Theodotus a Montanist had a vision, that he should be taken up into heaven, and beleeving the spirit of error, he was lifted up on high, and thence let fall down to the earth again, and so miserably ended his life: And many of Montanus sect which were great pretenders to Revelation, and had withdrawn themselves from communion with the Catholick Church, at several times ended their lives in an halter, being thereinto incited by the Devil that inspired them, who was the father of their Revelations.

There were another ancient sort of Haereticks in the Church, cal'd Messalians, and from their assiduity in prayers more then ordinary, they were also called Euchites: Their tenents were, that every one brought into the world with him an evil spirit, wherewith they were possest until by earnest prayer the evil spirit being driven away, the good Spirit of God did take possession of their souls, and after this they needed no more, no Sacraments, no Sermons, no Scripture to make them perfect, for they could see the holy Trinity visibly, and foreted things to come, and all by immediate Revelation: But by this pretence to perfection, and dependence upon Revelation, most of them, if not all, Theod. Hist. eccl. prov'd to be relly possest by the Devil, as is recorded by Theodoret in his Ecclesiastical History.

I might stuffe this chapter with multitudes of holy per­sons, that have been cousened with illusive, and lying Reve­lations: Katharine a holy woman said, it was revealed to her, [Page 146]that the Virgin Mother of our Lord, was conceived in sin: And Briget as holy as she, Joh. Franc, Pi­cus. pretended a Revelation quite con­trary to that of the other, viz. that the holy Virgin was free from original sin: venerable Bede remembers a vision, saith Bellarm, Bell. de purgat. l. 2. c. 7. wherein it was shewed to a certain devout per­son, That there was a fourth place besides, Heaven. Hell, and purgatory, not unlike the Elizian fields describ'd by the hea­then Poets, wherein lived those souls which suffered nothing, being not as yet made fit for the beatifical vision: and this saith the Cardinal is not improbable, since like to this Revelation Di­onysius, Cart. Suarez. Jes [...] to, 4 in Thom. disp. 46.4. Num. 9. and Greg. have many others: but contrary here­unto saith Suarez another Jesuite, Revelationes Bedae & Car­thusiani, &c. The Revelations of Bede, and Carthusianus are not to be believ'd, but in a metaphorical sense.

S. Augustine in his Confessions, Aug. conf. l. 10. acknowledges himself to have been mercifully delivered from the curiosity of visions, and miracles: For it is both a sin, and a judgement to be cu­rious in affecting, and depending upon such extraordinary means of divine Revelation: since the ordinary is not only sufficient, but more certain and infallible, which is affirmed by S. Peter preferring the Word of God before immediate Revelation by voice from heaven, 2 Pet. 1.18, 19. And this voice which came from heaven we heard— But we have a more sure word of prophesie, &c. the meaning is, that an immediate voice from heaven revealed Christ to be the son of God: but the written word of God is a more sure and infallible way of revealing Christ: and what's the reason? but that voices from heaven, visions and immediate Revelations may be, and often are counterfeited by the devil. But the holy Scri­ptures rightly understood, are a sure, and infallible guide and an unerring rule of Truth, as being the Dictates, and inspira­rations of the Spirit of Truth himself.

CHAP. XVI. Several texts alledged against humane Learning, and against the Ministery, and for immediate Revelation, explained.

THE tenor of the new covenant recorded Jer. 31.34 and remembred to be accomplisht, Jer. 31.34. Heb. 8.10, 11, 12. Heb. 8.10, 11, 12. is the chief place alledged against the necessity of Learning, or the teaching of man, as containing the promise of an imme­diate teaching from God himself: This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, after those daies, saith the Lord: I will put my Lawes into their minde, and write them in their hearts— And they shall not teach every man his neigh­bour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest: for I will be merci­ful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

In which Text consisting of three verses, there is a three­fold difference betwixt the old covenant and the new, de­livered.

1. The old Law was written in Tables of stone, but the new in the fleshly tables of mens hearts: vers. 10. I will put my Lawes into their mindes, &c. i.e. my Lawes under the new covenant shall be more agreeable to the mindes, and more approve themselves to the Spirits of men to be the waies of perfection and felicity, and consequently shall have a stron­ger influence upon their hearts, then the Laws of the old co­venant: for that consisted of many beggerly elements many types and figures, rites and ceremonies, which considered in themselves, had no such efficacy to work upon the soul to obey them, as the Lawes of the Gospel have: therefore the one are call'd carnal ordinances, and the other spiritual.

2. There was more need of frequent instructions, and teachings of the people, to keep them up to the observance of those carnal ordinances under the old Law, then there [Page 148]is under the new: because the doctrines of the Gospel are more plain, clear and convincing: so that persons of the mea­nest capacity may understand the knowledge of God: which is the meaning of vers. 11. They shall not teach every man his neighbour, &c. Not that there should be no teaching at all under the Gospel, but that lesse teaching should serve the turn.

3. The sacrifices under the Law, were weak and insuffi­cient, as to the taking away of sins: but the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all, is a sufficient sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world, 1 Joh. 2.2. and that's the scope of vers. 12. I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesse: and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.

Cognitio viae, & cognitio pa­triae, Lyr. in Loc.And for the further clearing of these words, They shall not teach, &c. There is a twofold knowledge of God: 1. In this life, 2. In the life to come. And to both of these the words in their literal sense do relate.

• 1. That in this life the knowledge of God under the Go­spel was not at the first taught by man, but by the blessed Son of God himself, by him the Apostles were instructed at the first, and not one of another: And to him this prophe­sie is by himself applied, they shall be all taught of God, Joh. 6.45.
• 2. That in the life to come, all the blessed Saints of God from the least to the greatest. shall truly know God without the mediation of humane Teaching: For then shall we see God as he is: when that which is perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall be done away, 1 Cor. 1.3.9, 10.

But that in this life the people shall have no need of Pa­stors to teach them the knowledge of God, is a false collecti­on from the words: For as under the Law, Moses taught Gods will unto the people, and afterwards, they that sate in Moses chair; so under the Gospel. 1. Christ himself revea­led and taught Gods will to his Church, and afterwards his Apostles and their successors in all ages since: this being one of the promises and priviledges of the Gospel, thine eyes shall see thy teachers, Isa. 30.20. And of the gifts of the Spirit: [Page 149] He gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, &c. Eph. 4.11, 12. For as the same Apostle demands, How shall they, i.e. any people believe in him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Rom. 10.14. where preaching, and hearing, are affirmed to be the necessary mediums of receiving the Gospel, and believing in Christ.

Another place to the same purpose is alledged, 1 Joh. 2. [...]0. 1 Joh. 2.20. Ye have an unction from the holy one: and ye know all things. And vers. 27. The anointing which ye have received from him, abideth in you, and ye need not, 27 that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie: and even as he hath taught you, remain in him still.

This Ʋnction from the holy one teaching, and whereby these Disciples were taught all necessary Truths; is the holy Spirit sent down from Christ the holy one, upon his Apostles, who being replenisht with his coelestial gifts were not only themselves led into all Truth, but did also teach their disci­ples the same.

And the same anointing abideth in you] i.e. The same spiri­tual gifts, viz. of prophesie, of miracles, of tongues, &c. did still as yet abide in their Churches, for the confirmation of those Truths, which they had been taught: and hereby, even by those sacred persons, which had these gifts, they were held up to the Truth, and kept free from the seducements of Heretiques.

And ye need not, that any man teach you] So far as they were already taught, and knew all things already that were necessa­ry to be known, they had no need of any man to teach them: namely, as ignorant and seduced persons have need of Teachers: the ignorant must be taught, that they may learn what they knew not before: and the seduced and erroneous must be taught, that they may return to that faith from which they are faln: but these faithful persons to whom the Apostle here writes; were it seems neither ignorant, nor yet seduced; and in neither of these respects had need of teaching:

But yet in other Respects both these disciples, and all others that do both know, and persevere also in the Truth, have need of Teachers still, by whose assistance, and direction they may

• 1. Be confirmed, and strengthned to persist in the Truth al­ready received.
• 2. Grow up, and increase daily in the knowledge of God. and of his Son Jesus Christ.
• 3. Be armed against the fair words, and cunning speeches of such as lie in wait to deceive.

The like place, 1 Thess. 4.9. 1 Thess. 4.9. which may help also to the further clearing of this, is 1 Thess. 4.9. Touching brotherly love ye have no need, that I write unto you, for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another: Taught of God, but how? not by imme­diate Revelation, but by the Gospel of Christ the Son of God, who doth so often ineulcate this lesson of brotherly love, Joh. 13.34, 35. & 15.17. And the like is to be said of all other Gospel Truths, all of them we are taught of God: From him they descend originally: he is the fountain of Truth, and Christs is the Conduit through whom the waters of life do flow: from God to Christ, from Christ to his Apo­stles, from them to their Successors, and Disciples, Pastors and people in all ages.

But withal 'tis confessed, and with all thankfulness of soul to be acknowledged, That there is an inward teaching of God, as well as an outward, viz. the dictate of the Spirit with­in, as well as the doctrine of the Word without. These two God hath joyned together, and we must not presume to part them, by depending upon the one without the other: for as all study, and meditation, reading, and hearing the Word, are ineffectual, if the inward influence of Gods Spirit does not open the wndowes of the soul to receive the light dis­played thence: so the inward influence and working of Gods. Spirit, is ordinarily and for the most part silent and stirreth not but by reading, hearing meditating of the word, and of good instructions thence derived: the one being as the body, and the other the soul of Religion: and when these two meet together, viz. the unction without, and the anoin­ting within: or when the spiritual gifts of the Ministery, [Page 151]and graces of the people concur: or when then the outward effusions of the Spirit in the word fall upon hearts infused, and seasoned with Grace and Obedience: then are these several promises accomplished, then are a people truly [...] The taught of God indeed: or, which is all one, then are they the true Disciples of Christ.

The next memorable place misapplyed to patronize ex­traordinary and immediate Revelations, is that prophesie of Joel, 2.28. remembred to be accomplisht, Joel 2.28. Act. 2.16, &c. Act. 2.16. &c. It shall come to passe in the last daies, saith God, I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesie, &c.

This text must be understood with several limitations, otherwise many dangerous, and false consequences will ensue, and such as are contrary to what in other places of Scripture is affirmed.

I will pour out of my Spirit] not [...], but [...]: not my Spirit himself, for no flesh, not all flesh can con­tain the Spirit of God, Ad dive sa do­na respicit, non ad minutionem substantiae. Gloss. ordin. in Loc. who filleth all the world, and contain­eth all things, Wisd. 1. But of my Spirit, i. e. of his gifts, and graces, even as beams from the light, as heat from the fire, or a [...] streams from this fountain of Truth.

2. I will pour out] Denoting indeed the liberal donation of spiritual gifts under the Gospel, but yet with restriction to certain times, and certain persons: for not at all times, neither upon all persons, is the Spirit of God plentifully poured out: when the holy Ghost visibly, and miraculously descended up­on the Apostles, there was a plentiful pouring out, so that they were filled with the Spirit, vers. 4. The gift of Tongues, the gift of Prophesie, to understand and open all mysteries, the gift of healing all diseases, the gift of miracles, &c. these and many other gifts were at this time after such a plentiful man­ner poured forth, that there were some reliques, some drops of this full measure remaining in the Church for 400 years af­ter. Thus it was then, and 'twas then necessary, because the first publication, and planting of the Gospel, required ex­traordinary and more ample gifts and abilities for the effecting thereof: But we must not look to see those daies of such ex­traordinary [Page 152]effusions to return again: which is intimated in that they are called, the last daies, in the text, as being the last time we must expect any such miraculous and immediate effu­sions, or Revelations, till the last day of all, even that great and notable day of the Lord come, vers. 20.

Although therefore this prophesie may in some general re­spects be extended to all the people of God, yet particularly, and after an especiall manner 'twas fulfilled in the persons of the Apostles themselves, and by S. Peter 'tis here applyed un­to them, vers. 15, 16. And undoubtedly 'tis high presumption in any man, or sect of men to apply to themselves, what was peculiar and proper to the divinely inspired Apostles: and their hopes must needs be vain, who wait for extraordinary inspirations upon misapplied promises, and prophesies long since accomplisht.

Ʋpon all flesh] Which 1. is not to be understood of all men promiscuously; but of all such men of all nations, and condi­tions, as give up their names to become my sons and daughters; to be called by, and to call upon the name of the Lord, to the hope of salvation, for so the prophesie concludes: Whose­ever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: and so S. Peter concludes his Sermon upon this prophesie, Repent and be baptized, vers. 38. Not all flesh, but such only as are capa­ble of the effusions of the Spirit: and this limitation cuts off all Turks, Jews, Infidels, Heretiques, and Hypecrites: for no such flesh have the Spirit of truth and holiness powred on them, but are led by the spirit of error and wickednesse.

2. All flesh] cannot be meant of all Gods people neither as to the gift of prophesie, and full understanding of the myste­ries of godliness: For so all good Christians, men and women, whether be they young or old, children or servants, must turn Prophets. And all flesh (as the reverend Andrewes) must be cut out into Tongues, which is a monstrous thing to imagine: For if all the body of Christ were a Tongue, where were the ears, &c. If all were Preachers, where were the Hearers? Such were not an orderly Church, but a Babylon of confusion, where the one heard not another: therefore though it be said, all flesh, 'tis not said, all your sons and daughters shall prophesie, [Page 153]but some shall do it for all: some sons, and some servants too, i. e. some Jewes and some Gentiles, some of all nations: God gave some Apostles, some Prophets, &c. And these must be of the male, not of the female sex, they are prohibited, 1 Cor. 14.34. Let your women keep silence in the Churches. If you demand, how is the Spirit then upon all flesh? 'Tis upon all holy and good Christians, but not upon all to prophesie: all Gods people, have in some measure the Spirit of grace and truth, but that does not authorise them presently to turn speakers and teachers of others.

But doth not the Apostle say, ye may all prophesie one by one, 1 Cor. 14.31. 1 Cor. 14.31. Ye all, that is, as many as be prophets, but to think that all are so, the Apostle holds it very absurd, demanding with indignation, Are all Apostles, are all Prophets? 1 Cor. 12.29. not so surely; the gift must first be had, and then letters of Administration taken, before the operation or work of Prophesie be lawfully performed.

'Tis further alledg'd to the same purpose, 1 Cor. 12.7. To every man is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withall: 1 Cor. 12.7. whence 'tis infer'd that both liberty of prophesying for the profit of our brethren, and immediate Revelations, or manifestations of the Spirit to that end, are given to every man. Answ. By every man is not meant every particular person, but every man that hath those gifts mentioned in the next words, viz. The gifts of wisdome, knowledge, faith, tongues, &c. hath them for this end given, that he may profit and edifie the Church, and people of God thereby: And they are called, The manifestations of the Spirit: 1. Because they flow from the Spirit, either extraordinarily, or immediately, as in the firster and primitive times of the Church; or ordinarily, and in the use of means in all ages since. 2. Because by the help of these gifts we are enabled to manifest and clear the truth, and true meaning of the Spirit in the word.

Joh. 1.9. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world: Joh. 1.9. From whence 'tis urged, That every man hath a light within him, displayed from Christ the true light of the world, whereunto if he give heed, he shall not need any outward illuminations or instructions from men, [Page 154]for this is the work of Christ himself: and himself hath suffi­ciently done it.

Answ. 'Tis with all reverence and thankfulness acknowledged, that Christ is the fountain of every perfect illumination, Non quianullus est hominum qui non illumina­tur, sed quia nisi ab ipso nul­lus illumina­tur. Aug. Si [...]ut nemo à seipso esse, sic nemo à seipso sapiens esse po­test. Beda. whether natural, spiritual, or eternal: But yet the words are not so to be understood, as if every man, saith the Father, were truly and fully enlightned immediately by Christ himself: but that no man is enlightned but by him: For as no man can be; so no man can be wise, or holy from himself, but from Christ. But as it is in the effusion of the natural light of the world, there is Lux, lumen, and luminare: There is 1. the light it self; 2. The medium that receives it; 3. The splendid bodies from whence 'tis displaid: so it is in the spiritual light of the Church; There is 1. Lux, the true light it self, and this is Christ; 2. Lumen, the medium whereby our souls are en­lightned by Christ, and this is a lively faith: such a faith as is both doctrinal and practical: Joh. 12.46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever beleeveth on me should not abide in darknesse. 3. Luminaria, the lumiraries, or personal lights, by whose Ministery this light is imparted: And these are the Apostles and Ministers of Christ in all ages; to whom our Lord saith, Ye are the light of the world, Mat. 5.14. So that as every man is enlightned by Christ primarily and originally, so by his Ministers also secondarily and instrumentally: they are the earthen vessels that carry this heavenly treasure. The Li­minaries that convey unto others that light of Grace and Truth, which from Christ they have received, even as the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, are the conveyances of that ma­terial light, which had its being before them. And what the Psalmist speaks of the diffusion of the light of the heavens, over the face of the whole earth, Psal. 19.4. is applyed by the Apostle to the Preachers of the Gospel, Rom. 10.18. Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. And for the more full understanding of this text, 'tis worthy observation, that the words may as well, if not more properly he rendred thus in English, He is the true light who coming into the world lighteth every man: applying, as Grotius notes, [...], to [...], and [Page 155]not to [...], and this is most agreeable with the context, for it immediately followes, He is in the world: and as long as I am in the world I am the light thereof, Joh. 9.5. And this was Christs principal errand into the world, to give light to them that sit in darkness, &c. Luk. 1.79.

1 Cor. 14.30. But if any thing be revealed to another that sit­teth by, 1 Cor. 14.30. let the first hold his peace: whence 'tis alledged that the people are capable of Revelations from heaven, and may thereupon interrupt and sile [...]ce the Preacher, that their Re­velations may be heard.

Answ. 'Tis most true that every Preacher of the Gospel, must yeeld all obedience to a divine Revelation, and keep silence when God himself speaks by the mediate ministery of man, or Angel; but that no such immediate Revelation can be meant in this text, is clear from the context: the words immedi­ately before, are these, Let the Prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge: whereupon it followes, if any thing be re­vealed; not immediately from heaven surely, for that is not liable to humane judgement: but as 'tis vers. 26. If any man hath a Revelation, i. e. the gift of revealing or opening some Gospel Truth, which is hid under the veile of some type, fi­gure, or mystical expression in the Law: For Evangelium est velatum in lege, & lex est revelata in Evangelio, i. e. The Law: and he hath the gift, or Spirit of Revelation, not who brings in new Revelations (which under a dismal curse is forbidden) but who can reveal and open the old, who can pull the veile off Moses face, who can open the Law with the Gospel key, and finde Christ and the mysteries of salvation, under the types and dark expressions of the Law and the Prophets. And this is that which is also meant by the Spirit of Revelation, Eph. 1.17. and may serve to clear that text also from the like false collection thence. Eph. 1.17.

Only we may again remember herewithall for the clear­ing of both these, and all other texts alledged to the same purpose, that this gift of Revelation, was extraordinarily, and by more immediate inspiration communicated to the Apostles, and first preachers of the Gospel, and therefore 'tis called [Page 156] The spirit of Revelation, which no Enthusiast without sacri­ledge can now pretend unto, no more then he may to the gifts of Tongues, miracles, &c. All which were peculiar to those primitive times, being then necessary for that first plan­ting of the Gospel, and working of faith in the hearts of the hearers, but are now, and have long since ceased, as be­ing no further useful: since the Gospel is planted, and wee all professe to believe the same. So that what the Father said of Miracles, the same is true of the gifts of Tongues, of Wisdome, Miracula necessaria fucre pri­usquam crederet mundus, ad hoc ut mundus cre­dert; Quis­quis adlue pro­digia ut credat inquirit, mag­num est ipse prodigium: qui mundo credente n [...]m credit. Aug. Rom. 8.9. Revelation, and all extraordinary and immediate inspirations of the holy Ghost: This were necessary before the world believed, even to this end, that the world might believe: But he that now looks for such grounds of his faith, as are extra­ordinary, and miraculous, is himself a miracle, because he believes not with the rest of the world of Beleevers.

Other texts alledged for the proof of immediate inspira­tion, are such, wherein the inhabitation of Christ and his Spi­rit, and our communion with them is expressed. And Rom. 8.9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of him. And 1 Joh. 3.6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. And vers. 24. Hereby know we that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Rightly to understand which texts, and the like expressi­ons in all other texts, and to free them from the false col­lections which Euthusiastical persons gather from them, two things must be explained.

• 1. What is meant by Christ being in us.
• 2. What by the Spirit which he hath given us.

For the 1. By Christ being, and abiding in us, is meant that communion, which all faithful souls have with Christ, where­by they derive from Christ as branches from the vine, the sap of nourishment and growth in Grace, and obedience here, unto the hopes of eternal Glory hereafter, Joh. 15.4, 5. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me: I am the vine, and ye are the branches, &c. But this mu­tual inhabitation of Christ in us, and we in Christ, is not, Nostra & ip­sius conjunctio, nec miscet perso­nas, nec unit sub­stantias, sed af­fectus consociat & confoederal voluntates. Cypr. de coen. dom. saith the Father, a mixture of his person with ours, nor of his substance [Page 157]with our substance, (for so the blasphemous corceit of being equal with Christ, must needs follow) but 'tis the consociation of our affections, and confederation of our wils, with the holy desires, and blessed will of our Lord: And thus Christ abideth in us by our obedience to his doctrine, and conformity to his example both in the affections of our hearts, and the actions of our life: therefore he saith, Joh. 15.7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, &c. and vers. 10. If ye keep my com­mandements, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Fa­thers commandements, and abide in his love.

In like manner the being of the holy Spirit in us, is not to he understood of his personal being: but of the being of his graces in our hearts, which render us of such a gracious, and holy disposition of Spirit, as makes us obedient to the will, and conformable to the Spirit of Christ, who is not only our Lawgiver, but also the exact pattern of perfect obedience to the Lawes he hath given us: so Phil. 2.5. Let the same minde be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What to be equal with God? as some blasphemous Enthusiasts have per­verted the text: No, but the same gracious temper of minde, or spirit: even the same humility and obedience to the will of God, both in life and death: so it followes, who be­ing in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet made himself of no reputation, and humbled himself, and be­came obedient unto death— And whosoever by the influence of Gods holy Spirit, hath this gracious temper of minde or Spirit wrought in him, may be assured, that Christ dwelleth in him by his Spirit, which he hath given him; which makes him conformable to the minde or Spirit of Christ, who is as the fountain, so the exemplar of all gracious perfections.

And this is also the meaning of that other perverted text, 1 Cor. 6.17. 1 Cor. 6.17. He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit: not that he hath the same essential Spirit with the Lord; but be­ing by the mystical bands of holy faith joyned unto him by the influence of his Spirit, he becomes to be a man of the same Spirit, viz. of love, meeknesse, gentleness, goodness, holiness, patience, humility, obedience, which were graces of the Spirit most emineat in Christ, and must be in us also according to [Page 158]our model, and measure of reception; if we be truly his Disciples. 2 Cor. 13 5.

That other text alledged by the same purpose, 2 Cor. 13.5. Know you not your selves, that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates? is more generally misunderstood: for the words [...], are not so rightly rendred in English: in you, as among you: and the meaning is, that Christ in his ho­ly Gospel, was so evidently present amongst these Corin­thians by S. Paul's powerful preaching, and the miracles he wrought, that if they did not acknowledge it, and beleeve in him, they must be such senseless obdurate persons, as were uncapable of a true saving faith.

From 1 Cor. 13.11, 12. When I was a childe, 1 Cor. 13.11, 12. I spake as a childe, I understood as a childe, I thought as a childe, but when I became a man, I put away childish things— now we see through a glasse darkly, but then face to face— 'Tis alledged, That Scripture and ordinances are useful only in our minority: whilest we are babes in Christ, but these as childish things must be laid aside, when we are grown up to be perfect men: and if we will see clearly, we must throw away the glasse of the word, and ordinances, and have our inspection into the things of God more immediately, and nearly, even by immediate Re­velation.

Answ. In these words, not the different degrees of Grace in this life, but the different condition of the state of grace and of glory are compared together: being not here taught, who have need of the glasse of holy Scriptures, and who not: but what the best and most perfect of us are in this life, in respect of what we shall be in the life to come: here we see the things of God through the glasse of his word, works, sacraments— but hereafter more immediately and fully, not by way of species, image, and representation, as through a glasse; but in a full view, face to face: Here that we may be united unto God, we must use the mediation of Faith, Hope, and Charity, vers. 13. Now abideth Faith, but hereafter our faith shall be changed into vision, Vers. 13. our Hope into fruition, and only Cha­rity shall remain, which being now but a spark shall increase then into a flame, which shall never die, but burn for ever.

In the mean time we must make use of those prospectives God hath graciously lent us, through which his goodnesse, power, wisdome, are represented to us: and if we throw away this glasse, or neglect the waies and means of grace and sal­vation, which God hath ordained: we must expect either to see nothing at all, or nothing, but what are the dreams and fond imaginations of mens hearts, or what is worse, the de­lusions and destructive suggestions of Satan the Prince of darkness.

The like objection is made from 2 Pet. 1.19. We have al­so a more sure word of prophesie, 2 Pet. 1.9. whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, untill the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: From whence 'tis alleadged that the Word of God and his Ordinances, are only useful until we get possession of Christ into our hearts, and then they are of no further use, because Christ by imme­diate Revelation is all in all to them in whom he abideth.

Answ. These words, if the context be considered, make more against immediate Revelation, then any way can be pretended for it: for this sure word of prophesie, whether it be under­stood more particularly of the prophesies and coming of Christ to the destruction of his crucifiers, and deliverance of his people; or whether more specially of the Law, and the Prophets of old, or whether more generally of all the Scri­ptures, both the old and new Testament; in what sense so­ever this light of prophesie is taken, 'tis preferred before immediate Revelation, by voice from heaven: as being a more certain infallible way to direct us to the knowledge of Christ the true light.

For the further illustration whereof, 'twill be not imperti­nent to observe, that there is a twofold light, whereof Christ after an especiall manner is the fountain, and ori­ginal.

• 1. The light of Grace, and truth in this life.
• 2. The light of Glory, and peace in that life to come.

And in both these respects, Christ is termed the morning star. The day-spring from on high: or as in the text, The dawning of the day. The holy Scriptures, or (in the language of the [Page 160]text according to some interpretations) the word of prophesie, is as 'twere those beams, which are displayed from Christ the light of the world, for our illumination, and guidance in the paths of grace and truth, unto the mansions of glory and peace eternal: Thy word is a light— Psal. 119. And all they who enjoy this word of prophesie in the right understan­ding, and conscientious practise thereof, are therefore termed children of the light and of the day, not of the night and of dark­nesse, 1 Thess. 5.5.

But assuredly (what ever seduced persons may falsly ga­ther from this text) whosoever shall neglect, or contemn the use of this light or obscure the same by false glosses, and mis-interpretations, must read the Apostles words backwards, and become children of the night, and of darknesse, and not of the light, and of the day.

But yet as the light of a candle is useless, when the Sun ari­seth, so the light of Gods Word for our direction in the way of grace shall cease, when the light of glory shall once arise, and the day-spring of eternity appear, when we shall be uni­ted unto Christ, not by faith, but by vision, when we shall no more see him, and enjoy him in his word, and ordinances, through a glasse darkly but face to face, plainly and fully be made partakers of him.

But in the mean time whilest we live in this darksome place of the world, darkned, by ignorance and error, by sin­fulness and manifold temptations thereunto; he that will not walk in darkness, not knowing wither he goes, must make use of Gods holy word for a light unto his feet, and a lanthorn unto his pathes.

Against the use of humane learning by the preachers of the Gospel is alledged 1 Cor. 2. 1, &c. 1 Cor. 2.1, 2, 4. And I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdome. For I determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified— And my speech, and my preaching was not with the enticing word of mans wisdome, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power.

The Apostle in this place, takes not away the use of hu­mane learning, because himself in other places makes use [Page 161]thereof: he had his books and writings which he comman­ded to be brought unto him, 2 Tim. 4.13. he read the Greek Poets, which he quotes Act. 17.28. Tit. 1.12. He commands Timothy to give attendance to reading, 1 Tim. 4.13. and to study, 2 Tim. 2.15. But amongst these Corin­thians at the first he declined the use of his humane learning, not drawing his arguments from natural reason, and proba­ble discourses out of Philosophy, guilded with curious, quaint, and rhetorical expressions, which he cals the enticing words of humane wisdome, [...], probable arguments, or per­swasive discourses: this was not the way he went to convert these Corinthians; but by the demonstration of the Spirit, and power, i. e. He proved Christ to be the Saviour of the world,

1. By the demonstration of the Spirit. Shewing that the holy Spirit 1. did speak, and foretel in the Law, and in the Pro­phets, of Christs coming into the world, and of his doings and sufferings for our salvation. 2. That he both visibly descended on him, and audibly bare witness to him, in a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, &c. 3. That he both visibly and audibly descended upon his Apostles also, and endued them with extraordinary gifts, and through their ministery also he descended upon others that were converted by them. Thus S. Paul preached Christ to these Corinthians by the demonstration of the Spirit. And,

2. Of Power also, viz. The power of miracles, curing diseases, speaking with tongues: these were the topical arguments, wherewith he perswaded them to become Christians.

And the reason hereof he gives, vers. 5. That your faith might not stand in the wisdome of men, but in the power of God, i.e. That the grounds of your belief in Christ, might not be the perswasions and allurements of men, how wise soever, but such as God himself made use of. In a word, his meaning in this place is, that he preached unto them plainly and not Rhetorically: and the arguments he used were demonstrative and divine, not probable and humane only. But,

1. We may not hence gather, that S. Paul did alwaies de­cline the use of Rhetorical, and Philosophical wisdome in his preaching, but such was his great wisdome, that his preaching [Page 162]was according to the conditions, and capacities of his hearers, sometimes more plainly, sometimes more elegantly, and myste­riously: using sometimes divine, and sometimes humane, some­times demonstrative, and sometimes probable arguments, and perswasions: He fed the babes in Christ with milk, as here, Vers. 2. I determined to know nothing among you, but Christ, and him crucified, but the more perfect and grown up in Christ, he fed with stronger and solid meat, as vers. 6. Howbeit we speak wisdome among them that are perfect.

And 2. when his preaching was most plain, it was not de­void of learning both divine, and humane, 'twas not without order, method, proper and pertinent expressions, like the up­start intruders into the ministerial office now a daies: who to avoid as they pretend the enticing words of mans wisdome, speak not forth the words of truth and soberness: but rove, and ramble about many points in Divinity, which rightly they understand not; heaping together variety of texts, and Scripture expressions without either order or right applica­tion; as if to spend an hour, or more in a rude and zealous delivery of religious nothings, were to avoid the enticings words of mans wisdome, and to preach in the demonstration of the Spi­rit, and of Power.

1 Cor. 2.14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, Animalis homo est qui babet in­tellectum & af­fectam depressos ad sensibilia. Lyra. but he that is spiritual judgeth all things: whence all Enthusiasts, and pretenders to the Spirit, most pre­sumptuously arrogate to themselves an un-erring judgement in all spiritual and divien things: vilifying all other persons besides themselves, be they never so learned or pious, as blinde and ignorant, under the notion of matural men; whose presumption in the wresting of this text, and the true mea­ning thereof will appear by considering,

• 1. What is meant by the natural and spiritual man.
• 2. And what by the things of the Spirit of God.

For the first, the natural man is such a one whose under­standing and affections soar no higher then outward sensible objects. So that there are two kindes of natural men.

• 1. One who is meerly natural in respect of the understan­ding of his minde. And,
• [Page 163]2. Another who is natural in respect of the manner of his life.

Of the 1. sort were the heathen Philosophers of old, who received not the things of the Spirit of God, but accounted them as foolish, idle, and ridiculous, because they did seeming­ly contradict the dictates of their natural reason.

Of the 2. sort are all vicious sinful persons, who are so wed­ded either to their carnal delights, or to their worldly ends, and interests, that holiness, humbleness, self-denial, taking up the crosse, and the rest of such commands in the Gospel are al­together disrelished, they are foolishnesse unto them.

For the 2. The things of the Spirit of God are reducible to two heads,

1. Pia dogmata. 2. Bona opera. i. e. either, 1. Holy do­ctrines to be believed: Or, 2. Good works to be performed. The first are contradictory, and seemingly foolish to the natu­ral mans reason and judgement: and the 2 ^d. to the natural mans affections and conversation.

And the reason is given, because they are spiritually discer­ned] For,

• 1. The holy doctrines of Christiany many of them are above the reach of natural reason, and only by the eye of faith, which is a gift of the Spirit, to be discerned.
• 2. The good works by Christ in his Gospel enjoyned, ma­ny of them are cross to the natural mans inclinations: It must be a higher principle, even the quickning grace of the Spirit, that does open our eyes to discern them to be the way of blessednesse, and so incline our hearts to yeeld obedience thereunto.

So that the truth delivered in the first part of this text consists of two branches: or, The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God two waies.

• 1. In that the mysteries of the holy Christian faith are not discernible by the eye of natural reason.
• 2. In that the Christian duties or good works of the Gospel are not relished, not obeyed by men of meer natural affecti­ons and inclinations.

But he that is Spiritual judgeth all things] The spiritual man is such a one, [Page 164]

• 1. Whose understanding is enriched with the Gifts;
• 2. Whose affections are rectified by the Graces of the Spirit, Or,
  • 1. Whose natural reason looks into the things of the Spirit, viz. the doctrines & duties of Christianity, with the eye of faith.
  • 2. Whose affections and desires are inclined hereunto by love and obedience.

He judgeth all things] viz All those things of Gods Spi­rit, which natural men judge to be foolish, and contrarious to their reason, and to their felicity: he rightly judges to be most wise and most conducible to the attainment of that perfection and blessedness, whereunto being after the image of God, he is created.

Yet he himself is judged of no man] As being above and out of the reach of the censures, and judgements of natural men: All whose censures, and censorious detractions of him he values not, as knowing them to be both rash and idle, foolish, and false.

2 Cor. 4.3. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Whence 'tis alledged, that the Gospel of Christ is clear, and intelligible enough to the children of Gods election, and heirs of the promise, without the help or assistance of any humane learning.

Answ. But the Apostle treats not in this place of the understan­ding, but of the preaching of the Gospel, affirming only that the word of God was not deceitfully handled, but the truth thereof was made so manifest by the sincere preaching of the Apostles, vers. 2. that it remained dark and obscure to none, but such as were in a lost condition, men of an obsti­nate, obdurate, reprobate sense: In whom (as it followes vers. 4.) the God of this world, hath blinded the mindes of them that beleeve not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image, of God, should shine unto them.

And the Gospel is hid to them that are lost two waies.

• 1. When they receive it not being plainly preached to them, or approved to their conscience in the sight of God: as in vers. 2. Or else,
• 2. When they do hear, and receive it, but not aright.

And men do not rightly receive the Gospel, [Page 165]

• 1. When they do not acquiesce, and rest in it, as the un­doubted way of life.
• 2. When they do not readily obey, and put in practise what the Gospel enjoyns and commands.
• 3. When they persevere not, are not constant in this faith and obedience.

To this text many more are urg'd, wherein the priviledge of the Saints, and servants of God, as to the understanding of his will both mediately and immediately, Psal. 25.14. Mat. 5.8. Joh. 10.4, &c. Ps. 25.14 The secr [...]t of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant, Mat. 5.8. Blessed are the pure in spi­rit, for they shall see God. Christs sheep do know his voice, and follow him; but a stranger will they not follow, neither do they know th' voice of strangers, Joh. 10.4, 5. with the places be­fore remembred, Mat. 11.25. 2 Cor. 1.26, 27. From which and many other places both of the old and new Testament 'tis alledged, that the elect, the Saints, holy and humble men, and such as fear God, have a secret teaching from God whereby they understand his Word and will, without the help of hu­mane learning: they are that new Hierusalem which hath no need of the light of Sun, Moon, or candle, but the Lord God is the light thereof, Rev. 21. They are the Saints that know all things, and need not that any should teach them: And though they be illiterate, yet do they know more of God, then the Learned, and great ones of the world, whom the god of this world hath blinded, that they cannot see Christ through the thicket of profane learning, and unprofitable speculations.

To clear all which Texts from the false glosses, which un­learned and unstable men have put upon them to patronize their own want of learning and inconstancy in the way of truth; Tis confessed,

1. That only the pure, and holy, only such who are sanctifi­ed by the Spirit of Grace, have the true and saving knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ: But withall we must remem­ber; that there is a twofold knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.

1. The one doctrinal, and speculative, which is not ordi­narily obtainable but in the use of outward means, and the blessing of God thereupon.

2. The other practical, or the sanctified use of this do­ctrinal knowledge by the immediate influence of Gods Spi­rit upon the soul, enquickning and perfecting the same in all obedience and holiness of life, as the body is enquickned and animated by the soul: And the former of these must ever precede, and go before the later: For all holiness and obedi­ence to the will of God, does presuppose the knowledge there­of. Prius est Deum nosse, posteà colere, saith Lactantius: no man can do the will of God, that knowes it not, nor make a sanctified use of that knowledge which he hath not obtained: but as in the procreation of the natural man, 1. The bo­dy is formed; and then, 2. The soul infused: So of the spiritual man also: 1. The body of sacred knowledge must be conceived and framed in the minde. 2. The soul of sanctification infused in the obediential and practical use of this knowledge. And both of these are the work of Gods Spirit; the one the issue of his gifts, and the other of his graces, but neither without the use of those respective means which God hath thereunto most graciously appointed.

2. Whosoever pretend to immediate Revelation, and to have a secret teaching from God, because they are of the num­ber of his Saints, and such as fear God, must remember, that 'tis an act of great presumption, misbecoming the humility of Saints, and directly opposing the fear of God, to neglect the means, and depend upon miracle for the knowledge of his will; so that by the very act of depending upon immediate Revelation, they cut themselves off from all title, and interest in those promises, that are made to the meek, lowly, humble, and such as fear the Lord: for how can they be of the number of those babes to whom the mysteries of heaven are revea­led? who rank themselves amongst the most wise and perfect: All professions and boastings of wisdome and holiness, being sym­ptomes of pride and presumption, are thereby evident tokens, that there is no true sober wisdome, or solid soul-saving piety in the hearts of such professors: but that they intrude into those things, Col. 2.18. which they have not seen, being vainly puft up by their fleshly minde. And the minde never swels with that fleshly hu­mour of self-conceited knowledge, and purity, without the [Page 167]secret infusions of that Diabolical spirit, who as he was the first original of all pride and presumption, so of all sinfulness, and error thence derived, and infecting the hearts, and lives of men: For pride is the beginning of sin, (and error also) and he that hath it shall powr out abominations. Ecclus. 10.13.

What, and how great are the benefits of piety, and holi­ness of life, as to the right understanding of Gods revealed will, hath been already expressed: That it is as the very soul, and spirit, so the top, and perfection of true wisdome and know­ledge: that it is the end of all our studies and endevours, and of all learning and knowledge both divine and humane: and that without this holiness of life, all our learning and know­ledge shall be so far from being any way useful as to our own particulars, that it shall tend to our greater condemna­tion at the last day: Luk. 12.47. That whilest we study for learning and knowledge: with desires and intentions on­ly to be more wisely, and knowingly pious and religions, and withall do make a sanctified use of our know­ledge received, not suffering it to continue notionary, and spe­culative in the brain, but to be practical in the heart, and have its influence upon the actions of our life: That thus I say God is invited, and according to his promises, will un­doubtedly multiply, and increase our talent: and by his holy Spirit open our eyes to see more clearly the waies of his ser­vice, and our own salvation, then such persons who have per­haps a greater portion of learning, but less piety: and hence undoubtedly many persons of meaner gifts, and less learned, have outstript others more learned and knowing in the know­ledge of holy mysteries, God of his great mercy enriching their understanding with more for the holy and pious use they have made of the less portion of knowledge imparted to them.

But yet notwithstanding, the soul must not be advanc'd to the destruction of the body of sacred knowledge: nor that which is the end and perfection of true wisdome, must not make null and void the means God hath destin'd thereunto: nor may we presume upon our good desires, pious intentions, and fan­cied relations unto God as this Elect and people, further then in all humility to wait upon him for his blesting, not without [Page 168]but in the use of those means of grace and truth, which he hath ordained for our direction and guidance therein.

To conclude this discourse in the words of judicious Hooker, If license were given to every man, Eccl. polit. l. 5. sect. 10. to follow what himself imagi­neth that Gods Spirit doth reveal unto him, or what he supposeth that God is likely to have revealed to some special person, whose ver­tues deserve to be highly esteemed, what other effect would ensue hereupon, but utter confusion of his Church, under pretence of being taught, led, and guided by his Spirit? The gifts and graces where­of, do so naturally all tend unto common peace, that where such sin­gularity is, they whose hearts it possesseth, ought to suspect it the more, in as much as if it did come from God, and should for that cause prevail with others, the same God which revealeth it to them, would also give them power of confirming it to others, either with miraculous operation, or with strong invincible remonstrance of sound reason, such as whereby it might appear, that God would in­deed have all mens judgements give place unto it. Whereas now the error, and insufficiency of their arguments, doth make it on the con­trary against them a strong presumption, that God hath not moved their hearts to think such things, as he hath not enabled them to prove.

CHAP. I. Of Error in general.

1. EVery man by nature is as prone to Error, as to sin: the understanding being as well clouded, as the will, and affections corrupted by the fall of Adam: Our first parents out of a sawcy presumption, affecting to know what they ought not, involv'd themselves and all their po­sterity, in blindness and ignorance of what they ought to know.

The body of man being subjected to natural corruption and mortality, subjects the soul whilest 'tis imprisoned there­in to a spiritual corruption also, through ignorance and er­ror. For the corruptible body (saith the wise man) presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the minde that museth upon many things, and hardly do we guesse aright at things that are upon earth, In is [...]llo errore, non hunanita­tis, sed Deitatis selum est. Aug. serm. ad f [...]ati, in erem. and with labour do we sinde the things that are before us, and the things that are in heaven who hath searched out? Wisd. 9.15, 16. So that not to be ignorant, and not erre in the points and particulars of heavenly truth, is not humane, saith the Father, but the sole prerogative of the divine nature.

2. There is a threefold ignorance, wherewith all the minds of men are naturally clouded.

• 1. To be ignorant of what is necessary to be known.
• 2. Not to know what is necessary and expedient for us, agreeable to our persons, callings, breeding, and the times wherein we live.
• [Page 174]3. When through a corrupt and depraved disposition of minde, we mistake falshood for truth, and darkness for light, and this whether in bare opinion, or else of set purpose, and setled determination: The last of these is the most sinful ig­norance, and that which properly and [...] is called Er­ror, whereunto that woe belongeth, Isa. 5.20. Wo unto them that call evill good, &c.

3. In many things we offend all, Jam. 3.2. And this not only by iniquity in life and action, but also by error in judgement & opinion. But as God of his great mercy, through the merits of Christ, imputes not unto us those sins which through natural frailty, and meer infirmity, daily and hour­ly invade the innocence of the soul, i. e. if with an humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart we confesse them, and un­feignedly beleeve in Christ for the pardon of them: so nei­ther doth he impute those errors of our judgements, which are of smaller consequence, whilest they infect not the will, and affections, so as obstinately and perversely to persevere therein.

A bare and naked error in the understanding only, is ra­ther an infelicity then a crime: 'tis the obstinacy of the will, the animosity, and perverseness of the affections in cleaving to the mistaken conception of the understanding, that ren­ders the mistake a sinful and diabolical error; for, saith the Father, Aug. de verbis Apost. serm. 22. Whilest we do but erre, we are but like our selves, frail mortal men, whose thoughts are miserable, and whose devices are but uncertain: but when through animosity and perversness we persist in our errors, Joh. 8.44. we are then of our father the Devil, who as he was a lyar from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, so doth he obstinately abide for ever in the destructive and damnable errors of his waies.

Both this infelicity, and also this sinfulness of error will more fully appear, by considering and rightly understanding the nature of Heresie and Schism, the two general heads whereunto all sinful error is reducible.

CHAP. II. Heresie: the nature and ingredients thereof.

HEresie hath its denomination from the Greek word [...], to chuse or follow by way of division, and separation: the which being continued, and increased by perversness, and ob­stinacy therein; gives unto Heresie its perfection, and com­pleatment: The former is an error of the understanding, the latter an exorbitancy of the will: And thus both the Senten­tiarist, and the Schoolman define an Heretique: He is an He­retique who both erres in the Articles of holy faith, through de­fect in his understanding, and withal pertinaciously cleaves to such errors, through the perverseness of his will.

From this general description of an Heretique, and the na­ture of Heresie, the particular ingredients, whereof the cup of Heretical poyson is compounded, will appear to be these:

1. To be an Heretique is to erre in matters of faith, not of Fact, and in points of Doctrine, not of Discipline: the for­mer distinguishes Heresie, from sinfulness of life: The latter opposes Heresie to Schism.

These points of faith are either 1. Fundamental, such as are the grounds, pillars and constituent parts of holy Chri­stian Religion: Or, 2. Superstructive, such clear and evident truthes as are built upon, and by necessary consequence do flow from those grounds. An error in the former is primari­ly, and principally, and in the latter secondarily and consequential­ly Heresie.

2. He that in either of these respects, erres in the most holy faith, through ignorance, misunderstanding, or misinfor­mation, is not presently to be adjudged an Heretique: untill this error in his understanding, hath so infected his will and affection, that he cleaves to this his private erroneous opinion, even against the judgement of holy Catholick Church and the doctrine of Christ sufficiently made known unto him: [Page 176]so the Father, Qui in ecclesia Christi morbidum aliquid pra­vúm (que) sapiunt, Aug. de civit. dil l. 18. c. 51. si correpti, ut sanum rectum (que) sapiant, resistunt contumaciter, &c. They who in the Church of Christ, do be­lieve any pernicious doctrines, and being instructed and admo­nisht to receive the sound and saving truth, do yet pertinaciously persist in their errors, and continue to defend them still, without conversion and amendment, are hereby become Heretiques; of whom S. John, 1 Joh. 1.19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, viz In the society of holy or thodox Christians. And be­ing gone out through the obstinate maintaining the delu­sions of their own heads, they become, saith the Father, of the number of those enemies whom God permits for the trial of our faith, and exercise of our charity.

And this particular ingredient of Heresie, the same Fa­ther in one of his Epistles more fully cleareth thus, Qui s [...]ntentiam suam quanvis falsam, mulla pe [...]tinac [...] animositate defendi [...]: praeser [...]m quam non audacia suae prae­sumptionis peperit, sed à seductis & in errorem la [...]sis parentibus accepit: Quae­rit autem cau [...]â solicitudine veritatem, corrigi paratus cum invenerit: nequa­quam est inter haretices deputandus. Aug. Epist. 162. He that defends his opinion though it be false, with no perversness and animosity, especially if it arise not from his own bold and sawcy presumption of mind [...], but from his erroneous and seduced guides and pasiors, or parents he hath received it: if with all carefulness and diligence he seek to know the Truth, being of a ready and prepared heart to imbrace it when he shall sinde it, such a person, though he does erre in the most holy faith, is not to be ac­counted an Heretique.

3. The third ingredient then of Heretical poyson, is the obstinate cleaving to an erroneous opinion, or tenent in Religion, contrary to the judgement of the universal Church. So Isidore defines Heretiques to be such persons, Isid. de verbo Haetes. who of their own heads depart from the judgement of the Church; ham­mering out of their own brains false and perverse doctrines: whereas (saith he) it is not lawful for us (orthodox Christi­ans) to bring in any thing of our own heads, nor yet to receive and believe what any others of their own heads have brought into the Church: We have the Apostles of Christ for our Au­thors, for even they brought in nothing of their own minde, [Page 177]but the doctrine they received from Christ they faithfully pub­lished and preached to the world. And though we, saith the Apo­stle, or an Angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel, be­sides, &c. Gal. 1.18.

From the Apostles, the sound and saving Truth is received by the Church: so that, saith Irenaeus, We ought not else where to seek the truth, Non oportet adhuc quaerer apud alias veritatem quam facile est ab ecclesia sumere, cum Apostoli quasi in deposi­tonum dives, plenissimè in ea con [...]ule­rint, omnia quae sunt veritatis, ut om­nis quicunq velit sumat ex ea po­tum vitae. Irenae. l. 3. c. 4. which in the Church may be easily found, since the the Apostles have most fully trea­sur'd up therein, as in a rich store-house, all things that are of Truth, so that who­soever list, may thence take out the wa­ters of life: Therefore the Apostle styles the Church, The pillar and ground of Truth, 1 Tim. 2.15. The pillar,] Gloss. ordin. In se bene sustinens veritatem, ne corruat licet tribuletur. Up­holding the Truth that it fall not, though daily distressed by the gates or powers of hell, whose instruments are Wolves without, or Foxes within, the one by open perse­cutions assailing, the other by secret infectious opinions undermining the Truth: but the Church like a pillar sup­ports it; and like the ground which God hath made to stand continually, both upholds, and holds forth the true faith; and like a rock against the raging billowes of the sea stands it out against all the gusts of persecutions, heresies, and schismes, which are as 'twere that spiritual ammunition wherewith all the gates of hell are furnisht, to fight against the Church of Christ, and the most holy faith thereof: But whilest we stand with the Church, we shall not need to fear either the crafts or assaults of these ghostly enemies: For upon a Rock Christ hath grounded his Church, and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it, Mat. 16.18. When any particular person then opposes his private spi­rit, and judgement, against the publique judgement, and spirit of that Church whereof he is a member, or when any particular Church opposes the judgement of the Ca­tholick, or universal Church in point of holy faith; this necessarily makes one ingredient in the sin of Heresie: for [Page 178]so he or they do not stand upon the rock, whereupon holy faith is grounded, nor rest on that pillar which upholds the Truth. This (saith Irenaeus) is the way of life (meaning the way of the Church) and all the rest are theeves and robbers— Whosoever he be that will obstinately per­sist in his own erroneous opinion, Haec est vitae introitus, omnes a. reli­liqui fures sunt & latrones — Si quis tam obstinatè in suo errore pe [...]sistat, ut universam Christi ecclesiam audire no­lit, talis juxta Christi mandatum pro ethnico & publicano nobis habendus est. Irenaeus. and re­fuse to hear the Church, let him be unto thee (according to the command of Christ) as a Heathen or Publican.

As in the natural body he is accounted a monster, rather then a perfect man, who hath any exuberant member that is disproportionate, and not agreeable with the rest of the members of the body: so in the mystical body of Christ, he is an Heretique, Sicut mensura est unius cu­jus (que) partis, ita totius corporis, quod omnibus suis partibus constat. Aug. no orthodox Christian, whose particular faith is exuberant, and agrees not with the whole body of the Church: according to that undeniable axiome, Turpis est pars omnis toti non congrua: That part is disorderly and sin­ful, which agrees not with the whole, whereof it is a part.

As there is but one faith, Ephes. 4.5. which is therefore called, The unity of the faith, vers. 13. and though there be several articles, or parts of holy Truth, which constitute this one body of faith, August. yet saith the Father, Veritas est veri­tati congrua: one truth bears such a proportion with ano­ther, as is agreeable to the whole, so that the whole body of the true faith is like it self in all the parts or particular points thereof: even so there is but one body, Eph. 4.4. i. e. one Church professing this one faith, Ʋna fides non numero, sed ge­nete, qua simi­lis in omnibus. and though there be many members of this one body, yet each true member is so proportionate to the whole, as that all makes up but one orderly mystical body of Christ, which ought to be as with­out spot or stain of sin, so without the exuberant disorder of error.

'Tis the end and office of the Ministery to bring all Chri­stians to this pitch of perfection, even to be all incorporate, as members of one mystical body of Christ, by the unani­mous [Page 179]acknowledgement of one faith: Ephes. 4.11, &c. He gave some Apostles— for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the sta­ture of the fulness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more chil­dren tossed to and fro, and carried about with every winde of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive: but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, from whom the whole body fitly joyned together, and compacted by that, which every joynt supply­eth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love.

4. The 4. ingredient of Heresie, is to hold and maintain an error in faith, with frowardness, and opposition to lawful de­terminations. For though all Christians cannot perhaps in their judgements submit to all lawful determinations of con­troversies in Religion: yet however these are thereby ob­liged to a passive obedience, to possesse their souls in pati­ence not to oppose the authority, and disturb the peace of the Church. Remembring, 1. That the unity, peace, and authority of the Church in general, is more to be valued then any particular mans satisfaction. And 2. That the publique resolution of the Church, is to be preferred before any private mans perswasion to the contrary.

That opinion of S. Cyprians concerning Rebaptization was in him but an error, because the Church had not determined any thing for, or against it; but after the Church had de­fin'd it, and adjudged Rebaptization unlawful, Euseb. eccl. hist. lib. 7. c. 2. 'twas in all per­sons that maintained it, not an error only, but an Heresie.

To sum up all in few words: A man becomes guilty of Heresie.

• 1. By disbeleeving any fundamental Article of Faith, or ne­cessary part of saving Truth, in that sense, as it was evermore received by the universal Church of Christ.
• 2. By beleeving any superstitious Errors, or Additions, which do vertually, and by necessary and evident consequence [Page 180]subvert any article of holy faith, or overthrow a fundamental Truth.
• 3. By beleeving and maintaining these, or lesser errors then these, with perversenesse and obstinacy after sufficient con­viction.
• 4. By beleeving and obstinately opposing private opinions in points of faith, against the publique lawful Determinations of the Church to the contrary.

CHAP. IV. Of Schisme, the nature and kindes thereof.

1. SChism is so called from the Greek word [...], to divide, or rent; the word is used, 1 Cor. 1.10. [...], That there be no Schisms or divisions amongst you: And because Schism, and contention are inseparable twins, what therefore in this verse are called Schisms, in the next vers. 11. are cal'd, [...], contentions: [...], That there are contentions amongst you: And the better to conceive what is meant by these schisms and contentions, 'tis exem­plified vers. 12. One saith, I am of Paul, another, I am of Apollo, another, I am of Cephas, and another will not depend upon any acknowledging neither Paul, nor any mortal man to be his Tutor, and instructer, and he saith, I am of Christ.

Thus the immaculate body of Christ is divided into parties and sects, the partakers and followers of which several sects, are therefore called Sectarists, and Separatists, viz. Such as cleave not to the whole body, but follow some one part, that is broken off, and divided from the whole.

2. Heresie and Schism in the mystical body of Christ, do differ, as an inward sicknesse, and outward wound in the natu­ral body of man: but yet so, that there are several internal aswel as external parts, and branches of Schism: for by how many waies, and means, communion is maintain'd amongst. Christians, by so many waies, it may be broken, and dis­solv'd: [Page 181]And every breach of communion is a Schism.

3. Now the Communion to be maintained amongst Christi­ans is either

• Internal.
• External.

The internal communion hath several branches, viz.

1. To beleeve and assent to all those saving truths re­vealed to us by Christ, and his Apostles, and in all ages of the Church maintained, 1 Cor. 13.7.

2. To be with all obedience prepared in heart to assent to the Dictates of the Church, whether universal or par­ticular, that are agreeable to such revealed Truths, Mat. 18.17.

3. To judge charitably each of other, accounting all such for our Christian brethren, who profess this same Christian faith, and are of this Christian minde, and spirit, Col. 2.16.

4. To sympathize in each others affections: which in­cludes several particulars: as 1. To sorrow for the sins and errors of others. 2. To condole in the sufferings of others, or to weep with them that weep, Rom. 12.15. As also to con­gratulate the prosperities of others, or to rejoyce with them that rejoyce: which enjoynes also, 3. To rejoyce as do the Angels of heaven at the conversion of a sinner, or any misgui­ded soul from the errors of his waies, Luk. 15.7.

5. To pray for the growth, and perseverance of all holy and orthodox persons in faith, and obedience, and for the conversion of all profane, schismatical, and heretical per­sons, and for the reunion of all such to the Church, as are divided from it, 1 Sam. 12.23. Psal. 122.6. 1 Tim. 2.1.

6. To hold communion in our desires and affections with all such as are divided from us in perswasion, and judgement, and by all means to endevour an external communion with them, according to our several powers, and in our se­veral places and offices, Gal. 6.1.

The external communion consists also of several bran­ches. As,

• 1. In the oral confession of the same Creeds or Symbols of Christian Faith, Rom. 10.9, 10. 2 Tim. 1.13.
• 2. In the participation of the same Sacraments, 1 Cor. 10.16.
• [Page 182]3. In the admission of, and submission unto the same Apo­stolical discipline, and government, Heb. 13.17.
• 4. In the use of the same Liturgies, or publique forms of external divine worship, 1 Cor. 1.10. Rom. 15.6.

4. Hence by the rule of contraries, 'twil appear plainly, who is a Schismatique, or in what respects the guilt of Schism is contracted.

1. He is guilty of Schism, who withdrawes his assent from the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, either as 'tis by the Church universal professed, or else as 'tis exprest by the do­ctrine, and establisht by the Lawes of that particular Church whereof he is a member, whilest this particular Church opposes not the doctrine of the Church Catholique: for when any particular person shall in any point of faith op­pose his private opinion against the publique judgement of the Church, this is not only Schism in him, but such a branch of Schism also, as coincident with Heresie, whereof before.

2. He who shall limit the Church of Christ to his own particular sect or fraternity, saying, we are the Church, we are the elect and people of God, Recepimus pro misstones d [...] uni­versalitate ec­clesiae, toto mundo diffusae, si ergo angelus de coelo tibi has premissiones te­nenti diceret, Dimitte Chri­stianitatem to­tius orbis, & te­ne partem Do­nati, anathema esse deberet, quia ted toto praeci­cidere, & in partem contru­dere conaretur, & alienare à promissis Dei. Aug. Epist. 165. and all who joyn not in com­munion with us, are cast-awaies, and out of the State of sal­vation, he is guilty of Schism, in that he cuts off the main body of Christian people, or rather cuts off himself and his own fraternity from the main body of Christs holy Catholick Church. So the Donatists of old limited the Church of Christ to their own sect, and the confines thereof to that part of Africk where they inhabited, contrary to the promises of God, who hath given unto Christ the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his pos­session, Psal. 2.8. & Gen. 22. In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: whereupon the Father infers, since we have the promises of God, concerning the universality of the Church to be diffused, and spread over the face of the earth: if therefore an Angel from heaven should say unto thee, Forgo thy relation to the Catholick Church, and be of this or that particular Church or sect, which saith, we, and we only are the Church and peo­ple of God, he ought to be accursed, because he hath endevoured to cut thee off from the whole, and to limit thee to a part, and there­by [Page 183]by to alienate thee from the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

A third branch of Schi [...]m, necessarily depends upon and flowes from the second. And this is rashly to judge, and un­charitably to condemn the Churches, or societies of our Christian brethren; so the Montanists perswaded their fol­lowers to speak evil of the universal Church, where ever spread over the face of the earth, and not only to deny thereunto all reverence and esteem, Euseb. eccl. hist. l. 5. c. 16. but also in no wise to joyn with them: of this kinde of Schism are all such guilty, who refuse to joyn with their Christian brothren in the pub­lique service of God, under pretence of separating from the wicked of the world, who with the proud Pharisee in the Gospel, presumptuously justifie themselves and their own Church, and faction, and unjustly condemn all others, Luk. 18.9. who are so pure in their own eyes, as to say to others, Verè existime­mus posse ali­quid esse occul­tum in alio, quo vebis superior sit, etiam si bo­num nostrum, quo illo vide­mur superiores esse, non sit oc­culium. Aug. de verbis Apo. ser. 21. Stand by thy self, come not neer to me, I am holier then thou, Isa. 65.5. little esteeming the exhortation of the Apostle, Phil. 2.3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of minde let each esteem other better then themselves: For saith the Father hereupon, There may be those secret and hidden vertues in others, whereby they do excell thee, though that whereby thou doest seem to excell others be not secret, but apparent.

4. To have no Christian sympathy, or fellow feeling ei­ther of the sins or sufferings of our Christian brethren, is a fourth branch of Schism: For as in the natural body, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoyce, 1 Cor. 12.26 And the rea­son is given vers. 25. That there should be no Schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another: So it is in the mystical body of Christ, as it followes vers. 27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in par­ticular. That there be no Schism therefore 'tis required that we have the same care one for another, and according to the same Apostles injunction, Gal. 6.2. Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ, who hath borne the burden of our sins, and so must we by his Law of charity bear one anothers burdens both of sins and sufferings, or else we manifest our selves to be no true members of his mysti­cal [Page 184]body, but either such members as are dead by sinfulness, or cut off from the body by Schism.

5. He cannot be free from the guilt of Schism, who doth not heartily desire, and fervently pray for the peace of the Church, even for the peace, 1. of all Christendome in gene­ral, for the happy knitting together of the broken parts, and divided members of this too much disagreeing body: and for the peace and prosperity; 2. of that particular Church, whereof each one is member, as Psal. 122.6, 7, Pray for the peace of Hierusalem, They shall prosper that love thee, peace be within thy wals, and prosperity, &c. The same Christian duty is commanded also, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

As to the parts of external communion;

1. 'Tis a branch of Schism to reject the ancient Christian Creeds, which are no other but those consonant agreeing joynt bodies of the holy Christian faith, whereby, as by so many ligaments and sinews, all Christians are conjoyned as members of the same mystical body, being all of one accord, and of one minde, Phil. 2.2. For it is unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, or the unanimous sincere profession of one, and the same Christian Faith, whereby we grow up together as one perfect man unto the measure of the sta­ture of the fulness of Christ, Eph. 4.13.

2. To forsake the publique assemblies of our Christian bre­thren in the publique worship of God, is another branch of external Schism, and contrary to the rule of the author to the Heb. 10.25 Where he forbids this, as he enjoynes the for­mer, and that because the one does commonly follow upon the other: 1. Therefore he enjoynes, vers. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering— And 2. that which would follow upon the transgression of this command, not forsaking the assembling of your selves together as the custome of some is, vers. 25. 'Twas the custome of some for fear of persecution, and reproach to forsake the publique as­semblies of Christians: Gloss. interlin. in loc. and of others saith the Glosse, upon presumption of their own piety and perfection to separate themselves from the rest of their brethren whom they rashly judged to be sinners, and such imperfect, defective persons, [Page 185]as were unworthy of their society: to forsake the assembling of our selves together, for either of these causes contracts the guilt of Schism. In the latter respect the Novatians separa­ting themselves from the Church of Christ, Euseb. eccl. hist. l. 6. c. 33. cal'd themselves [...], or Puritans: saith the ecclesiastical historian.

3. And this kinde of Schism consists of two parts. 1. To refuse to joyn in the participation of the same Sacraments. 2. In the use of the same Liturgies, or publick forms of di­vine worship. As to the 1. There is but one baptism, Eph. 4.5. or one Sacrament whereby we are engraffed into the body of Christs Church, which whosoever refuses, or re­admits, both the Catabaptist, and the Anabaptist makes a breach in the mystical body of Christ. So, but one Sacrament of our nourishment and growth in grace, even that of the holy body and bloud of Christ: in communion whereof, we being many are one bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of of that one bread, 1 Cor. 10.16, 17. Even saith the Father, As many grains are incorporate in one bread, and many members in one body, so the faithful members of Christs Church, make up but one bread and body, by participation of Christs blessed bo­dy and bloud under the sacramental representation of bread and wine. Aug. He that contemns or neglects then the use of this Sa­crament, doth for his part separate and divide himself from the body of Christ, wherewith every prudent good Christi­an desires to be joyned, that he may grow into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, Eph. 4.15. And Sacraments mongst many other holy ends of their institution, hath this for one, that they are marks of distinctions, saith judicious Hooker, to separate Gods own people from strangers. Hook. eccl. pol. lib. 5. sect. 57.

4. To decline the use, and to refuse to joyn in the Church Liturgies, or publique forms of divine service; such Liturgies being both agreeable to the word of God, and to the do­ctrine, and constant practise of the Church in all ages; if it be not in it self a branch of Schism, 'tis the cause, and cursed parent thereof: For as no form of prayer is the mother of confusion, so several forms by persons of the same Church, are the means and in-lets of division: for whilest one likes this mans way of praying, and another likes another mans [Page 186]way: one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apol­lo, &c.

Therefore to prevent all division in the Church, and to keep out all corruptions both in faith and manners, and to avoid all ignorant, insignificant, improper, and extravagant waies of expressing our mindes, unto God in prayer: As also that we might communicate in each others prayers, and reap the be­nefit of each others fervency and devotion of soul in prayer, these were the great and weighty reasons wherefore ever a set and standing form of publique prayers hath been prescri­bed and used in the Church of Christ. And when we do consider, and remember, 1. That God himself under the Law commanded set forms of prayer to be used, Numb. 6.23. Deut. 20.3. & 26.3, 5. 2. That Moses thanksgiving for that admirable victory given the Israelites against Pharaoh, not only stands upon record for a precedent or pattern for the framing of prayers, which might be repeated often; but al­so grew afterwards to be a part of the Jewish Liturgy. 3. That all the Psalmes are so many set forms of prayer and praise that were used in the Temple, 2 Chron. 29.30. al­though they never had again the same occasions which brought them forth at the first. 4. That under the Gospel, not only John Baptist first, but afterwards Christ himself taught his Disciples a set form of prayer, with a positive com­mand when ever they prayed, to say, Our Father, &c. Luk. 11.1, 2. 5. That Christ himself used a set form in his agony, Mat. 26 39. not altering his expressions, (as if God were pleased with variety of phrases, a custome which only serves to tickle the itching ears of men, and win popular applause) but he went again and prayed, saying the same words, vers. 44. And also upon the crosse he used a set form, not of his own framing, but used long before in the Church, Mat. 27.46. 6. That this was the way of the primitive Church, as appears form the Liturgies of S. James the Apostle, of S. Basil, S. Chry­sostome, &c. Hook. eccl. pol. l. 5. sect. 25. And 7. if we consider with the judicious Hoo­ker, The irksome deformities whereby through endless and sense­less effusions of indigested prayers, the worthiest part of Christian duty to God, is unsufferably disgraced: whilest men are herein [Page 187]subject to no certain order, but pray both what and how they list: All these things being seriously considered, we must needs say with the same learned author: That no doubt from God it hath proceeded, and by us it must be acknowledged as a work of his singular care and providence, That the Church evermore held a prescript form of Common-Prayer, although not in all things every where the same, yet for the most part retaining the same Analogie: So that if the Liturgies of all ancient Churches throughout the world be compared amongst themselves, it may be easily perceived, they had all one original mould, and that the publique prayers of the people of God in Churches throughly set­led, did never use to be voluntary dictates, proceeding from any mans extemporal wit: but such known publique forms, wherein all might joyn together in the worship of God, accor­ding to the Apostles command, Rom. 15.6. That ye may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Calvin himself, who was furnished with as great gifts for the powring forth of his soul in prayer, Dr. Ferns Case. as any of those persons that now plead so much for the liberty of their expressions in publique prayer, is yet said to have often wished that all the Churches had one and the same publique worship, or Liturgie, and that upon these reasons, The holding of unity in the Church, and the excluding of novelty, faction, and the boasting of gifts.

5. To deny obedience to our lawful ecclesiastical superi­ors, whether it be the Church universal, or particular: essen­tial, or representative: or whether it be some single superior, and this either of divine, or of lawful humane institution: 'tis generally acknowledged by the Fathers, to be a branch of Schism.

S. Cyprian Filiusimpius, qui contemptis episcopis & Dei sacerdotibus de­relictis, consti­tuere dudet ali­ud Altare. Cyp. de unit. eccl. Hi sunt conatus schismatice­rum— ut sibi placeant. Ʋt praepositum su­perb [...] tumore contemnant. Id. ep. 65. Ʋnum scire de­bes— si quis cum episcopo non sit, in ec­clesia non esse. Id. ep. 69. Hier. defines a Schismatique: To be such a wicked son as contemns the Bishops, and forsakes the Priests of the Lord, presumptuously during to set up another Altar.

And again, These are the waies of Schismatiques— to please themselves, and with proud disdain to contemn their Rulers.

And again, This you ought to know— Whosoever is not with the Bishop, is not in the Church. And S. Hierome saith, it was the judgement of the whole Christian world, ( totius orbis decreto, [Page 188]are the words) That for avoiding of Schisms, and Heresie, it was necessary there should be one Bishop in every Diocesse.

S. Augustine admonisheth his Christian brethren, Nolite mihi resistere, Aug. ad frat. senn. de obed. quia omnis potestas à Deo est— you are not to op­pose or resist me, who am your Bishop, For all powers are of God, whether of Church or Common-wealth, and whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, &c. Rom. 13. When Samuel the Prophet was rejected of the Jewes from that rule and government he exercised over them, the Lord said unto him, They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, 1 Sam. 8.7. The same thing said our Lord to his Apostles, Luk. 10.16. He that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth— Therefore said S. Bern. Hern. de praec. & disp. tract. c. 12. Obedientia quae majoribus praebetur, Deo exhibetur: The obedience we give unto our superiors is exhibited to God him­self, and so of disobedience also. Therefore we read Deut. 17.12. The man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the Priest— or unto the Judge— even that man shall die. Ca­vete engo sacerdotes, ne aliquis vestrum audeat insurgere contra praepositum— As the father goes on in the forementioned place, Take heed ye that are Priests, Aug. ibid. how you rise up against him that hath the Rule over you: For (saith he) all Ecclesiastical gover­nors are planted in the Church for our good, and for the Churches unity, whereof our Lord would have us to be very careful, lest like sheep without a shepheard, we be divided from the unity of the faith by divers errors.

But to come nearer home: Doctor Moulin, the son of P. Moulin, wrote a book to vindicate the French reformed Churches from being the pattern to any Scottish or English Presbyterians to reject their Bishops; where he gives us also the severe censures of Zanchy, and Calvin themselves, against those that deny obedience to their lawful Bishops, Testor me Deo— saith Zanchy, I protest before God, and in my conscience, that I hold them no better then Schismatiques, that account it a part of reformation in the Church, to have no Bishops— And saith Calvin, They are worthy of any execration that will not sub­mit themselves to that Hierarchy which submitteth it self unto the Lord— These censures he cites out of the Tracts de reformat. Eccl.

Beza himself, the great patron of Presbyterian Eldership, yet confesseth it to be necessary, Bez. cont. Sar. Ʋt Presbyterio [...] esset & permaneret, that one be Prelate over the Presbytery; and this not pro tempore, but to continue; and allowes S. Hierom's Reason why it should be so, in Romedium Schismatis, for the avoiding of Schism.

Against these two branches of Schism, the holy Ignatius in his Epistle to the Magnesians, gives them this twofold counsel and advice, As Christ (saith he) did nothing without his Father, being all one with his Father, Ignat. epist. ad Magn. [...], so neither must you do any thing without your Bishop, [...], but assemble together, and have but one prayer common to you all.

A fifth branch of Schism followes upon these two last: Festa ecclesiae recte colunt qui­se filios eccle­siae esse cognos­cunt, Aug. de Tem. ser. 253. which is to reject and profane those publique times of Gods service, whether festival, or fasting, observed by the Church of Christ in all ages: concerning which I shall only remem­ber the words of S. Aug. They do rightly observe the festivals of the Church, who acknowledge themselves to be faithful, and loyal sons of the Church; and not Schismatiques.

CHAP. IV. That Heresie and Schism, are the mutual causes each of other.

AS Heresie and Schism like abortive twins are in many particulars coincident and cleave together, like Jacob and Esau, the one holding fast by the heel of the other: so they are mutually the productive causes, and cursed parents each of other. For,

1. Heretical errors in points of faith do easily produce a Schism, and cause a separation amongst Christians in the use of the same Sacraments, and of the same publique worship at the same time and place: For difference in opinions, breeds dif­ference in affections, and different affections produce divers [Page 190] societies and congregations: and these according to their op­posite opinions, frame opposite forms, and waies of divine worship. So the Arrian Heresie brought forth a different doxologie in the Church: the Orthodox Christians saying, Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the holy Ghost. And the Arrians, Glory to be the Father by the Son in the Spirit. 'Tis the property of Heretiques, as to depart from the faith, so from the Congregation also: Ex nobis pro­dierunt, sc. ab unitate catholi­ca recedentes. Gloss. interlin These are they that separate themselves, Jude 19. So S. John also sets forth the waies of Heretiques, They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, &c. 1 Joh. 2.19.

2. That Schism is the cause of Heresie, is also manifest from the example of the Israelites, who first were but Schis­matiques in breaking communion with the Church of God at Hierusalem, but presently after they became guilty of Here­sie, nay, downright Idolatry, worshipping the golden calves of Jeroboam, Non vobis obji­cio nisi Schis­matis crimen, quod etiam hae­resin male per­severando feci­stis. Ad. Don. Epist. 164. erected in Dan, and Bethel: so the Donatists; their crime at first was only Schism, they separated them­selves from the congregation of Christs flock under a pre­tence of more holinesse then the rest of their brethren: but their perseverance in this Schism made them afterwards He­retiques: as S. August. in one of his Epistles cals them. And in our own Church at home, 'tis too manifest, that 'twas Schism, which first opened the gap, whereat all those infe­ctious Heresies which overspread us entred: The breach of Communion in the use of publique prayers, and participation of the Sacraments, Ecclesia uni­tatem qui non tenet, tenere se fidem credit? Cyp. de unit. eccl. and submission to the Apostolical go­vernment of Episcopacy, being followed with Heresies that subvert all government, decency, and order, and the very Sa­craments themselves. Nor indeed can we imagine it should be otherwise, if we consider it first,

1. That Ecclesiastical government and authority, disci­pline and order, together with a publique Liturgie or form of prayer, whereby all members of the same Church joyn in the worship of the same God, as with one heart, so with one voice: That these I say, are the mounds or hedges, which keep out the wilde Boars of the Forrest from rooting up the Lords [Page 191]vineyard, and the little Foxes from eating up the grapes there­of. In respect whereof, the Church which is the spouse of Christ, is called an inclosed garden, Cant. 4.12. As therefore the breaking down of any garden wall, laies it common and waste: so the breach of these mounds by Schism and disobe­dience, laies waste the Church, makes it a wilderness and de­sert, wherein bryers and thornes, heresies and iniquities spring up and grow.

In respect therefore of the first, viz. Ecclesiastical govern­ment, He that will not hear the Church, saith the Lord, let him be unto thee as an heathen, &c. Mat. 18.17. And Heb. 13.17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your selves; for they watch for your souls, viz. To keep you free as from the pollution of sin, so from the poyson of Heresie, which are the two snares of the Devil, wherein he also continually watcheth to entrap, and devour the souls of men.

And in respect of the second, A publique known form of Prayer, it was ever conceived by the wise and learned Fathers of the Church, That liberty for every man to vent in pub­lique his own private conceptions, if not first examined and approved, did open a gap to all licentiousness in opinion: for the proof whereof, I shall only mention two testimonies.

The 1. is the 23. Canon of the third Councel of Carthage, in these words, Quascun (que) sibi preces aliquis describet, non its utatur, nisi prius eas cum instructioribus fratribus contulerit: no man may use any prayers, which he hath made, till first he hath consulted with his more learned brethren concerning them.

The 2. which is more apposite to our present purpose, is the 12. Canon of the Milevitan Councel, in these words, Placuit ut preces, quae probatae fuerint in concilio, ab omnibus celebrentur, nec alia omnino dicantur in ecclesia nisi quae à pru­dentioribus traclatae, & comprobatae in Synodo fuerint, ne fortè aliquid contra fidem, vel per ignorantiam, vel per minus studi­um sit compositum: It was decreed, that the prayers which were approved in the Councel, should be used by all, and that no other should be said in the Church, but those that had been weighed by the more prudent, and approved in [Page 192]a Synod, lest either through ignorance or negligence, any thing should be said, or framed against the true faith.

If then the wisdome of the Church determined, that ap­proved and set forms of prayer were necessary for the preser­vation of the true faith: it must needs follow, that the neg­lect, and contempt hereof hath not been the least cause of so much depravation, and corruption of the faith amongst us.

2. That Schisms and breaches of publique communion are those gaps, whereat Heresies do enter: we must need acknow­ledge, if we consider, That the Devil who is the author of all Schism and division (who is therefore so well known to the vulgar by his cloven foot) is serpens lubricus, a sly, slip­pery, insinuating serpent, give him but the inch, and he will quickly have the ell: suffer him but to make a rent in the garment, and he presently assailes the body of Religion: if he win ground in the ceremonies, and make a Schism there, he will not be long from the Sacraments, and produce He­resies in them: Thus 'twas amongst the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 11. From their neglect of Ceremonies, sitting covered at prayer, they grew as irreverent and homely with the Sacrament, eating, Bishop Andr. serm. upon 1 Cor. 1 [...].16. and drinking, as if they had been at home, so that the Apostle is fain to tell them, vers. 22. That they had homes to be homely at: The Church, the house of God was no place for such irreverent demeanor. And the like is obvious to each mans observation amongst us, how the decent ceremonies, and publique orders of Prayer, and of the Sacraments, being struck at, the substance of both hath not long continued free from that impetuous violence of factious, and schismatical spirits.

3. This will yet further appear, if we consider the nature of contention, which is so unruly, that it knows no bounds and limits, but like waters overflowing the banks, which run endwise ever, without return, so Prov. 17.14. The beginning of strife, is, as when one letteth out water, therefore leave off con­tention before it be medled with.

To contend for the true faith, is commendable, and com­manded also Jude 3. but [...], contention is one thing, and [...], to be contentious is another. To contend for the [Page 193]Truth is the duty of all good Christians, but to contentious about harmless ceremonies, and things indifferent, is not the custome of Gods Church and people: If any man list to be contentious, we have no such custome, nor the Church of God, 1 Cor. 11.16. From the cohaerence of which Text, the dan­ger of contentiousness is also observable: For 1. all the con­tention was about ceremonies, about wearing long or short hair, praying covered, or bare, vers. 13, 14, 15. & vers. 4, 5, 6. And being contentious about these things, presently there followed Schisms, or divisions amongst them, vers. 18. and shortly after down-right Heresies, vers. 19. Thus Pru­ritus disputandi, becomes Scabies Ecclesiae, the itch of conten­tion, breeds the scab of Schism and Heresie in the Church.

Hear from a person interested in such contentions, the truth hereof confessed: Publique wars, and private quarrels, which do usually pretend to the reformation of the Church, Bauter. Saints Rest. 3. part ch. 13. the vindicating of the truth, and the welfare of souls, do usually prove in the issue the greatest means to overthrow all: it is as natural for wars and contentious to produce Errors, Schisms, contempt of Magistracy, Ministry, and Ordinances, as it is for a dead carrion to breed worms and vermine: beleeve it from one who hath too many years experience of it, both in armies and Garrisons: It is as hard a thing to maintain in a people, a sound understanding, tender conscience, a lively gracious heavenly frame of spirit, and up­right life, in a way of war, and contention, as to keep a candle lighted in a storm, or under the waters.

4. When a Schism is once made, and the communion of the Church deserted, the separatists like travellers out of the beaten road, finde no path to walk in, and so become cir­cular, and endless in their waies: or like such folks, which con­tinually toss and turn themselves upon their bed, seeking that rest and repose, which cannot be found till the humours of the body recover their due temper, and be confin'd to their proper limits: Hence it comes to pass, that new doctrines, and new opinions in religion are commonly broacht, and set a foot by Schismaticks, and this in opposition still to those ancient Truths which are the doctrines of the Church, [Page 194]from which they have separated themselves: Alienati vero à veritate, digni in omni volu­tantur errore, fluctuati ab eo, aliter at (que) ali­ter per tempora de iisdem sen­tientes, & nun­quam scientiani stabilem haben­tes. Iren. l. 3. c. 4. adv. Haer. Nullum Schis­ma non sibi ali­quam fingit Haeresim, ut re­cte ab ecclesia recessisse videa­tur. Hier. ad Tit. c. 3. It being the es­sential property of a Schismatick, like Proteus, to change his minde into every opinion, represented to his fancy as plau­sible. Hereunto agrees that ancient authentick father of the Church, Irenaeus; When men are once alienated from the truth, they deservedly wallow themselves in the mire of all kinde of errors, being tossed to and fro thereby: Sometime of one opinion, and sometime of another, even in the same things: having no certain, sixt, and setled knowledge at all.

And the reason hereof why Schismatiques must need be­come Heretiques, is rendred by S. Hierome; No Schism (saith he) but will beget an Heresie, that thereby the Schismatique may the better maintain his unlawful separation from the Church.

CHAP. V. Of the causes of Heresie, and Schism: and the manners of Heretiques.

HE that will convert an Heretique, Eu [...]n qui Haere­ticum vult con­vertere, oportet, scire regulas sive argumenta eorum. Nec. n. est possibile ali­cui curare quos­dam malè ha­bentes, qui igno­rat passionem eorum, qui ma­lè valent. Iren. part. in lib. 4. advers. Haer. saith Ireneus, he must know, as the arguments which they use, so the Rules whereby they proceed: It being not possible for any to work a cure upon another that is diseased, if he know not the causes of his disease, and the waies of its progresse, in the infection of the humors, spirits, or more, solid parts of the body: so that to heal the distempers of Heresie, and Schism, 'tis neces­sary to search out the causes, and take notice of those evil waies, and corrupt customes of seduced spirits.

1. The first original cause of all Heresies and Schisms, is pride and ambition, which was the original sin both in men, and Devils, saith Syracides, Ecclus. 10.13. Therefore he admonisheth, Extoll not thy self in the counsel of thine own [Page 195]heart, that thy soul be not torn in pieces as a wilde bull, straying alone, chap. 6.2. Thus Simon Magus, the first Heretique in the Church of Christ, bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, Act. 8.9. Thus Montanus (as Eusebius records) being inflamed with the gree­dy desire of primacy, and superiority, Eccles. Hi [...]t. lib. 5. cap. 16. yeelded to the Actings of contrary, or evil spirits in himself, by whom being sodainly exta­sied and entransed, he began to utter strange and new doctrines contrary to such, as were generally received in the Church, pre­tending to the gift of prophesie by immediate Revelation. Theodor. l. 1. hist. eccl c. 24. Thus Arrius, and Novatus, being defeated of their ambitious de­sires of being Bishops, the one of Alexandria, the other of Rome, became the heads, and pestilent Authors of most per­nicious Heresies; Si [...]n radix ela­ [...]ionis abscindi­ [...]ur, rami pravae assertionis arc­fiunt. Greg. that they might lift up themselves to be the heads and leaders of Heretiques, since they could not be so of orthodox Christians. S. Augustine affirms of Primianus, and Maximinianus, who through pride and vain glory lifted up themselves to be the heads of two factions among the Dona­tists; And 'twas well for them, saith the Father, such factions fell out; for otherwise Primianus had been Postreminianus, and Maximinianus had been Minimianus, persons of whom no notice had been taken, but now in a Schism, either of them is a jolly fellow, and notorious in the way of opposing the Church. So Jack Straw, and Wat Tiler had been buried in oblivion, had they not raised a mutiny, and made an insurrection. And are there not too many amongst us, whose mean stamp, calling, and parts, pride and vain-glory hath stir'd up to faction and Schism, partly to raise themselves up out of the dust of con­tempt, and oblivion, and partly out of covetousness, knowing it to be the best fishing in troubled waters?

What else can it be but pride of heart, that either moves some to decry government, as scorning to be under any com­mand, or that moves others so stifly to contend for a parity in government, as scorning any superiors? Lib. 6. 'Twas noted by every man, saith the History of the Church of Scotland, That of all men, none could lesse endure parity, and loved more to com­mand, then they who had introduced it into the Church. Was not [Page 196]this the gain-saying of Corah, who because he could not be high-priest himself, he would have all priests equal, and no one to lift himself above the congregation of the Lords Numb. 16.3. Quosvis ad intellectum pravum inten­tio perversa non raperet, nisi prius superbia inflaret; dum enim prae caeteris sapientes arbitrantur, sequi alios ad melius intellecta despiciunt, at (que) ut apud vulgus scientiae nomen extorque­ant, student sum mopere & ab aliis rectè intellecta destruere, & sua per­versa roborare. Greg. de cur. past. p. 3. adm. 26. And can it be other but the same tumor of Pride, and vain­glory, that moves men to prefer their own private conceptions and extempo­ral effusions in prayer, before the appro­ved wise, and commanded forms of the Church? If you run through all the se­veral parts of Heresie and kindes of Schism remembred; if you take notice of all the Heresies that have been in the Church: this hu­mor of pride, Andr. serm. of imag. Epist. 165. observe it who will (saith reverend Andrewes) hath brought forth most part of the Heresies since the time of the Gospel: Mater omnium haereticorum superbia est, saith Aug. The mother of all heresie is pride, and so they are described by 2 Pet. 2.10. To despise government, Diversis locis sunt diversa haereses, sed una mater sup [...]rbia omnes genuit; sicut una mater nostra ecclesia catho­lica, omnes Christianos fideles toto orbe diffusos. Aug. de Temp. to be presumptuous and self­willed, and not afraid to speak evill of dignities: and to the same purpose, Epist. Jude, vers. 8. And so the Father again, There are many Heresies in many places, but they have all one common mother, which is pride, (in opposing private perswasions to the publique resolu­tions, and observances of the Church) even as there are many faithful good Christians disperst over the face of the earth, and these also have all but one common mother, the Catholick Church, to whom they duly render all obedience, and submission.

2. A second cause of Heresies and Schisms, is covetous­ness, which is directly asserted by the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6.10. For the love of money is the root of all evill, which while some have cov [...]ted after, they have erred from the faith: This was the cause of Balaams error in that he loved the wages of Righteousness.

The Novatians called themselves [...], h. e. mundos, Cathari mundi­ores se c [...]teris praedicant: qui nomen suum si cognoscere vel­lent, munda­nos se p [...]tius quam mundos vocarent. Isid. orig. l. 8. Est n. qui non amator esset pu­cuniae, nisi per hoc putaret se excellentiorem esse; et est qui non amaret ex­cellere, nisi pu­taret per hoc majores divi­tias habere. Aug. the pure, and the clean: but saith Isidore, Had they given themselves their proper character, it should have been not mun­dos, but mundanos; not the Puritans, but the worldlings: Covetousness inseparably cleaving to all the members of that heretical crue, as Pride was the parent of them. Nor can we well imagine, whether pride or covetousness reigned more in Montanus, Arrius, and Novatus, when failing in their hopes of Ecclesiastical preferments, they became the heads of the several Heresies called by their severall names.

Nor is it a bare and single convetousness, but that which is the worst and most enormous kinde thereof that often breeds, and alwaies possesses the spirits of Hereticks and Schisma­ticks, viz. the great, and crying sin of sacriledge; even a sacrilegious, and evil eye after the revenues of the Church; sacriledge being one of the Devils most strong and alluring snares, whereby he entraps men into Heresie and Schism: It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, Prov. 20.25.

3. A third cause of Heresies, and Schisms is Ignorance; And such a kinde of ignorance, as under the shew, and ap­pearance of knowledge possesseth the minde: which makes all persons in an error so stiffe and perverse in the mainte­nance thereof: their ignorance being not easily to be dis­pel'd by the light of Truth, because in what they are most ignorant they conceit themselves most knowing: Heretiques in this respect being not unlike persons that are drunken, and yet think themselves sober, and so become guilty of much wild, and exotique demeanor, the which, not conceiving themselves to be drunk, they fondly imagine to be bravely discreet, and gallant: so these professing themselves to be wise they become fools, Rom. 1.21. being wedded to their own opinions how false soever, whilest they think themselves wiser, then those from whom they ought to receive directi­ons in the waies of Truth.

Hence 1. ariseth that exorbitant custome of the Here­tiques to detract, and undervalue their superiors in the know­ledge [Page 198]of things divine, and boldly to presume to teach their teachers, Greg. Nazian. o­ra [...]. at which presumption of a people, Gregory Na­zianzen being greatly offended, useth these words in an ora­tion to them, Presume not ye that are sheep, to make your selves guides of them that should guide you, neither seek ye to overskip the fold which they about you have pitched. It sufficeth for your part, if you can well frame your selves to be ordered: Take not upon your selves to judge nor to make them subject to your lawes, who should be a law to you; For God is not a God of sedition, and confusion, but of order and peace.

Hence 2. they presume to justifie themselves, and despise others, which none dare presume to do, but such as do not truly know themselves. Such is that generation who are pure in their own eyes; they would never be so, were they not ignorant of what followes. But they are not washed from their filthiness, Prov. 3.12. And hence come Schisms, (saith a lear­ned man) because men do say, we are pure, and we are holy, we are they that sanctifie the impure, and 'tis our prayers that are effectual with God, and for our sakes his blessings descend upon others: And upon this ground they se­parate themselves into sects and parties, each one saying of his own sect, Ecce habes ec­clesiam per to­tum mundum: noli sequi falsos justificatores, sed veros praeci pitatores, Aug. in Joh. tract. 1. Lo here is Christ, and lo there, Mat. 13. limiting him to a part, being ignorant that he hath bought the whole, and 02 taken possession also, being the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world, 1 Joh. 2.2. Whereupon saith the Father, Behold, thou hast the Church diffused over the whole earth, follow not therefore such who falsly justifie themselves, and thereby too truly headlong themselves into the gulf of errors.

Hence 3. they presume to meddle with Mysteries above the sphear of their capacities, The sincere milk of Gods word will not serve their turn, but they will drink of the wine of celestiall truth, which their understandings being not able to digest, they are intoxicated therewith and stagger like drunken men, being tossed and fro with every winde of doctrine: against which presumption the wise Syracides admonisheth, Ecclus. 3.21. Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what [Page 199]i [...] commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence— For many are deceived through their own vain opinion, and an evil suspi­ [...]ion hath overthrown their judgement.

Hence 4. Even from ignorance under the pretext of knowledge, 'tis the custome of Heretiques to snarle, and de­tract, and speak evil of those Truths, the profound and deep excellency whereof their darkned understandings cannot fa­thom; so they are described 2 Pet. 2.12. and Jude, vers 10. To speak evil of the things they understand not: As the Jewes because they understood not Christs Doctrine of the bread of life, therefore they strove amongst themselves saying. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Joh. 6.52. And Ni­codemus, because he understood not the nature of Regenerati­on, was offended at the doctrine, saying, How can a man be born when he is old, &c. Joh. 3.4.

Whereas all good Christians, who have any grain of true faith, do believe with reverence, even those mysteries of god­liness, which they understand not, expecting with all humility and obedience till they shall be opened, and made known unto them. Hist. eccl. l. 7. c. 13. So Eusebius records of Dionysius Alexand who speaking of the Revelation of S. John, saith, I do not impugn those things therein, which I understand not, but rather ad­mire them, the more for that they are above my understan­ding. And S. Aug. gives us this rule to be observed as tou­ching the mysteries of holy Religion: Quod secun­dum fidem qua imbuti sumus inteligere va­lucrimus, tan­quam de cibo guadea [...]us; quod secundum sa [...]a [...]n sidei re­gulam intelligere non poterimus, bonum tanen & verum esse mi­nime dubitemus. Aug. in Joh. tract. 18. What according to the measure of faith wherewith we are endowed, we do understand aright, let us therein rejoyce, as 'tis the food of our souls, but what we cannot according to the sound rule of faith conceive, we must not therefore doubt, but to be holy, just, and good.

Hence 5. ariseth so much levity and inconstancy of minde in all heretical, and schismatical persons: like children tossed to and fro with every winde of doctrine, Ephes. 4.14. Even as children for want of judgement distinguish not betwixt wholsome, and unwholsome diet, betwixt food and poyson: so all persons become erroneous and wavering for want of knowledge, and judgement, rightly to distinguish betwixt light and darkness, tares and wheat, corn and chaffe, betwixt what is the food, and what they poyson [Page 200]of their souls: therefore they are compared to clouds with­out water, carried about with windes, Jude, vers. 12. denoting the emptiness of sound knowledge, which renders them not only inconstant in the tenents of religious Truths, but also obnoxious both to the broaching and belief of lies: having ever an itching desire to things new, and strange, but with the Israelites loathing the old Manna, though it be the food of Angels, for no other reason, but because they are accustomed to it.

And this spiritual itch, a more baneful disease then the cor­poral, is grown epidemical, and so overspreading the body of our Church, as that prophesie of the Apostle hath at no time been more manifestly fulfilled, then in these our daies. 2 Tim. 4.3.4. For the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto Fables. This itch, saith the Father, Pruritus in au­ribus spirituali­ter fornicanti­bus: sicut pru­ritu libidinis in carne cor­rumpitur inte­gritas castita­tis. Aug. in Joh. Hom. 43. is as pernicious to the purity of Truth, as is the itch of lust to the vertue of chastity: for hence many solid and soul-saving Truths are often contemned, for their anti­quity, because they were heard of before, and so they tickle not their itching ears: And lies, and errors are readily em­brac'd in their stead meerly for their novelty. And those teachers which feed this humor, and claw this itch by bring­ing things new and strange to their ears, are the only persons they lust after, delight in, and follow by heaps, and mul­titudes.

But undoubtedly amongst many other, this is one infal­lible mark whereby to distinguish Truth from Error, and con­sequently Heretiques and Schismatiques from orthodox Chri­stians: Truth like the Sun in the firmament, is ever one and the same, and constant to it self: but Error changes like the Moon, is multifarious and endless, knowes no stint, or limits; therefore Tertullian cals the faith of Heretiques, Fides annua, menstrua, sides temporum non evangeliorum: Not like the faith of the Gospel which is fixt and setled, permanent and con­stant, but the faith of a year, or of a moneths continuance, and the faith of the times; as the times change and alter, [Page 201]so doth the Religion commonly of all seduced, and errone­ous persons.

From which inconstancy new sect, and parties daily and hourly do arise amongst Heretiques: as from the shop of Simon Magus Heresie, sprung all those innumerable sorts of Heretiques in the Church, till the time of the Manichaean heresie And these Manichees were also subdivided into Catharists, Macarians, and Manichees strictly so called. From Arrius sprung the Macedonians, Aerians, Aetians, Aug. cont. Don. l. 1. c. 6. and innumerable others: Donatus party, saith S. Aug. was soon broken into many lesse and smaller parcels; Deni (que) penitus inspectae omn [...]s haereses in mul­tis cum autori­bus suis dissen­tientes depre­henduntu [...]. Teit. de prae. cont. Haer. c. 42. The Anabaptists amongst us are subdivided into Antinomians, Brownists, Seek­ers, Ranters, Quakers, Familists, &c. And finally, saith the Father, look into all Heresies, and you may easily finde them in many things dissenting even from their own authors and Foun­ders: And seldome shall you see Heretiques agree in any one point, except it be to oppose, and cry down the Truth, as Herod and Pilat against Christ.

6. From the same dark Abysse of Ignorance, Ne (que) n. natae sunt haereses, & quaedam dogma­ta illaqueantia animos & in profundum praecipitantia, nisi dum scriptu­rae bonae intelli­gerentur male; & quod in its non bene imel­ligitur, etiam temere & au­dacter asseritur. Aug. in Joh. Tract. 18. under the semblance of self-conceited wisdome, hath sprung that which is of all others the greatest cause of Heresies, viz. The mis­interpretation and mis-application of the holy Scriptures: For saith the Father, Heresie had never sprung up: nor false do­ctrines bewitching and destroying the souls of men, had never been broacht, had not the good word of God been ill understood, and that also which is but ill, and weakly understood, been rashly and presumptuously affirmed. 'Tis ever the custome of He­retiques to alledge holy Scriptures in a wrested and perver­ted sense, making those sacred writings like a nose of wax, turning, and writhing them to this, and to that, and to every sense that best agrees with their own vain imagina­tions: Aliter Photius, aliter Novatianus, &c. One He­retique understands it this way, and another diversly from him, and a third distinct from both, and all put ano­ther sense upon the words of God then ever his holy Spirit intended therein: Pro voluntatis sue sensu, Hilar. Vinc. Lir. ad­versus Har. c. 1. Hil de trinitate l. 2. The sense of their own minde and spirit, not of Gods Spirit, they put upon the Scriptures, which occasion'd that com­plaint [Page 202]plaint of S. Hierome: 'Tis only the Art of understanding Scri­ptures which all persons challenge to themselves. So [...]a scriptura­rum a [...]s est, quam sibi pas­sim omn [...]s ven­dicant. Hanc gariula avus, hanc delirus senex, hanc so phista verbesus, hanc universi presumunt, la­cerant, docent, ante quam dis­cant. Hier. ad P [...]l. l. 1. c. 6. This the prat­ling old wise, and the doting old man, and the wrangler full of words, this all men presume unto, and upon presumption of their interest therein, they tear, and wrest, and abuse it at their pleasure, presuming to teach the doctrine thereof before they have half learned it.

As in the natural creation of children too many are the issue of lust, and wantonness, nor is it considered when they are begotten, how they shall be kept; even so 'tis in the spiritual brood of Heresies; pride, covetousness and ignorance, begets them before the authors know how to maintain them: but as children when they are once gotten, must be kept though they pinch upon their neighbours; so this hereti­cal crew rather then the opinions which are the issue of their pride and vanity should die, they will steal the sincere milk of the word to nourish them: or in language of another strain; rather then they will submit their vain imaginations to the truth and true meaning of Gods word, the truth of that must submit to their imaginations. And this, Videtis id vos ag [...]re, ut omnis scriptura­rum de medio auferatur authoritas, & suus cui (que) animus author sit quid in qua (que) scriptura probet, quid improbet: id est, non ut authoritati subjiciatur s [...]ri­pturarum ad fidem, sed ut sibi scripturas ipse subjiciat: non ut illi ideo placeat aliquid quia hoc in sublimi authoritate scriptum legitur, sed ideo recte scriptum videatur quia hoc illi plac [...]t. Aug. cont. Faust. saith the Father, is the way to rob the Scripture of its authority, whilest every mans own imagination must tell him what it allowes, and what it disallowes: this is not to be subject to the authority of the Scriptures, but to make the Scriptures subject to our imaginations: so that there­fore this or that is not acceptable unto them, because 'tis written in the word of God, but therefore 'tis well said, or written there, because 'tis accepta­ble unto them.

The great danger they incur, who put another sense up­on the holy Scriptures then Gods holy Spirit ever intended therein, is represented to us, by the strange fire, which that rebellious crew under the conduct of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram offered up unto the Lord, there came out a fire from the Lord and devoured the presumptuous sacrificers, Numb. 16.18, 35. So those unlearned and unstable souls which wrest the [Page 203]Scriptures, do it to their own destruction, 2 Pet. 3.16. As a remedy to prevent so great mischief, the ancient Fathers thought it meet to provide (saith the reverend Andrewes) that they who took upon them to interpret the Scriptures, Lat. con [...]. se­cundum s [...]ss. 11. should put in sureties that the sense they gave of them should be no other then what the Church in former times acknow­ledged. So Vinc. Lirin. also, By reason of the manifold wind­ings and turnings of the Scriptures, Propter tantos tam varii erro­ris anfractus, necesse est, ut propheti [...]ae, & Apostolicae in­terpretationis l [...]nea, secundum ecclesiastici & catholici sen­sus normam di­rig atu [...]. Vine. Lir. advers. Haer. c. 2. for the maintenance of seve­ral errors, 'tis necessary to direct the line of prophetical and Apo­stolical interpretation, according to the rule of an Ecclesiastical sense and meanings: for, Quis unquam Haereses, &c. saith the same Author, Who ever brought in an Haeresie but first he dis­agreed from the consent of antiquity, and of the ancient Catho­lique Church: Et in laqueum sit verbum Dei, saith Estius: the holy Word of God becomes a snare, and a stumbling block to all those who contemning the authority of the Church, presume to impose their own private sense upon it. And he that obtrudes his private sense of Scripture upon his hea­rers, not only lords it over their faith, but over the faith of the universal Church of Christ, Estius in Rom. 11.9. nay he makes null and void the authority of holy Scriptures, for Scripture is no more Scripture, if not rightly interpreted.

7. Another general cause of erroneous opinions in Re­ligion, is Hypocrisie: when men are cold and lukewarm, and too negligent in the practise, which is the life of Christianity, when they receive not the love of the Truth, so, as readily to obey and practise it; then it is just with God to give them up to strong delusions. Nay, hereby men lay themselves open to the delusions of Heretiques, because the excellency of holy Christian truths are not, cannot be known but by the practise and experience thereof, therefore said our Saviour, If ye do his will, ye shall know of my doctrine whether it be of God or no, Joh. 7.17. So that undoubtedly what ever pie­ty, or purity Heretiques may pretend unto, yet generally 'tis but a meer formal outside, a show, and shadow of truth, but no substantial solid piety, or charity; having a form of godliness, but denying the power, 2 Tim. 3.5. For to such who by obe­dience, practise, and experience do know and believe the ex­cellency [Page 204]of Truth, it is not possible to be seduced, and drawn aside therefrom: Qu imdiu bona ep [...]ra sa [...] imus, ipsum lumen ju stitiae ante ocu­los nosties ada­perit veritatem. Chrys. in Mat. 7. Hom. 19. therefore our Lord cals all false Prophets, Woolves in sheeps cloathing, Mat. 7.15. that is, Nominis Chri­stiani extrinseous superficies, meer nominal outside Christians: no men so seemingly austere and strict, and yet all is but empty appearance of holiness: no men assume to themselves more holy titles, the Saints, the Elect, the People of God. If they, be simple and illiterate persons, then they apply to them­selves, God hath chosen the simple, 1 Cor. 1.27. and those that confute them in discourse, do it by carnal Reason, and the wis­dome of the flesh; if they be subtil and acute in argumentati­on, and put to silence some weak adversary, then 'tis the wisdome of the spirit in them, which the wisdome of the flesh cannot resist. Tell them of their folly and madness, they say Christs own Apostle was accounted mad: if they suffer ac­cording to law for their enormities, then they say they suffer for righteousness sake; nay their sins and delinquencies they would make appear to be pieties: so subtil are all Hypo­crites in the outward and nominal part of Religion, that if it were possible, they would deceive the very. Elect: and many thousands are deceived by their appearances of holiness, and strictness of life, but 'tis such only who are somewhat in­fected with Hypocrisie as well as themselves: therefore they are styl'd Wels without, water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, 2 Pet. 2.17. For as empty clouds are most tossed by the winde: so men that are religious only in religious names, and religious talk, and outward shew of Religion, being not ballast with sincere devotion towards God, and charity to­wards man, such are they that are most apt to be tossed with every winde of doctrine.

8. All errors and seditions in the most holy faith are ge­nerally thrown upon the grand impostor and father of lies, the Devil, who no question hath a great influence therein, therefore cal'd, The doctrines of devils, and he and his Angels, seducing spirits, 1 Tim. 4.1. and all that are seduced, the children of the wicked one, Mat. 13.38. but yet withall we must know, that if the voluntary sins of pride, covetousnesse, presumption, &c. did not first infect the minde, his tares [Page 205]of Heresie and Schism could never take rooting there: 'tis of the corruptions of the mindes and manners of men that all Heresies are engendred, and like the creatures of putrefacti­on to which heat and moisture gives a natural being, so the filthy moisture, or corruption of mens hearts quickned by the incessant operation of the evil spirit, gives unto all Heresies their spiritual being, and growth in the minde: For wickedness, saith the wise man, doth alter the understanding, and the bewitch­ing of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest, Wisd. 4.11. Sin, saith Chrys. doth so blinde the senses of sinners, Chrys. in Mat. 7. Hom. 19. that seeing not the waies of falshood and error, they headlong themselves therein: nor could ever any errors prevail ever man, if sin had not made the way: for first a man is blinded by his sins, and then drawn away by the devil, and seduced: For error, saith he, begetteth not sins, but sins beget and bring forth error.

CHAP. VI. The ends why God permits Heresies and Schismes.

ALmighty God as by his powerful word, of nothing he hath made all things, so doth he still not only uphold all things by the word of his power, but most wisely govern, order, and dispose of all, being the Master-wheel of all motions, and the original cause of all actions, and events, whether they be good or evil, of the good by his active, and of the evil by his permissive providence, as Amos 3.6. Shal there be any evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?

Terra salutife­ras herbas, ea­dem (que) nocentes Nutrit, & ur­ticae proxima sea [...]e rosa est.And as it is in the greater world, all good and useful things have their contrary evils: there are fruitful showres and the fatning dew of heaven: and there are also harmful storms of hail, and corrupt, and infectious vapours: There are trees of wholsome fruit, and herbs for the use and nourishment both of man and beast, and there are also both trees and herbs that are unwholsome and poysonous: there are living creatures also both tame and wilde, both such as are service­able [Page 206]unto man, and such also as are destructive. fierce, cruel, and mischievous: so in the lesser world also; there is in the field of Gods Church, both wheat and tares, corn and chaffe; both true and false Prophets, the one the pillars of sound, celestial, soul-saying Truth, the other the deceitful workers, and Patrons of errors, heresies, and schisms.

Truth stands ever firm upon its own proper base, and be­ing supported by no other but its own native excellency and vertue, ever appears like it self in its own plain simple na­ked colours: But Error being in it self crooked, and deformed, puts on the shape, and ever appears in the likeness of holy truth, following her steps to trip up her heels, and take possession of her throne: The very Philosophy of the Hea­thens, was followed and undermin'd by false Philosophers: and amongst the Jewes their circumcision, and some other rites and ceremonies were imitated by the Arabians, and other nations: and yet the one were the worshippers of the true God herein, and the others worshipped Idols: And in the worship of the true God, to that which is sound and sincere is opposed false, counterfeit, and hypocritical worship: to the true and lawful Baptism, is opposed unlawful and extra­regular dipping: to the commandements of God, the traditi­ons of men: to the Apostles and faithful Ministers of Christ, false Apostles, and deceitful workers: and in a word, there is nothing of the most holy fath, but by the cunning of the De­vil, working upon the corruptions of mens hearts, some­thing is forged in opposition thereunto: [...]. Athen. lib. de resur. No article of the Christian faith escaping the invasion of Heretiques, and the corruption thereof by heretical and false positions: the which will easily appear to every man that list to consult Phila­strius, Epiphanius, Augustine, Joh. Damscene, who out of Ecclesiastical records have given the several catalogues of Heresies and Heretiques.

The Reasons why God is pleased to permit it should be so, may be reduc'd to two general heads, viz. 1. In respect of the faith it self. 2. In respect of the professors thereof.

1. In respect of the faith of Christ. 1. The excellency thereof doth appear from the manifold assaults, and machi­nations [Page 207]of the devil there against: for were not the stedfast profession of the Christian faith, and the conscientious pra­ctise thereof, the way both of Gods acceptable service, and of mans salvation, the devil would never be so busie to cor­rupt and adulterate the same, whose inveterate enmity both to God and man, incites, provokes him perpetually to de­prave and falsifie the pure worship of the one, and hinder the salvation of the other.

2. The holy faith of Christ appears more pure, sincere, and illustrious by the test, and opposition of heretical posi­tions: we read Numb. 16.36. that the Lord commanded Moses to take the censers of those proud rebels, which rose up against Moses and Aaron, wherein they offered strange fire be­fore the Lord, and to make broad plates for a covering of the Altar; for they offered them before the Lord, therefore are they hallowed: sc. sanctificata in mortibus peccatorum: Through the death of the offenders they were sanctified to be a me­morial to the children of Israel, to beware of the like schism, insurrection, and sacriledge. These censers, (saith the Father) are a figure of the holy Scriptures, wherein Heretiques offer strange fire, by imposing a strange sense, and distinct from the minde of Gods Spirit therein, which is so abomina­ble unto God, that 'tis commonly the ruine of the Authors, and abettors thereof: But yet if we bring these brazen cen­sers to the golden Altar of God, and compare the strange fire therein, with the true fire from heaven, the lustre of the one will appear more clear and eminent, through the false and counterfeit glosse of the other: for as that maxime is true in general, Contraria inter se opposita magis, elucescunt, All contraries by their mutual opposition do more clearly shew themselves, so this in particular also is as true, veritas falso­rum comparatione magis fulgebit, Truth when compared and opposed to falshood, appears like gold from the dross when tryed in the fire, more illustrious and shining.

'Tis one reason therefore, why holy catholick doctrine is so much besieged, and impugned by heretical gainsayers, and tares of erroneous opinions are intermixt with the pure grain of sincerity and truth, viz [...] That tho holy faith might [Page 208]not loose its gloss and lustre, but appearing like it self clear and perspicuous might more effectually conduce to the illumination of our souls.

3. The holy faith by the opposition of Heresie is elevated and raised to a higher pitch of perfection, and the mysteries thereof become thereby to be more acutely handled, more narrowly sifted, and throughly considered: whereas other­wise like children we should ever be content with milk, and neglect the more solid and substantial food, Haereticos per­misit Deus, ne semper lacte nu­triamur, & in bruta infantia remaneamus. Aug. Tr [...]ct. 36. in Joh. resting in generals, and not descending to the discussion and right understanding of particular truths. So saith the Father, God therefore suf­fers Heretiques amongst us, that we might not alway be nou­rished with milk, and continue for ever in the more brutish estate of infancy.

4. The holy faith by the opposition of Heresie is the more confirmed and strengthned, even as trees shaken with the winde, take the faster hold, and are thereby more firmly en­rooted in the earth; so the more the foundation of our faith is assaulted and shaken by the gusts of heretical opini­ons, the faster hold is taken, and more firmly the principles of holy truth are enrooted in our hearts.

Nor is this the weakest argument to perswade us of, and confirm us in the truth of all the Articles of the Christian faith, that notwithstanding the several oppositions of Heresies in all ages, many whereof have for the time so prospered and prevailed, as to infect the greater and more eminent sort of Christian professors, yet the true faith hath ever in the end triumphed over them; they have dasht themselves in pieces like waves against a rock have broken into a foam, and va­nisht into smoke: for, magna est veritas & praevalebit: As for truth it endureth, and is alwaies strong, it liveth, and con­quereth for evermore, Esd. 4.38.

The second general end why God permits Heresies, is in respect of the professors of the holy faith: And these being of two sorts, good and bad, either such as are sound grain, or else such as are empty chaffe, therefore he suffers the fan of temptation to passe over all, by the assaults of erroneous [Page 209]opinions, that the one might be distinguisht from the other, that the corn might be winnowed from the chaffe, the wheat separate from the tares, and sound orthodox Christians might be known from the un sound, hollow-hearted, Chrys. Hom. 19. in Mat. 7. hypocritical professors of the faith. That the evil may not be crowned with the good, therefore God sends temptations (saith the Father) and that the good may not perish with the evil, therefore he commands us to beware of false Prophets.

2. The reason why the unsound, and sinful professors, are tempted, and by temptation overcome by the assaults of erroneous opinions in Religion, is by the just judgement of God permitted for a punishment upon them: for as it is in the way of sinfulness, one sin is commonly the punishment of another, God most justly withdrawing the assistance of his divine grace from such as wilfully transgress his most ho­ly Lawes: Peccatum, quod non per poeni­tentiā diluitu [...], mox suo pondere ad aliud trahi­tur. Greg. So that when sin (saith the Father) is not washed away with the tears of repentance, the weight thereof sinks the soul into the puddle of following sins: His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins, Prov. 5.22. So it is in the way of Error, they who receive not the truth in the love and life thereof, which is sound and sincere obedience thereunto; For this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thess. 2.10, 11, 12. So Saul for his disobedience, 1 Sam. 15.22, 23. The Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and an evil spirit from the Lord trou­bled him, 1 Sam. 16.14. So Ahab for his many abominati­ons, refused to ear [...]hthe voice of the true Prophet Mi­caiah, and listned to false Prophets to his own ruine and de­struction, 2 Chron. 18. And so Judas whose faith in Christ was never sound, but his Religion lay in his purse, not in his heart, was therefore suffered to be tempted, and eternally ruined by that temptation to betray his Master.

3. In respect of the sound and sincere professors of Christi­anity, God permits Heresies for many useful and profitable reasons.

1. That those smaller errors and mistakes, wherewithall [Page 210]through ignorance, or misperswasion the understandings of many good men are infected, might by the opposition of Heresies be cleared, and done away, and the chaffe, by the fan of temptation be winnowed, Datam scimus Sa anae potesta­tem, ut servos Christi crib [...]a­ret, ut quod de trinco inveniri p [...]ssit h [...]rreis [...]ungeretur: & quod de his ad ign um alimen­ta transiret. Anacleti epist. and sifted from the purer grain: so saith an ancient Father of the Church: We know that power is given to the Devil to winnow, and sift the servants of God, that what is found to be sound and good wheat might be gathered into the barn, and carefully treasured up in the stedfast belief thereof: and what proves but chaffe and fit for the fire, might be shaken off: The inundation of heresies being one of those fiery trials, whereby every mans work shall appear, whe­ther it be gold, silver and precious stones to be continued, or whe­ther no better then wood, hay, and stubble (which too often is built upon the same foundation with the other) and to be consumed, 1 Cor. 3.11, 12, 13.

2. Heresies are permitted, to scoure off the rust of idle­ness, sloth, negligence, and carelesness in matters of faith; they render all careful and conscientious Christians more di­ligent in sifting, and searching out the truth, and more care­ful also of what they hear, and of what they receive: for truth, according to those several commands given, Beware of false Prophets, Mat. 7.15. Take heed how ye hear, Luk. 8.18. And take heed what ye hear, Mark 4.24. Try all things, and hold fast that which is good, 1 Thess 5.21. And beleeve not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God or no, 1 Joh. 4.1. Therefore many false Prophets, and false spirits there are, and heretical assertions are interwoven with the Articles of the true faith, that we might not grow dull, and stupid, and negligent, and idle, but be industrious, vigilant, and wary, having our senses exercised to discern both good and evil, and our understandings polished, through the many ex­ercitations, and oppositions of untruths: [...]m. 19. in Mat. 7. Because God would not have his servants without judgement (saith Chrys.) not to be able to discern betwixt light and darkness, therefore he sends them temptations, and because he would not have them to perish through ignorance, and negligence, therefore he commands them to beware.

3. For the exercise and trial as of our sincerity, so of our [Page 211] courage, and spiritual fortitude in the opposition and resist­ance we make against the assaults of Heresies, is another end why God permits us to be assaulted by them: there is no greater sign of our sincerity in the love and service of God, then by being stedfast in his covenant, Psal. 78.37. one chief and principal part of which covenant is, stedfastly to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith: from the which there is no man that loves the Lord with all his heart, can be in­duced to swerve, or go astray; nor can all the machinations of the Devil, or any sinful lusts of the world, or of the flesh in this respect prevail against him. For he that is verè pius, est verè fortis: True and sound piety never wants courage to defend the Truth; and true courage, through divine assist­ance, is ever accompanied with constancy, and victory over all temptations: This is commanded Deut. 13.1. If there arise a false Prophet, thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet— And the reason is rendred, why such should arise, and why thou should not hearken unto them, vers. 3. For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, &c. q. d. If you truly love the Lord, it will appear by the opposition to whatsoever does corrupt, or deprave the waies of his worship: God sends not temptations that we should hearken and yeeld unto them, but that our love to him might appear by our resistance and vanquishment of them. And our weapons in this spiritual warfare, are fervent importunate prayes, arising from a true sincere and sound piety and devotion of soul; The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth, He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them, Psal. 145.28, 29. He will save them out of the windings and subtil waies of error and deceit, who truly love and fear him, and in the sincerity of their souls call upon him: For God is faithful, and will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will even give the issue with the temptation that they may be able to bear it, 1. Cor. 10.13. Vel cadere non sinit, vel à casu erigit: Gloss. in loc. either God suffers not the righteous to be moved, Psal. 55.22. Or if he fall, yet shall he rise again, for the Lord upholdeth him with [Page 212]his hand: — Qui tentanti dat licentiam, tentato dat misericordi­am: The same God who suffers the tempter, supports the tempted also: and against the temptations of false Prophets upholds the true faithful soul that loves the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his might.

4. As our love to God, so our love to our neighbour also is exercised and tryed by the permission of Heresies amongst us: And this,

1. By our readiness to instruct the ignorant, and strengthen the weak, that they be not seduced, and ensnared by them: Rom. 14.1. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

2. Before endevours in the use of all possible means to bring into the way of Truth, all such as have erred, and are deceived. proving whether God will give them repentance to the acknowledge­ment of the truth, that they may escape the snare of the Devil, of whom they are taken captive at his will, 2 Tim. 2.25, 26.

3. By your prayers for them, that God would open their eyes to understand the truth, and relinquish their errors, that they may be converted, and be healed, Jam. 5.16. Praying one for another that ye may be healed.

5. For the exercise of our patience and meekness: For all Heretiques and Schismatiques whatsoever, do generally and for the most part assume to themselves to be the on­ly Church and people of God, and all others besides themselves to be reprobates and castawaies, whom there­fore, where they have power they constantly persecute, and afflict: and where outward power is wanting, they shew their inward malice by bitter railings, revilings, and uncha­ritable censures and condemnations of them: All which God permits for the exercise of our patience, meekness, and Christi­an moderation: that being reviled, we revile not again, not ren­dring evill for evill, nor railing for railing: but contrari­wise blessing, and earnestly praying for their conversion, who as earnestly wish for our confusion: and this both according to the command and example of our blessed Lord and Master, Mat. 5.44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which de­spitefully use you and persecute you.

CHAP. VII. Of the danger of Heresie and Shism.

THE most holy God, as he is infinite in mercy, so in justice; for as well wrath as mercy cometh from him, and his indignation resteth upon sinners: 'tis of his mercy that all things work together for good to them that love him; Etians peccata, saith the Father, ever their sins, whilest truly repent­ed do work to their greater Humiliation, and more careful conscienciousness of their waies, and so their errors also do work both for their trial of, and confirmation in the most holy faith: 'Tis of his justice, that evill doth haunt the wicked person to his ruine: both the evil of sin, and the evil of error, leaves not the wicked person till he be ceased with the evill of punish [...]ent either temporal or eternal: hence it comes to pass, that Heresie is both profitable and dangerous, as S. Chrys. observes, Chry. Horn. 19. in Mat. 7. 'tis useful and profitable in that thereby the truly faith­full are sifted, tryed and known from the light, giddy, and coun­terfeit number of professors; and 'tis dangerous in that many are thereby seduced and perish.

The great danger of Heresie and Schism will appear, if we consider,

1. The infectious nature of them, how easily this spiritual plague doth sease, and how fast it cleaveth to the depraved soul of man: There is no question, but if holy truth could be discerned by mortal eyes, in its native beauty and lustre, there is nothing that would so much attract and ravish the soul, whether we respect the cause thereof, as being a beam displaid from the divine light of heaven: or its effect, being the perfection, and joy of the highest faculty in man, the understanding: in both respects there's nothing so illu­strious and lovely in it self, as holy Truth: that therefore which makes errors, and lies so plausible, and infectious, is not their own natural stamp and quality which is deformed and hateful, but the counterfeit dross of seeming Truth where­withall [Page 214]the Devil doth gild, and paint, and cover their defor­mities; nor could the devil ever obtrude his lies, and errors, but that they are gilded over with holy and religious expressions, and intermixt also with many wholsome and profitable truths: and thus doth this Prince of darkness transform him­self into an Angel of light, that he may at once both amuse and betray the deceived souls of men, through a spiritual to an eternal darkness.

But as sin is the more sinful and dangerous, Ibi vitiorum illeceb [...]ae sunt ubi tegmen pu­tabatur viriu­tum. Hier. in Eccl. the more 'tis palliated and clothed with the name and attire of vertue, be­cause, saith Hierome, In those veils and covers of vertue, the snares of sinfulness and vice do secretly lurk: So errors in Re­ligion are the more deceivable, and destructive, by being arayed in the garments of truth and integrity: for thus they appear to the outward view of the unskilful, more true, saith Irenaeus, then truth it self, even as a coun­terfeit jewel made bright and sparkling by Art, Si quis aquae mixtum gypsum dans prolacte seducat per similitudinem coloris, sic de omnibus qui quolibet modo depra­vant quae sunt Dei, & adulterant veri­tatem Dei. Lacte gypsum male misce­tur. Irenae. l. 3. c. 19. so deceives the eyes of the un­skilful Lapidary, that he prefers it before the true and genuine Diamond: or as poyson secretly mixt with wholsome food passes for good nourishment: or as well mixed whitelime by the likeness of its colour passes for milk; Sunt quidam vaniloqui, & mentis se­ducteres, non Christiani, sed Christum mercantes, & cauponantes verbum E­vangelii, qui venenum erroris commi­scentes dulci blandimento, sicut oeno­meli, ut qui biberit illius potus gustabi­lem sensum, dulcedine captus, in obser­vanter morti abdicatur. Ignat. ep. ad Trall. so the untempered mortar of false Prophets, Ezek. 22.28. for the sincere milk of the Word, 1. Pet. 2.2.

To this destructive quality of error, the holy professions, and strict austere outward actions of Heretiques do much conduce, no man so pure in their own eyes, none so seeming­ly pure and holy, to the outward view of other mens eyes, none more zealous in their way, none so full of religious phrases, and Scripture expressions: their crossed armes, down­cast eyes, neglected gestures, garb, and attire, seemingly bespeak them men altogether weaned from the world, and whose conversation is in heaven; Sed latet anguis in herba: when under all these fair, and goodly appearances, there lies secret­ly the serpentine poyson of error, falshood, and lying vanity [Page 215]of minde, they do not only hereby deceive themselves, but mightily seduce, and deceive others also: For, there is no­thing (saith Chrysostome) does so much destroy Truth, and Holi­noss, Chry. Hom. 19. in Mat. 7. as counterfeit truth, and feigned holiness; for the evil which is manifest, is shun'd and avoided as evil; but evil covered un­der the shew of Good, is not therefore avoided, because not known to be evil, but is received as good and holy: and doth therefore de­stroy that which is good by being intermixt therewith: And thus saith he, the servants of the Devil do most wickedly corrupt, and deprave the holy Christian Religion, whilest they pretend to be themselves good Christians: of whom our Lord therefore commands us to beware, saying, Beware of false Prophets which come unto you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly are ravening woolves, Mat. 7.15.

2. The great danger of Heresie, and Schism, will further appear, if we consider that they are ever productive, and fruitful in all licentiousness, and sinfulness of heart, and life: for Heresies being begotten by the Devil of the sinful cor­ruptions of men hearts as is already noted, cannot there­fore have any other issue but of the same mold and temper, whereof they are themselves begotten.

What ever therefore may be the external garbe, and ap­pearance of holiness, which Heretiques generally do put on, and how ever pure they may seem in their own eyes, yet are such who are not washed from their filthiness: Prov. 30.12. and however they may justifie themselves with the Pharisee, yet are they not therefore just before God, but rather the further off from justification.

Some of them you shall hear to brag much, and boast of the Spirit, and yet very fruitful in the lusts of the flesh. For saith the Apostle, whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal? 1 Cor. 3.3. To talk much against the vanities of the world, and to be themselves world­ly minded: for so saith S. John of false Prophets: They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them, 1 Joh. 4.5. To profess; and make a great shew of humility and obedience: and yet as S. Jude ob­serves, The despise government and speak evil of dignities, vers. 8. [Page 216]To be righteous and just persons: and contrary to the rule of righteousness, they render not to all men their due, tribute to whom tribute is due, custome to whom custome, fear to whom fear belongeth, honour to whom honour appertaineth, Rom. 13.7.

No men ordinarily profess more zeal to Religion then He­retiques, and to the pure worship of God in spirit and in truth; yet none do more maim, corrupt and deprave Religi­on, and undermine Gods holy worship: the greatest heat of their zeal being laid out, and exercised in crying out against parts, and essential branches of Gods service: some against Gods Commandements, others against the Articles of the most holy Faith, others against that all-perfect form and pattern of devotion, the Lords Prayer, some against publique prayers, others against the Sacraments: some are against the places, others against the times, others against the persons de­voted to the sacred service of God: and others sacrilegi­ously rob him of the means, and maintenance of his ser­vice.

S. James tels us, Pure Religion, and undefiled before God, is to visit the fatherless and widowes, and to keep our selves unspot­ted of the world, Jam. 1.27. And yet 'tis usual with Here­tiques, none more, to profess purity of Religion, and none lesse charitable to the fatherless and widowes, whose number is increased by their cruelty, not relieved by their mercy: And as to the pollutions of the world, none more subtil and active to undermine their neighbours, and by covetousness, injustice, false accusations, and all unlawful and indirect means to deprive them of their means, estates, and prefer­ments in the world.

And hence it is that Heresies and Seditions, or Schisms, are reckoned amongst the fruits of the flesh: because both they proceed from fleshly lusts, pride, covetise, &c. and are them­selves also productive of many exorbitant and wicked works.

Nor is it possible but that all Heresies, and heretical opi­nions must needs produce loose, sinful, and dissolute actions: because the acts of the understanding, and of the will are so nearly, and mixedly enterwoven, that the corruption of [Page 217]the one, doth ever corrupt and vitiate the other. And in­deed there are few Heresies, which either do not directly teach, or secretly imply some kinde of loosness, exorbitancy, and sinfulness of action. The Gnosticks and Ebionites open­ly declaimed against the honour of virgin chastity: The Ni­cholaitans would have all wives in common: The Manichees with their ancestors, the disciples of Simon Magus, were all of loose, dissolute, licentious lives, of whom S. Peter parti­cularly speaks, 2 Pet. 2.10. Yet they (i. e. Simon Magus and his disciples) walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government; presumptuous are they, and self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. The Circumcellions were taught to lay violent hands upon themselves, and the Montanists also. The Anabaptists and many other Separa­tists of the same stamp, openly profess, that themselves be­ing the only people of God, have only right therefore to the c [...]ature, all others beside themselves being usurpers of what they enjoy, and so 'tis no injustice in them to rob, plun­der, and dispossess them of their goods and estates. The Soli­fidians deny the necessity of good works, and so they may live as the [...] list; and generally all Heretiques rail, revile, censure, judge, and condemn all that are not of their own minde and wa [...], which are sins of no small account in the sight of God.

And what else bath filled all Christendome with factions, and seditions, with tumults and troubles, with massacres, wars, and bloudshed, but first the broaching and belief of Heresies and lies, and renting the seamless coat of Christ by uncharitable excommunications, and schismatical separations, both of general Churches, and particular congregations each from other? We read not, that the Arrians, or the Dona­tists taught or professed any thing that was for matter of action, sinful, factious, and seditious: and yet the tumults and troubles, uncharitable censures, cruel persecutions, that followed both the Heresie of the one, and the Schism of the other, are too many to be expressed.

It is the duty of all good Christians to be meek, gentle, humble, patient, obedient to superiors, &c. and 'tis the duty [Page 218]of all good Pastors to exhort their people to the practise of these and the rest of the fruits or graces of the Spirit: but Heretiques on the contrary part blow the trumpet of war, faction, division, crying Down, down still with this, and that, and tother piece of religious worship, which they brand with the loathed name of Superstition, only because it sutes not with their deceived imaginations.

3. Great is the danger of Heresie and Schism, because the spirit of Heresie, and faction shuts out the Spirit of Grace, and robs the soul of all divine assistance in the waies of life. It is no marvel therefore that Heretiques are generally cruel, mischievous, and evil persons, since they are deprived of the grace of God, without which we can do nothing that good is: And Grace cannot live out of the company of her twin­sister, Truth: Grace and Truth flow from Christ the Sun of righteousness, as light and heat from the Sun in the firma­ment, both which are so co-essential to the Sun it self, that the one cannot have a being without the other. All er­rors therefore, when through perversness and wilfulness they are grown up to be Heresies, as they blinde the under­standing, so they harden the heart also, and provoke the most just God to give up such persons to a reprobate sense, Rom. 1.28.

4. Heresie and Schism are the more dangerous in that the infection knowes no bounds or limits, but spreads and eats like a canker, 2. Tim. 2.17. saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2.17. or as a gan­gren, which beginning in a small unperceivable spot, increa­ses still if it be not destroyed, till it overspread and consume the body: So 'tis in the way of Error, that which begins many times but with a small scruple, if it be not wisely stay­ed, increases into such erroneous opinions as are destructive to the main body of Religion, and being of a Church. Thus Montanus first began with the conceit of immediate Revela­tion, then to limit the inspiration of the holy Ghost to him­self, and his followers, thence they fell into the sin of Schism, and broke off communion with the whole Church of Christ, which proceeded at length to this monstrous conceit among them, that only the house of Montanus was the true Church, [Page 219]and that Montanus himself was the holy Ghost: even so amongst us first the ceremonies, and then the substance both of the holy Sacraments, and divine service were first scru­pled, and then cryed down, and afterward pulled down also: first Christian liberty is pretended, and then brutish disor­der, and confusion followes. The Church is free, 'tis most true, and not to be clog'd, and burthened with a number of needless, fruitless, insignificant ceremonies, but yet not so free, as to be freed of all order, decency, reverence, unity, and uniformity in the publique service of God: but that scrupulous and new fangled souls, when they once begin to doubt, and then leave the way of truth, like travellers that have lost their way, wander up and down, and are as far, if not farther off their journeys end, then when first they left the high and beaten road.

It would be endless to reckon up the several Sects and monstrous Heresies, which have crept in amongst us at this one gap first of all, viz. The schismatical desertion of that publique form of prayer, administration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies instituted and commanded by the Church to be observed by all the obedient sons, and faithful members thereof. One who hath computed the He­resies, which seven years agoe sprung up from that time when the Common-prayer was abolished, sayes, they have dou­bled the number, of what they were in S. Austins time, and in his daies they were very neer fourscore: and they are much multiplied since that time, and daily do increase; for evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, 2. Tim. 3.13. Nor must we hope for other, till the God of all truth, and peace be pleased together with his Truth to restore unity, and order in his worship, where­of for our manifold sins he hath so long deprived us.

5. Heresies and Schisms, as they are the cursed parents of sin, so of judgements also, both temporal, and eternal: as to temporal judgements, S. Stephen tels us out of Amos 5.25. That if we make to our selves tabernacles, or figures to worship them, our punishment shall be to be carried away beyond Baby­lon, Act. 7.43. Babylon, Aug de civit. dei. l. 18. saith the Father, est civitas illa con­fusionis, [Page 220]quae indifferenter habet philosophos inter se diversa, & adversa sentientes That city of c [...]nfusion, which consists of persons of diverse and contrary opinions each to other: and that's the portion of those people, that either vent, or addict themselves to new opinions, the fond imaginations of their own hearts, they shall dwel in the midst of perpetual strifes and contentions, and the Babylonish confusion of di­verse, and contrary opinions each to other: whereas Gods city, the Church, is a city that is at unity in it self, the b [...]essed inhabitants of which city, the members of the true Church are all of one heart, and of one minde: neither is there, or ought there to be in this city, as in Babel, liberty for eve­ry sect-master to set up what imaginations he please with­out controll; for when liberty of conscience produces licen­tiousness of opinion, confusion, and disorder must needs ensue; and if Babylons confusion goes before, the captivity of Baby­lon will not be far behinde; for what else can be the end of confusion, through diversity of opinion, but ruine and desola­tion?

The blessed fruits of unity and concord, are peace and prosperity; Concordia res parvae cresennt: and the cursed ef­fects of contentions, and variety of opinions, are war, and destruction; Discordia maximae dilabuntur. The world is full of examples of both kindes: therefore is there no one Christian duty, whereunto we have more pathetical and zealous admonitions in the Scriptures, then this of unity and agreement both in judgement and affection: for this our blessed Lord so fervently prayed, Joh. 17.11, 22, 23. To this he so frequently exh reeth his Apostles, Mark 9.50. Joh. 14.27. And his Apostles, all Christians, Rom. 12.4, &c. chap. 15.6. & 1 Cor. 1.10. Qui perversa mente de prae­ceptis pacis di­scordiam faci­unt, justo d [...]i examine ipsi de verbis vitae mo­riuntur. Greg. de cur. past. Adm. 25. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same minde, and in the same judgement: so also, 2 Cor. 13 11. Ephes. 4.1, &c. Phil. 1.27. & 2.2. He therefore, faith the Father, that through pervers­ness of minde, shall out of the precepts of peace and concord, create dissension and strife, creates death to himself out of the words [Page 221]of life: Charity is of the very essence of Christianity, the Q [...]een of graces, the sum, perfection, and fulfilling of the divine Law: but all the bonds of Christian Charity, and therein all the sacred duties we owe both to God and man, Quam verò di­lectionem cu­stodit, & cogi­tat, qui discor­diaefarore [...]r sa­nus, eccl siam semdit, pacem [...]urbat, cha [...]i­tatem dissipat? Cyp. de unit. eccl. are in­fringed and transgrest by contention, strife, and Schismati­cal rending and tearing the Church of Christ into factions and parties: and what ever piety such persons may out­wardly make shew of, yet can they not have any true cha­rity, saith Cyprian, or love either to God in the first place, or to their neighbours in the next, who endevour not to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bend of peace, Ephes. 4.3. with­out which no man shall ever see the Lord, Heb. 12.14.

And this will yet further appear if we consider,

6 That Schism alone without any heretical opinions (though these two can hardly be parted) cuts a man off from the unity of the Church: for 'tis an insurrection, a being in armes against the Church, Arma contra ecclesiam po [...] ­tat. Cyp. de unit. eccl. saith Cyprian: And he that is sepa­rated from the Church the spouse of Christ, is joyned to an adul­teress, saith the same Father, and euts himself off from all the promises made unto the Church and people of God: nor must he think to own God for his Father, who acknowledgeth not the Church for his Mother; Cyp ib. d. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ, 1 Cor. 12.12. And for this cause, faith S. Aug. No man can be righteous, whilest he stands sepa­rated from the unity of Christs body, Aug de corree. Domst. c. 25. but as any part or member of mans natural body being c [...]t off the body, is thereby devoid of the spirit of li [...]e: so the man that is cut off from the body of Je­sus Christ the righteous, is thereby devoid of the spiritual life of righteousness, though he do retain the shape, form, and likeness of a true living member: and the ancient Father Irenaeus gives the reason further, out of 1 Cor. 12.28. In the Church God hath set Apostles, Prophets, teachers, & universam operationem Spiritus reliquam, all the gifts and graces of Gods holy Spi­rit, are therein dispensed: Irenae advers. Haerd. 3. c. 40. Cujus non sunt participes, &c. whereof they are not partakers, who come not unto the Church to be joyned thereunto, but defraud themselves of life by evil opinions, and worse actions: Ʋbi enim ecclesia, [Page 214]ibi & spiritus— for where the Church is, there is the Spirit of life and sanctification.

7. Heretiques, Extra ecclesiam consisten [...], & contra pacem, & dilectionem Christi sacions, inter adversa­rios compute­tur. Cyp. ep. 76. and Schismaticks have been ever accounted the great adversaries of Christs Church, and people, whose in­testine broyles, and homebred divisions have done more mischief to the truth, and doctrine of Christ, then all the external persecutions of bloudy tyrants and Heathens: hence the sharp command of the Apostle against such, Tit. 3.10, 11. A man that is an heretique after the first or second admonition re­ject, knowing that he that is such, subverteth and sinneth, because condemn'd of himself: such a one is self-condemned, having 1. passed sentence upon himself by professing against the do­ctrine, and dividing from the communion of the Church. And 2. he hath done execution upon himself also, for he hath excommunicated himself in going out from the Church: Quomodo te à tot gregibus scidisti? Firmil. ad Cyp. Ep. 75. exscidisti teipsum: He that is such a one, reject, have no company with him, 2 Thess. 3.14. S. John going to wash himself in a Bath, and there espying Cerinthus an Heretique, leapt hastily out of the Bath again, saying that he feared the fabrick of the Bath would fall upon them all that were there, since Cerinthus the ene­my of truth is in it: Iren. ad [...]rs. Haer. l. 3. c. 3. And Polycarpus, who was S. Johns disci­ple, and heard these words from the Apostle, meeting with Marcion another Heretique, who saying unto him, Cognosce nos, acknowledge us for the true Disciples of Christ, an­swered, I know thee to be the first born of Satan. So great fear, saith Irenaeus, had the Apostle, and their Disciples of ha­ving any communication with persons that had depraved and cor­rupted the Truth: according to Tit. 3.10. For. nulla ab iis tanta potest esse corruptio, Id. l 4. c. 62. quanta est schismatis pernicies, saith the same Father. Athanasius, Apparet Anti­christos omnes esse, quos con­stat à charitate at (que) ab unitate ecclesiae [...]ecessisse Opt. l. 1. and Epiphanius deny Heretiques (nisi homonym [...]s) to be called Christians: and Optatus tels us, that Schismatiques are the Antichrists spoken of by S. John, 1 Joh. 2.18. for so they are described, vers. 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us, &c. Which is the way of Schism, and the description of Schismatiques: and he in­stances in Novatian, qui extra ecclesiam consistens, in­ter Antichristos computetur. The Samaritans, who were Schis­matiques [Page 225]from the Jewish Church, Addendo autem civitatem Sa­maritano [...]um det [...]re omitti ubi erant schis­matici, ostendit schismaticos Gemilibus ad­aequari. Cyp. Ep. 76. Id. ibid. the Jewes therefore had no conversation with them, Joh. 4.9. And they are reckoned by our Saviour with the Gentiles, Mat. 10.5.

8. The sad condition of all Heretiques, and Schismatiques, lying under the guilt of grievous sin, and being obnoxious thereby to the judgements of God, is frequently also re­membred by the Fathers: How are they without all hope, saith Cyprian, and incur Gods heavy indignation, to their own ruine, who make a Schism, the holy Scripture doth declare in the book of the Kings: where the ten tribes making a breach and Schism in the Church, and departing from Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is said to be wroth with the whole seed of Israel. And by the example of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram is manifested and proved, saith the same Father in the same place, that they are not only guilty of great sin, Aug. [...]p. 164. but liable to grievous punishment who rashly joyn themselves with Schismatiques: Il­lud scelus ad exemplum devitaudi: God for the present so grie­vously punished the sin of Corah and his complices, giving us thereby an example, saith S. Aug. to avoid the same; and shew­ing that when he spares to punish such persons in this life, the greater punishment he reserves for them in the life to come: which is affirmed 2 Pet. 2.9. For God will judge such persons, saith Irenaeus, who make Schisms and divisions, minding more their own utility, then the Churches unity, Qui propter modi­cas quaslibet causas magnum, & gloriosum corpus Christi con­scindunt: who for every light cause and unnecessary scruples rend the great and glorious body of Christ, Ir [...]n. l. 4. c. 62. and as much as in them lies destroy the same, speaking of peace and charity, but making war and division, straining at a gads, and swallowing the camel. Gods service is the way of mans salvation, and that nation or kingdome which will not serve the Lord shall pe­nish, Isa. 6.12. The ground and foundation of Gods service is faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11.6. Now the true, holy, and orthodox faith is but one, Eph. 4.5. therefore termed the unity of faith, vers. 13. Now he that pleaseth not God by the mean of a true faith, doth displease, and fight against him by the opposition of a false faith: ac­cording to our Saviours own rule, Mat. 12.30. Ho that is not [Page 224]with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scat­tereth abroad: And undoubtedly, he that is against Christ, he that is his adversary, makes himsel immediately liable to eternal condemnation, which is effected by every one that holds not the unity of the true faith, for he that b [...]leeveth not in me is condemned already, Joh. 3.18. In a word, as the true faith believed and obeyed is the way of life, so a false faith embrac't and followed is the high way of death and ruine; as the word of truth is the key of the kingdome of heaven, so the word of untruth and error, is the key that opens the gates of hell; as the first is that true and sacred light which discovers and clears the way that leads to light, and life everlasting, so the latter is the ignis fatuus, the false fire that misguides the wandring souls of men, to the con­fines of that kingdome, where dwelleth blackness of dark­ness of that kingdome, where dwelleth blackness of dark­ness for evermore. Of all seducers and maintainers of He­resies, the Apostle S. Peter affirms, that they bring upon themselves swift destruction, that their judgement of a long time lingreth not, and their damnation slumbreth not▪ 2 Pet. 2. 1, 2, 3.

CHAP. VIII. Rules and directions for the avoiding of Errors in Religion.

THat we might be the better armed against the assaults of Heretiques, and heretical opinions in Religion, our Lord and Master hath not only foretold us, that false teachers should in all ages of the Church arise, and errors spring up with the truth, Mat. 24.23. & 7.15. Mar. 13.21. Luk. 17.23. as tares amidst the wheat: but also hath strict­ly charged us to beware of them: not to follow after them, nor believe them: whose pretences shall be so plausible, their out­ward appearances of holiness so specious, and taking: and their words and works by the secret, and invisible assistance of Satan so extraordinary, as that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect.

The Apostles of Christ treading in the same steps with their Lord, and even in their own daies seeing his words fulfilled, Gal. 1.7. 1 Tim. 5.12. 2 Tim. 3.6, 7. & 4.3, 4. 2 Pet. 2.1, 2, 3. Jude 8. Eph. 4 14. Rom. 16.17, 18. 1 Joh. 4.1. and false. Prophets arising: not only severely inveigh against them, but also impose upon us the same strict care and cau­tion: not to be seduced by them, or like children to be tossed to and fro, and carryed about with every winde of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

To yeeld obedience to these several injunctions, and to stand fast in the true faith rooted, and built up therein, against the assaults of false and deceitful workers, these following directions will be useful.

1. To be well, and throughly instructed in the grounds and principles of holy Religion: For as no firm and durable buil­ding can be raised without a good foundation laid; so no man can be built up in the most holy faith, and firmly set­led in the truth, except the foundation and ground-work be first well, and surely laid in the right understanding and firm adherence to the principles of holy Religion.

Now the general ground, and foundation of all holy and saving Truth, is the word of God: or the divinely inspired writings of Moses, and the Prophets in the old, and of Christ, and his Apostles in the new Testament: Ye are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself be­ing the head corner stone, Eph. 2.20.

But although all things contained in the holy Scriptures be infallibly true, and in some respect or other use­full and edifying: yet all are not therefore fundamentall Truths.

Those principles of holy truth contained in the Scriptures which are fundamental, are according to the doctrine of the Church reduced to five Heads: 1. Repentance. 2. Faith. Ch. catec. 3. Obedience. 4. Prayer. 5. Sacraments. If any winde of doctrine move us from off any of the grounds, our souls must needs suffer the shipwrack of holy Truth, and be split upon the rocks of false erroneous opinions: As to these principles therefore, these particular rules must be observed for the avoiding of errors.

1. And first for Repentance, which is termed the founda­tion of Christian Doctrine, Heb. 6.1. He that will not build but upon what is the foundation of truth, must not admit of any opinion whatsoever, that shall take him off from the constant confession of his sins with all humility, and godly sorrow: remembring that there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good and sinneth not, Eccl. 7.20. And the only means left us to recover our selves out of the snares of sin, is by Repentance to wash our hearts with the tears of godly sorrow for sin, to empty our souls of them by confession, and make them clean by more stedfast purposes, and strong resistance against all temptations unto sin: And this is the first part of that Baptismal vow, or of that covenant we made with God, when any of us by holy and lawful Bap­tism were admitted into the bosome of his Church: even to forsake the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh: or, man­fully to sight under the banner of Christ against the devil, the world and the flesh: which is no other but to adhere to the doctrine, and to continue in the practise of true Repen­tance.

2. As to Faith, which is joyned with Repentance, as ano­ther essential part of the same foundation of Truth, Heb. 6.1. 'tis necessary for the avoiding of Errors, to admit of no opinion relating to Religion, that is not agreeable to those Articles of the Christian faith, summarily exprest in the Apostles Creed, which is that [...], or form of sound words in faith, Symbolum A­p [...]slorum est r [...]gula fidei ve­strae, brevis & grandis, brae­vis num [...]ro ver­borum, gra [...]dis pondere sent [...]n­t [...]arum. Aug. de Temp. we are commanded to hold fast, 2 Tim. 1.13. That modell of faith once given to Saints, we are commanded earnestly to contend for, Jud. 3. The Apostles Creed (saith S. Aug.) is the rule of your faith, which is though short, yet weighty: short in the number of words, but weighty in sentences, or the several articles thereof. The Gospel of Christ is in­deed the grand Rule of faith, whereof this lesser Rule, the Apostles Creed is the sum, and Epitome: And he that gees besides, and not according to the Rule of faith goes not forward in the way, but backward from the way of Truth.

3. As to Obedience: To entertain no opinion, that agrees [Page 227]not with that all-perfect rule of Righteousness, the Deca­logue, or ten Commandements of the moral Law▪ for what­soever shall oppose, thwart, make void, or any way take off our obedience to any of Gods Commandements, is to be re­jected as false and erroneous: Whosoever (saith our Lord) shall break one of these least Commandements, and teach men so to do, he shall be called least in the Kingdome of heaven: that is, saith the Glosse, the most despised in the Church of Christ: Minimus in r [...]g­no - h. c. d [...] ­spectissimu [...] in ecclesia, quia decidit à side. Lir. in loc. and the reason is given, because he is saln from the faith: he is lapst into error, which is expresly asserted by S. John, Here­by we are sure we know God, if we keep his commandements; he that saith he knowes God, and keepeth not his commandements, is a lyar, and the truth is not in him, 1 Joh. 2.3, 4.

And in order to this Rule, 'tis necessary also to admit of no opinion that tends to the breach of either of those general Rules of Charity, which is the fulfilling of the Law, viz. To love God above all, and thy neighbour as thy self: for on these two hang all the Law and the Prophets, Mat. 22.37, &c. Whatso­ever therefore doth not tend either 1. to the inflaming of our souls with the sacred fire of divine love, to the advance­ment of Gods glory, and the promoting of his service, both inward and outward; As also whatsoever, 2. tends not to the maintenance of love, and unity, justice, and charity, inno­cence, and beneficence towards our neighbors, is not to be en­tertained as a beam shining from the light of holy Truth, but as a slash of illusion suggested by the spirit of Error: Hereby shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye love one another, Joh. 13.35. He omits (saith the Father) the gift of Miracles, Tongues, Prophesies, Aug. Knowledge to understand all mysteries, Faith to remove mountains; by none of those, but by your charity you shall be known to be my disciples.

6 As to the doctrine of Prayer: That we admit of no opinion, that shall take us off either from the frequent and fervent use of holy Prayers in general, or more particularly from the use of the Lords Prayer, the which is not only com­manded by our Lord to be used when we pray, Luk. 11.2. but by the which also we do communicate in our prayers, with all holy orthodox Christians: there being no time when [Page 228]ever we do use this prayer, but many thousands of pious persons are at the same time powring forth their souls un­to God in the words of the same prayer. To neglect there­fore, much more to despise the use of this prayer, if it be not a piece of disobedience to the plain and positive com­mand of Christ and so a branch of Hecesie, yet 'tis a depriving our selves of the greatest benefit of the Communions of Saints, and so a branch of Schism.

7. As to the Sacraments, that we reject, what ever doth either obstruct the use or deny the efficacy either of Baptism, or the Supper of the Lord: Mat▪ 26 26, 27. &c 28.1 [...]. Joh. 6.51.53. Act. 2.38. The use thereof being positively commanded, and the efficacy thereof as positively asserted by Christ himself: These being also the seales of the covenant of grace, Baptism the seale of our admission, and the Eucharist of our confirmation in the most holy faith: whatsoever opinion therefore either opposeth the practise, or disanuls the ver­tuous influence of these holy Christian performances, makes void the commandements of Christ, infringeth the seales of the new Covenant, obstructs the blessed means of grace, and must therefore necessarily be false, erroneous, and de­structive to the Truth.

2. A second general rule for the avoiding of errors, Id tencamus qued semper, quodubi (que), qu [...]l ab [...]mn bus. Vi [...]c. [...]ir. c. 3. is, That in these, and in all things, that relate to Religion, we suspect every opinion that is new, and strange, to be false, and erroneous: for 'tis a certain and infallible rule: That what is most ancient and generally received is most true: For God who is the fountain of Truth is immutable, Jam. 1.17. with him is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. And holy Truth, being a celestial ray displayed from his sacred Majesty, must needs be like unto him, ever constant to it self, and not liable to al­teration.

That we may be guided in the waies of Truth, hear what counsel the holy Ghost in this respect gives unto us: Deut. 4.32. Aske now of the daies that are past, which were before thee from the day that God created man upon earth, &c. and Joh 8.8, 9, 10. For inquire I pray thee of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their Fathers ( For we are of ye­sterday, and know nothing—) Shall not they teach thee and tell thee— [Page 229]And Jer. 6.6. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the waies and see and for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall, finde rest for your fouls: But they said ('tis the say­ing of all Heretiques and Schismatiques) we will not walk therein: we are for new waies, new lights, and new revelations; we have itching ears, and these must be scratcht with new doctrines, till the scab of Heresie arise upon the soul: your old Doctrines are out of dare, they are nauseous and offen­sive, their age and antiquity makes them tedious to our souls: 2 Tim. 4.3, 4. thus sound doctrine will not be endured because men have itching ears, and therefore they shall be tutned away from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables and lies. But Catholicorum hoc fere proprium &c. Vinc. li [...] in. It is the prophesie of all holy Catholick good Christians, to hold fast the Doctrines deposited, and committed by the Apostles first to the anci­ent fathers of the Church, and by them transmitted to all posterity: Hier. in loc. 1 Tim. 6.20. Cum Galatae, falsis Prophetis auditis, nausea quodam verita­tis adfecti ca­tholicae doctrinae manna revo­mentes haereticae novitatis sordi­bus oblectaren­tur, ita se Apo­stolica exercuit authorit as, ut summa cum ve­ritate decerne­ie [...], [...]ice [...]nos aut angelus de coelo &c. Vino. c. 12. O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain bablings; profane, and vain, because new and strange, Quae à me non audisti, saith S. Hie­r [...]me, Doctrines which the Apostles delivered not: Nay, if they should deliver any doctrine strange and new, or if an Angel from heaven should do it, the Apostle hath said it, and said it again, Though we, or an Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospel then that you have received, let him be ac­cursed, Gal. 1.9. Let that therfore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning: if that which ye have heard from the begin­ning remain in you, then shall ye also continue in the Son, and in the Father, 1 Joh. 2.24. And this same rule is again pre­scribed 2 Joh. 6. and the reason is given, vers. 7. Be­cause many deceivers are entred into the world, q. d. the way not to be deceived, is to hold fast what you heard from the beginning, and to walk in it.

Thus the Nicene Fathers, [...]: Hold fast the old doctrines and usages of the Church: And this was ever the cry of the Church, Mos antiquus obtineat, let antiquity be the judge what is true and what false. He therefore that will not headlong himself into Heresie, must not be new fangled in his Religion, not affecting novelty, but stick [Page 230]close to antiquity, Nil novandum nisi quod tradi­tum est— Nos religionem non quâ vellemus ducere, sed quâ illa duceret, se­qui oportet. Vinc. adv. Haer. c. 9. Discamus hoc esse proprium diaboli artisi­cium, si non po­test nocere per­sequendo & de­struendo, hoc facit corrigen­do & aedisican­do. Luc. de refut. Haer. receiving nothing for truth, but what was first received by our ancestors, and delivered from one generation to another by continued succession from the times of the Apostles: For we must not follow Religion (saith the Father) which way we would lead it, but what way Religi­on leads us.

3. To avoid errors in Religion, we must beware of ex­tremity in opposing errors: 'Tis an ordinary piece of cunning in the devil (as Luther hath observed) that whom he cannot hurt by persecution and affliction, he hath ruin'd in the way of cor­rection, aedification, and reformation: Thus by sad experience, we have seen almost an extirpation of Religion under the notion of Reformation, a blinde zeal of reforming errors hath deformed the truth it self, and in stead of paring the nails hath cut off both the hands and feet of Christs spouse the Church: Thus in opposition to Prelacy, we have run in­to Anarchy: and in crying out Popery, popery, we have cryed down many necessary Truths, and banisht all decency and order in divine worship, together with all Ecclesiastical Di­scipline, and government from amongst us. Thus also a pretended purity to separate from sinners hath caused ma­ny to separate from people more righteous then themselves: and whilest they have presumptuously thought to leave the wicked of the world, they have left their religion behinde them: according to the old proverbe, making a great deal more hast then good speed.

That therefore our much forwardness in opposing one error, may not headlong us into another, and our zeal to truth over-run and trample it under foot: we must remem­ber that this zeal is to be tempered ever with meekness of wisdome, Quia quos im plet omnes & columnae simpli­citate mansue­tos, & igne ze­li ardentes ex­hibet. Gal 6.1. therefore the holy Ghost descended on our Saviour in shape of a Dove, as well as on his Apostles in likeness of fire; to denote unto us, that we are as well to be endued with the meekness and innocence of a dove, as with the heat and fire of zeal: that as by the one we are quickned and enlivened unto piety, so by the other we may be tempered, and qualified to keep within the limits of truth and sober­nesse.

4. That we beware of opposing one part of religious truth against another, and of disjoyning those things, which God hath joyned together, e. g. God hath joyned faith, and good works as the soul and body, as the tree and its fruits, or as the foundation and building of holy Religion. And in good-works, or the holy actions of obedience, he hath coupled both the Tables of the Law together, the one containing the sacred offices of piety towards God, and the other of justice and charity towards man: he then that will not be guilty of Error, must not presume upon any pretence how specious soever, to divide these or any of these each from other. For he that parts faith from good works, parte the body from the soul, and overthrowes holy Religion from off its proper basis, and foundation. And he that parts holiness and righteousness, or righteousness from holiness, who pretends Religion to God, to be unjust, or uncharita­ble to man, or out of a pretence of justice or kindness to man, robs God of any part of his worship, uses one table of the Law as an instrument to break the other, to the ruine and breach of both.

5. To avoid errors, 'tis necessary that we obey and submit our selves to the directions and guidance of those consecrate persons, whom God hath ordained, and according to Gods or­dinance are lawfully called, and rightly instituted to be the Pastors of our souls, and the pillars of his Truth: This dire­ction God himself giveth to his people as an antidote against idolatry, and all false worship: Deut. 12.19. Take heed to thy self, that thou forsake not the Levite, as long as thou livest upon the earth: and chap. 17.8. If there ari [...]e a matter too hard for thee in judgement — thou shalt arise— and come unto the Priests, the Levites— And the man that wil do presumptuously, & will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to minister— even that man shall die, vers. 12. And Mal. 2.7. The Priests lips, Haec sunt initia haereticorum ut sibi placiant, & propositum superbo [...]mere contemnam. Cyp. l. 3. epist. 9. &c. The same command is given, Heb. 13.17. Obey them that have the rule over you, & submit your selves, for they watch for your souls, &c.

But when people contemn their Pastors, and despise their directions, when they presume to be wiser then their tea­chers: and to set themselves above those who are over [Page 232]them in the Lord: when they will controll their Priests, and snatch the holy oracles out of their mouths, censure their doctrines, revile their persons, scandalize their pro­fession, hence arise Heresies, Schisms and factions, this opens the gap to all errors, seductions, and falshoods: Thus when the spirit of contradiction reigned, and the people were as those that strive with their Priests, Hos. 4.4. hear what a dreadful ruine attended them: vers. 5. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the Prophet shall fall with thee in the night, de­struction shall follow upon destruction, as the night followeth the day, and I will destroy thy mother, the Church. And what else can be expected, but that men should stumble, and fall into errors and deceits even when the light of saving knowledge shineth unto them: if the directions of those whom God rightly placed to be the lights of his Church, Mat. 5.14. are neglected and disobeyed: especially if we remember, that all such contempt and disobedience reflecteth upon Christ the true Light himself: Luk. 10.16. He that heareth you heareth me (saith our Lord to his Disciples, In discipul [...] magister audi­tur, & in filio pater honoratur. Bed. in loc. and in them to all faithful Pastors) and he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

And here we that are Pastors ought in all humility to acknowledge that there is as well obedience due from us to our Ecclesiastical Fathers, the Bishops, as there is from the people unto us: and when we deny the one, it is most just with God to deprive us of the other: the miserable effects whereof we are by sad experience too sensible of.

6. That we be not ensnared in the labyrinth of error, 'tis necessary that we suppress all swelling conceits of our own knowledge, and wisdome: For seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hopes of a fool, then of such a one, Prov. 26.12. And undoubtedly no men for the most part are so wisc in their own conceits, and proud of their know­ledge in spiritual things, as they that have the least porti­on of spiritual understanding: for the first appearance of spiritual light, doth so amaze all weak and ignorant minds, that they think presently they are the children of the light, when they are not yet out of the confines of the Kingdome [Page 233]of darkness, and are confident of knowing all things, when as yet they have not so much knowledge as to acquaint them with their own ignorance. And as one hath truly observed, 'Tis ordinary with men, whilest they are young, and novices in Religion, to despise those doctrines, and religious offices, which upon more maturity and ripeness of judgement, they have approved and embraced.

He then that desires to be endued with the spirit of truth must conform himself to the Spirit of Christ, in all meeknes [...] and humility: Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly: Mat. 11.29. And he that will not learn this lesson, shall never learn exactly to know the errors of his waies: for Humility moulds and prepares the soul to receive the impressions of holy Truth: which pride and self-conceitedness resists and opposes: so Psal. 25.9. The meek will he guide in judgement, and the meek will he teach his way: but Jam. 4.6. God re­sisteth the proud, and 'tis because the proud first resist the impressions of Gods Spirit: As the black apple of the eye sees clearly, but if there be a white pearle therein it sees nothing; even so the eye of humane understanding, saith Greg. if sensible of its own ignorance, and sinfulness, sees more clearly the secrets of Truth: but if once it apprehend, Greg. de [...]ur, past. c. 11. and gather a self-conceited whiteness, and purity of holiness and wisdome, 'tis excluded from the light of celestial knowledge: For so much the lesse doth any man perceive the light of truth, by how much he is by pride exalted and puft up with conceit of his own under­standing.

There be too many in these sad times of such universal de­lusion, that think themselves very wise and great proficients in Religion, if they can but talk, and wrangle, and hold discourse to and again of religious matters; such discourse is too often also in Scripture phrases either not understood or else wrested, and perverted, and tends ordinarily to the crying down of some religious practise, or ancient custome of the Church, though it be not only innocent but useful and edifying: expressions and arguments of this nature, the devil is ever ready to suggest to the mindes of men, and to whet and smooth their tongues to run on readily in such [Page 234]kinde of unprofitable, and destructive effusions, which puffes them up with fond conceits of their knowledge, and under­standing in the waies of God, till professing themselves wise, they become fools, and wax vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts be darkned, so that they cannot see the light of truth through the mist, and imperfect glimmering of their own conceited knowledge: Thus the Devil himself was lost in the bottomless pit of error, and eternal confusion, his knowledge (which was so great, [...] quasi [...] sciens. Aug. that from the excellency thereof he derives his name in Greek) puft him up and made him swel with pride, till he burst out into flat rebel­lion against his maker: they then that will not fall into the same condemnation, must give ear to these directions of the holy Ghost, Prov. 3.7. Lean not to thine own under­standing: for many are deceived by their own vain opinion, and evil suspicion hath overthrown their judgement, Ecclus. 3.24. Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, Isa. 5.21. Be not therefore wise in their own con­ceits, Rom. 12.16. with many more places to the same pur­pose.

7. From whence will follow another rule of direction for the avoiding of errors, That we entermeddle not with those mysterious points of Religion, nor yet with those harder places of holy Scripture, which are above the reach of our under­standing. For all such over curious entermedlings, coming from pride and self-conceited wit begets such an exorbitance in the spiritual man, as surfetting, and drunkenness in the natural. For when men overweening their own judgements will presume to pry into those secret mysteries of godliness and portions of holy writ, which their understandings can­not fathom, nor their judgements digest, hence ariseth a giddiness of minde, this makes them reel to and fro, and stag­ger like drunken men, being tost with every winde of doctrine, how strange, new, and fanatick soever, which I may not im­properly call a spiritual drunkenness with the wine of Gods Word, or a surfet of the bread of life. 'Tis the grand epide­mical disease of the times, and the too too fruitful dam of many of those abortive sholes of erroneous opinions that [Page 235]swarm amongst us. So saith the Apostle of such as are be­guiled into a false worship: They intrude into those things which they have not seen, being vainly puft up with their fleshly minde, Col. 2.18. out of pride and an overweening conceit of their knowledge and judgement they presume to meddle with what the understood not, and so were cousened with fal­sities and lies.

To avoid this mischief, take for example the Prophet Da­vid, Psal. 131.1. Lord mine heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise my self in great matters, or in things too high for me. Advice to the same purpose the wise Syra­cides gives us, Ecclus. 3.21. &c. Seek not the things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength; but what is commanded thee, think thereupon with re­verence: for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret: be not curious in unnecessary matters— And if you desire advice herein yet more authentick, see Rom. 12.3. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think, but to think soberly: or to be wise with so­briety.

And this wisdome with sobriety consists of three parti­culars.

1. Not to profess or boast of more knowledge and piety then God hath really and truly endued us withal, Ecclus. 3.25.

2. Not to boast of that little knowledge and goodness which really we have, Rom. 11.20.

3. Not to lean to our own understanding, Prov. 3.5. But to submit our judgements to the judgement of persons that have more understanding then our selves: remembring that even the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets: 1 Cor. 14.3 [...]. And that they who had the gift of Prophesie, were comman­ded to submit their doctrine to the judgement of others, 1 Cor. 14.29. And undoubtedly he is a man of the best judge­ment (saith the Italian proverb) that trusts not to his own judgement.

8. But yet though we must submit our judgements to our superiors, 1 Joh. 14.1. we must not be too credulous, nor believe every one that saith he hath the Spirit, no not of the Mi­nistery, Rom. 16.18. especially in these evil daies, wherein many false prophets are gone forth into the world: who with cunning words and fair speeches deceive the souls of the simple.

If we judge according to the outward appearances of men, and think because they are very zealous in their waies, and strict in their life, and spiritual in their expres­sions, that therefore they are in favour with God, and know his minde, and are partakers of the Spirit of Truth; we shall be sure to be cousen'd: Because,

1. Such are generally the professions, pretences, and ap­pearances of all Heretiques, and Schismatiques.

2. The pretences and appearances of such are general­ly more fair, plausible, and zealous then ordinary: And the more forward and zealous they are in justifying their own sect, and ascribing to themselves infallibility, the more false, and counterfeit commonly they be: this being the very way whereby the Devil doth by his in­struments insinuate all his delusions, and lying vanities, even under the plausible pretences of seeming holiness, for­ward zeal, and more then ordinary strictness, and austerity of conversation: And no marvail, for Satan himself is trans­formed into an Angel of light, h [...]e. callidè sub sp [...]cie religio­nis decipiemes. Gloss. interl. therefore 'tis no great thing, if his ministers also be transformed as Ministers of righteousness, 2 Cor. 14.15. i. e. saith the Glosse, craftily deceiving under the shew of Religion.

3. There is in some men a more natural disposition to strictness and austerity of life then others have, and there is a natural quickness, and volubility of language, and a natu­ral ardour and fervency of minde wherewith some men are endowed more then others: which are not therefore infal­lible tokens, that all opinions such persons maintain are or­thodox and true.

Scultetus tels of an arch-heretique in Germany cal'd Swenchfield, Abrab. Scult. annual. eccles. a great Sect-master, who amongst other ex­travagancies [Page 237]held many blasphemous opinions touching the Scriptures, and yet this man did ardentes ad Deum preces cre­berrimè fundere, was both very fervent, and very frequent in his prayers unto God.

Hacket, who was executed for blasphemy in the daies of Queen Elizabeth, is reported to have excelled so much in the gift of extempore prayer, that his disci­ples did believe him to be altogether inflamed with the Spirit of God: and that his expressions were im­mediately from the Spirit, and that there was no­thing he might not obtain from God by his pray­ers.

Basilides the great Duke of Muscovy, was very much exercised both in Prayer, and Fasting, and very severe towards others under his command, that did not con­form to his example: He had his feigned Visions, Paulus Odor bornius in vita q [...]at. l. 2. and Revelations also, and yet a greater Tyrant, and a more bloudy villain Christendome hath not seen.

The Scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish Church, and the Novatians and Donatists of the Christian, were far greater pretenders to piety, and strictness of life, then the truly orthodox of either Church, and yet very great, and noto­rious Schismatiques.

Not to be cousened therefore with fair and goodly pretences of any party, or sect of men, how seeming­ly holy and zealous soever, and pretending that they have Christ, that they have the Spirit, that they only are in the right, when they are deeply involv'd in an abysse of errors: our Lord hath fore-arm'd us with sound and saving counsell, Mat. 24.23, &c. Then if any shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or lo there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs, and false Prophets— Where­fore, if they shall say, Behold, he is in the desert, goe not forth, behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not: for as the lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth unto the West, so shall the comming of the Son of man be.

Two rules for the avoiding infection by false Prophets under specious pretences, are hence observable.

Habet unaquae­cun (que) Haeresis vel certas mun­di partes, unde d [...]. ecce hic, ecce ill [...]c.1. Every Heresie (saith the Glosse) is limited to some particular parts of the world, and the infection is not uni­versally diffused, therefore 'tis said, Lo here, or lo there: If any man then shall limit Christ to his particular Church, much lesse to his particular sect, or fraternity, believe it not, for such are false Christs, and false Prophets: For the Truth displaid from Christ the Sun of righteous­nesse, Ne cr [...]datur schismaticis, no­mine autem o [...]i­entis & occi­dentis totum or­hem designat. Gloss. ordin. like the light of the heaven is diffused from East to West, or spread over the face of the whole earth: which renders the Church. i. e. all sound and sincere professors of the Truth, as well Catholique as Holy.

Vel in occultis aut obscuris conventiculis curiositatem ho­minum decipit haeresi [...]. Id.2. Heresie, and Schism seek out obscure and retired pla­ces, and begin in conventicles and private meetings, there­fore 'tis said, Behold, he is in the deser [...] behold, he is in the secret chambers: So the Apostle of deceivers also, they creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, &c. 2 Tim. 3.6. But Veritas non quaerit angulos, Truth seeketh no lurking holes, is not ashamed to appear in publique, being like the light that shineth from East to West, open, free, and manifest to all, except forc't to retire­ment by persecution and violence.

9. For the avoiding of errors 'twill be necessary to ob­serve further: that a Truth is not to be disbelieved, or rejected, because 'tis profest by lewd and licentious persons, or maintained by a Church, and people, that are in other respects erroneous, and misguided. For Truth is Truth, by what mouth soever it bee spo­ken, and 'tis the more confirmed to be Truth, because 'tis even by the enemies of Truth attested to be so.

The unwary neglect of this rule, hath not been the least in let to manifold errors: for 'tis too usual with ma­ny to object both against orthodox truths and ecclesiasti­cal orders on the one hand, that this or that the Papists hold, and against a strict careful conscientious life on the other, that thus and thus the Puritans profess: Hence many [Page 239]truths have been rejected for errors, and many decent, useful orders, customes, ceremonies, and necessary acts of discipline have been cryed down as superstitious, idolatrous, and anti­christian, and the sacred body of religion it self is almost wholly turned out of the Church under the style of Po­pery.

Nor hath that piety and integrity of life, which is required of particular persons escap'd better, but under the notion of Puritanism hath been too much banisht from the lives, and manners of men, for fear of being branded with the guilt of Schism, faction, and separation.

10 He that will not unawares headlong himself into the gulph of error, must not presume upon any extraordinary infu­sion of Gifts, and Graces from above: but in all humility wait upon God in the use of means, and the careful improve­ment of what gifts and graces he hath already received: It is the manner of Heretiques and Hypocrites (saith a learned man) ever to pretend to high lights of the Spirit, and to finde new, Joh. Cast. and unheard of waies of walking with God, slighting all that is common, though never so commendable, and catching at all that is curious, though never so dangerous; and thus they lose themselves in their chymerical conceptions: and pretending to refine ancient piety, and truth, are puft up with secret pride, and presumption, and grasp nothing but froth and vanity.

That there are such things as Extasies, and more then or­dinary ravishments of spirit, and infusions of divine gifts, and qualifications, is not doubted: but such supereminences, on­ly superexcellent souls are capable of: neither yet are they afforded to all pious, devout, and heavenly minded persons, that so none may presume to depend upon them, but that every man should keep his station, and walk humbly with his God: not relying upon extraordinary inspirations in the neglect of ordinary means, which is in many respects destru­ctive and dangerous, as in the former Treatise.

And although it be most true, that the conversion of every man to the truth, being a work of the Spirit, is therefore sudden, and at one instant, or moment of time begotten and wrought in the soul: yet notwithstanding our progress [Page 240]towards perfection and bliss in the waies of Truth, and Holi­ness, goes on step by step, leisurely and by degrees: The pathes of the just are as the shining light which shineth more and more to the perfect day. Prov. 4.18.

Both the knowledge of the Truth, and the practise of holiness, begins with dawnings like the light of the day, all darkness of ignorance, and sin, being not presently, and in the same instant dispel'd and scattered; but by little, and little, the light of Grace and Truth increaseth, and still more and more clearly, shineth towards perfection; and we ascend from gift to gift, and from grace to grace, as the Sun mounts up by degrees to the vertical point: not unlike the motions of the Angels upon Jacobs ladder, Gen. 18.12. who although they had wings, did not suddenly fly up and down, but ascended, and descended, step by step: so saith the Apostle, Adde to your faith, vertue, to vertue, knowledge, and to knowledge, tempe­rance, &c. 2 Pet. 1.5.

There be many now adaies, wherein dissimulation and pre­sumption so generally reigns, who like to those heretical Mes­salians of old, pretend to that perfection as to be above or­dinances and means.

And although it be true, that some few divine celestial souls, by their private fervent prayers, holy desires, heavenly contemplations, zealous hungrings and thirstings, pantings and breathings after God, have a nearer and more close fa­miliarity with him, then in, and by the use of external ordi­nances is attainable: yet so to be above ordinances, as to live without them, is to live besides the rules of the Gospel, and not to submit to the Law and government of Christ, which is in effect to say with those rebels in the parable, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Whilest our souls do inhabit in these tabernacles of clay, God hath appointed us to receive his blessings by means sutable to our condition: And to have our blessedness di­spensed by Gods immediate hand, is not to be hoped for, till we have our consummation with the blessed Saints, and An­gels of heaven.

In the mean time let us take heed, lest whilest we exalt our [Page 241]selves to be equal with the Angels, we fall not lower then the state of good men, and prove like hollow vessels, all sound, and no substance, all prattle and pretence, without the sound­ness and sincerity of pure and undefiled Religion: He that will rise to perfection must fall low in his own estimation: 1 Pet. 5.6. Humble your selves— If in all humility and obe­dience we keep within that line of duty, which God in his good providence hath drawn about us, he will in his due time exalt us to such a measure of gifts, and graces, as shall best conduce to the advancement of his service, and our own salvation.

11. Lastly, he that will carefully avoid all erroneous opi­nions in Religion, must not dwell so much in disputes and argumentations in the things of God, as in the conscienti­ous practise, and careful obedience unto his most holy Laws: 'Tis not true Religion that is only notionary in the brain, nor that a godly zeal, that only dwels upon the tongue, they must be also practical in the heart, and have their influence upon the actions and manners of our lives, conforming them to that all-perfect rule of righteousness, which is the will and command of God.

There was never more talk and prattle of Religion, and yet never less practise, all the fire of holy zeal is spent in preaching, and hearing, disputing, and wrangling, and the maintenance of sects and factions, whilest obedience to Gods Commandements lies a bleeding, and the sincere practise of Christianity, which is the life thereof, is neglected: all the sap of grace being wasted in the production of leaves, no fruits of truly pious, and charitable actions appear: which is not the least cause of such universal apostasie from the Truth. For whilest Religion is not setled in the heart, and thence breaks forth into the actions of a holy life, but floats aloft in the fansie, and descends no lower then the ear, or tongue, to hear and talk of it; thus it does but render the minde sickle, and apt to receive the impression of every new and strange opinion how erroneous soever, if it wear but the garments and appear in the colours of the Spirit of grace and truth.

It is also sad to observe how eagerly men contend for sha­dowes, in the loss of the substance: how strict and curious ma­ny are in smaller matters, and things of indifferency, whilest the essential duties of Christianity are slighted. A spice of that old hypocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees: who paid tithes of mint, cumin, and anise, but omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgement, mercy, and [...]aith, Mat. 23.23.

There is no readier way to give stop to the current, and stay the violent inundation of Heresies amongst us, then that professors of Religion would be more careful of religious practises, then studious of opinions; more industrious to sub­due their carnal, and worldly lusts, and to cherish all inclina­tions to pious and charitable actions, then to move questions, and raise disputes in religious matters; undoubtedly more practise of Religion, and less dispute about it, would much wither the tares of error now in their full growth, and make those holy orthodox truths appear in their proper lustre, which are now obscur'd in the bustle of unnecessary conten­tions, and lost in the confused heap of variance and vain opi­nions.

12. There are two practical points of holy Christian Reli­gion, which are great antidotes, and preservatives against the delusions of Satan, if carefully and conscientiously performed, viz Prayer, and Fasting: this being as 'twere the body, and the other the soul of true practical piety. And the concur­rence of these two together, a religious Fast, with a pure and fervent Prayer, is armour of proof, against the most violent temptations of Satan, either to sinfulness, or error: when no­thing else will enchain the Devil, and quell his temptations, he is cast out by prayer and fasting. Mar. 9.19. Prayer is that whip, which drives the Devil out of the temple of the Heart: and Fasting makes this whip more sharp, Oratio daemoni flagellum. Iejunium ora­tionem reborat. Bern. vigorous, and piercing: Prayer is that chain which ties up the Devil from the infusion of his seductions and deceits: and by fasting we strengthen the chain, and make it hold.

13. But a threefold cord is not easily broken: If therefore we shall adde to our Prayers and Fastings, Eccl. 4.12. the exercise of Christi­an Charity, avoiding all malice, and hatred, all uncharitable [Page 243]censures, bitter railings, and envyings one of another, which are too usual with persons of different perswasions: and shall with all meekness of wisdome, long-suffering, and forbearance, endevour each others instruction, and direction in the waies of truth, and holiness: against such powerful spiritual wea­pons, undoubtedly, the spirit of error shall not have strength to prevail, whilest through the mean of a lively faith these holy actions receive their efficacy and value from the meri­torious death and sufferings of our dearest Lord and Saviour, who by his death hath overcome him who had the power of death, the Devil, and all the spirits and powers of darkness: all whose black and mischievous designs, and secret insinua­tions of error, and deceit, are annihilate, and deaded, and from them, all we have redemption through faith in the bloud of Christ.

Blessed Lord who hast built thy Church upon a rock, and pro­mised that the gates of hell should never prevail against it;

Behold O Lord how that infernal spirit of error, and delusion hath prospered and prevailed amongst us.

O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy holy Temple have they defiled, and made thy Church an heap of con­fusions and disorder.

We are become an open shame unto our enemies, a very scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

Lord how long wilt thou be angry? shall thy jealousie burn like fire for ever?

O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon, for we are come to great misery.

Help us O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name.

O deliver us, and be merciful to our sins for thy Names sake.

O be gracious to thine inheritance, and let not thine enemies any longer devour and tear thy Church into erroneous sects and factions.

Remove not good Lord, thy candlestick, the light of thy truth from amongst us: but let us ever enjoy the freedome of thy Go­spel, the food of thy Word, and sweet refreshing of thy Sacraments, with all the benefits of the communion of Saints.

So we that be thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for ever, and will shew forth thy praise to all genera­tions.

And to this end vouchsafe holy Father, to give us a right un­derstanding, and firm practical belief of all the points of holy Christian Doctrine: with an humble conscientious obedience to all thy most holy Lawes: inflame our hearts with the most sacred fire of Charity, that we persevering in the love and service of thy sacred Majesty, and in mutual love and brotherly kindness each to other, thy mercy may in the end receive us from amidst the tumultuous waves of temptations to sins and errors in this life, to the haven of eternal security, and peaceful felicity in the life to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.